Blues in My DNA
Artist: Ronnie Baker Brooks
Label: Alligator Records
Released: 2024
Number of Tracks: 11
Duration: 52:00
Website: https://ronniebakerbrooks.com/
Review by Mixmaster Linc, Programmer, KKFI 90.1 FM Community Radio Station
Ronnie’s latest release is his debut on Alligator Records, the label that brought his father Lonnie his widest spread fame. He had played as a sideman on quite a few Alligator recordings, but this was the first time he got his own contract. It’s actually quite surprising that a man with Ronnie’s talent would have only released five albums since his debut came out in 1998, and this is only his second on a major label, but maybe that’s why they call it the blues.
I first ran across this album during KKFI’s October pledge drive, when I went in the studio to join Luscious Lynn on Beautician’s Blues. Lynn was playing “Stuck on Stupid”, which at 8:12, is the longest cut on the album. I knew instantly upon hearing it that I needed to get this album! Ronnie has a wonderful warm full voice, but on this cut, you can’t help but get lost in his lead guitar work. A nice little funky Hammond B3 from Claton Ivey, and plaintive electric piano from Rick Steff, help to round out the base quartet of Will MacFarlane on rhythm guitar, Dave Smith on bass, and Steve Potts on drums.
Although “professional” music reviewers will tell you that these eleven cuts are made up of a multitude of subgenres of music, for my money, with the possible exception of “Instant Gratification”, the whole album plays like blues to me. If you’re a real blues lover, you can’t go wrong with this album, and let’s hope we don’t have to wait another seven years for Ronnie to release his next one.
I give Blues in My DNA 5 stars out of 5.
