Lonnie Brooks

Lonnie Brooks

Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr., December 18 1933) is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Dubuisson, Louisiana. Rolling Stone says, “His music is witty, soulful and ferociously energetic, brimming with novel harmonic turnarounds, committed vocals and simply astonishing guitar work.” ‘’The New York Times’’ adds, “He sings in a rowdy baritone, sliding and rasping in songs that celebrate lust, fulfilled and unfulfilled; his guitar solos are pointed and unhurried, with a tone that slices cleanly across the beat. Wearing a cowboy hat, he looks like the embodiment of a good-time bluesman.”

Career

He learned to play blues from his banjo-picking grandfather, but didn’t think about a professional career until he moved to Port Arthur, Texas in the early 1950s. There he heard live performances by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Long John Hunter and others and began to think about making money from his music. One day, while Lonnie was strumming his guitar on his front porch in Port Arthur, zydeco superstar Clifton Chenier heard him and offered him a job in his touring band.

Embarking on a solo career, he adopted the moniker of Guitar Junior and signed with Lake Charles, LA’s Goldband label. His singles for the label included regional hit "Family Rules", which remains a favorite of the swamp pop idiom in south Louisiana and southeast Texas. Other Goldband singles included “Made In The Shade” and “The Crawl” (later recorded by The Fabulous Thunderbirds).

In 1960, he moved to Chicago, Illinois. Luther Johnson was already using the name "Guitar Junior" there, so he adopted the alternative stage name, Lonnie Brooks. In Chicago, he found regular work in the West Side clubs as well as in Gary and East Chicago, IN and occasionally in the Rush Street North Side entertainment area. He cut a series of 45s for a variety of labels, including Chess, Chirrup, Mercury, Midas and USA, achieving some local radio airplay. He also supported other artists on record and live, including Jimmy Reed. In 1961 he played guitar on the double album, Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall (which was not actually recorded at Carnegie Hall).

In 1969, he recorded his first album, Broke An’ Hungry, for the Capitol label. It was produced by Wayne Shuler, son of Eddie Shuler, who had founded Goldband Records in Louisiana.

In 1974, Brooks participated in a multi-artist tour of Europe, and cut an album entitled Sweet Home Chicago for the French label Black And Blue. When he returned to Chicago, he began playing regularly at Pepper’s Hideout on the South Side the city. There he attracted the attention of Bruce Iglauer, head of the fledgling Alligator Records label, who had previously seen him a number of times at the Avenue Lounge on the city’s West Side.

In 1978, Iglauer included four of Brooks’ songs (including three originals) on an anthology series entitled Living Chicago Blues, released by Alligator Records. He was signed to the label, and the following year, he released his album Bayou Lightning on the Alligator record label. The album won the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque Award from the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival. While in Montreux, Brooks befriended country star Roy Clark. Clark was so impressed with Brooks, he arranged for an appearance on the popular country music television show Hee Haw.

Since that time, Brooks has recorded exclusively for the Alligator label, releasing seven full albums as well as shared recordings and compilation appearances. Brooks' style, sometimes described as "voodoo blues", includes elements of Chicago blues, Louisiana blues, swamp pop and rhythm and blues. Other labels have issued pre-1978 recordings by Brooks as well as compilations of Brooks’ 45s.

Following the release of Bayou Lightning, Brooks began touring nationwide as well as returning to Europe. A 1982 trip to Germany resulted in an hour-long Lonnie Brooks live performance special broadcast on German television. His 1983 follow-up album, Hot Shot, was hailed by critics and fans around the country. 1986’s Wound Up Tight featured a guest appearance by Lonnie’s most famous fan, Johnny Winter, on guitar. Lonnie was one of Johnny’s favorite guitarists in the late 1950s. As a youngster living in Beaumont, Texas, Johnny talked his way into Lonnie’s recording sessions to watch his idol at work. Rolling Stone took notice of the album, running a six-page feature on Lonnie. And in 1987, BBC radio broadcasted an hour-long live performance to all of Great Britain.

By this time, Lonnie’s teenage son, Ronnie Baker Brooks, was touring with the band. He made his recording debut on his father’s Live From Chicago—Bayou Lightning Strikes. Brooks’ 1991 release, Satisfaction Guaranteed, received major media coverage, including features and articles in The Washington Post, Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Guitar World, Living Blues, Blues Revue, and many other publications.

Brooks spent the summer of 1993 on a national concert tour with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Eric Johnson. During the Chicago stop of his 1995 “From The Cradle” club tour, Eric Clapton honored Brooks by inviting the bluesman on stage for an impromptu jam at Buddy Guy’s Legends.

In 1996, Brooks released Roadhouse Rules. The album was produced in Memphis by Jim Gaines, who also produced Luther Allison, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana, and his son Ronnie Baker Brooks appeared again. In 1999, along with fellow Gulf Coast blues veterans Long John Hunter and Phillip Walker (both of whom he had known and played with in the 1950s in Port Arthur, TX), Brooks released Lone Star Shootout, with all three guitarists engaged in a raucous game of one-upsmanship.

Brooks continues to tour in the U.S. and Europe. His sons, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks, are also full-time blues entertainers, fronting their own bands and touring extensively both in the U.S. and abroad. Wayne Baker Brooks continues to play in his father’s band as well. The Brooks’ are frequent guest performers at each other's shows and have booked appearances as The Brooks Family, performing entire concerts together.

Besides his live and recorded performances, Lonnie Brooks appeared in the movie, Blues Brothers 2000 and in two UK televison commercials for Heineken beer.

Quotation

"If my hands could get what my eyes see" he sings in "Eyeballin'", "then my whole mind and body would be trouble-free."

Discography

• 1999 Lone Star Shootout (with Long John Hunter & Phillip Walker) (Alligator)
• 1997 Deluxe Edition (Alligator)
• 1996 Roadhouse Rules (Alligator)
• 1993 Let’s Talk It Over (1977 session), (Delmark)
• 1991 Satisfaction Guaranteed (Alligator)
• 1988 Live From Chicago-Bayou Lightning Strikes (Alligator)
• 1986 Wound Up Tight (Alligator)
• 1985 Live at Pepper’s (Black Magic) (reissued on Black Top 1996)
• 1984 The Crawl (Charly) (reissue of Goldband singles)
• 1983 Hot Shot (Alligator)
• 1981 Turn On The Night (Alligator)
• 1980 Blues Deluxe (Alligator/WXRT)
• 1979 Bayou Lightning (Alligator)
• 1978 Living Chicago Blues, Vol.3 (Alligator)
• 1975 Sweet Home Chicago (Black & Blue) (reissued on Evidence Records 1994)
• 1969 Broke An’ Hungry (Capitol)

See also

• List of blues musicians
• Excello Records
• Long Beach Blues Festival
• San Francisco Blues Festival
• Chicago Blues Festival

External links

• Lonnie Brooks Official website
• Bio at Alligator Records
• Lonnie Brooks at AllMusic
• Template:Myspace
• Piedmonttalent.com biography and future tour dates