artist info

“In a world of blues guitar pretenders, Coco Montoya is the real McCoy. Be prepared to get scorched by the real thing.” –Billboard

Between his white-hot guitar playing and his soulful, emotional vocals, Coco Montoya has talent to burn. In a career that spans almost four decades, he’s gone from drumming for blues icon Albert Collins to holding the lead guitar spot in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers to leading his own band and touring worldwide. Montoya is revered for his ability to move from subtly melodic guitar playing to slash-and-burn pyrotechnics. Equally forceful are his deep, soul-baring vocals. Years of constant touring have earned him his position at the top of the contemporary blues world. And it all started with a chance meeting in the mid-1970s with legendary bluesman Albert Collins, who offered Montoya a spot in his band, where he stayed for the next five years. Coco was initially hired as Collins’ drummer and later—with Albert mentoring him on the guitar—became the band’s rhythm guitarist. A few years after leaving Collins’ band, British blues star John Mayall heard Coco jamming onstage and was so impressed that he hired him for the newly reformed Bluesbreakers.

When Montoya launched his solo career in 1993, he already had an instantly recognizable burning-hot sound and style all his own. His debut album solidified his stature as the blues’ newest rising star. Over the course of his nine previous solo albums, Montoya has consistently delivered piping hot blues, rock and soul. His new album (his fifth for Alligator), Coming In Hot, is another instant classic. Montoya’s fiery, melodic guitar playing and passionate vocals fuel one memorable song after another. Guitar Player says Montoya plays “stunning, powerhouse blues with a searing tone, emotional soloing, and energetic, unforced vocals.”

In 2000, Coco’s Alligator debut, Suspicion, quickly became the best-selling album of his career. Montoya’s fan base exploded. After two more highly successful and massively popular Alligator releases—2002’s Can’t Look Back and 2007’s Dirty Deal—Montoya signed with Ruf Records, cutting both a live and a studio album. Returning to Alligator with 2017’s Hard Truth, Montoya delivered another fan and critical favorite. “Montoya unleashes one career-topping performance after another.” declared Blues Matters, “the music immediately ranking among the best he’s ever recorded.”

Now, with Coming In Hot, Coco Montoya again turns the burners to high and cooks from start to finish. According to Living Blues, “Montoya is a show-stopper…heartfelt singing and merciless guitar with a wicked icy burn…he swings like a jazz man and stings like the Iceman.” ~ Albert Collins.

Ronnie Baker Brooks is an American Chicago blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a respected club performer in Chicago, even before recording three solo albums for Watchdog Records. The son of fellow Chicago blues musician Lonnie Brooks, he is the brother of another blues guitarist, Wayne Baker Brooks.

All Music journalist, Andy Whitman, described Brooks as “… a better than average soul singer, a fine blues interpreter, and a monster guitarist with an ample supply of technique and passion.

He was born in Chicago, and started playing guitar around age six. At 19, he joined his father, who by then had influenced some of the most well-known bluesman of our history: Jimmy Reed, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winter, and Junior Wells. For 12 years the two would tour together, putting Ronnie out front with Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Koko Taylor. In 1998, when he was 32, his father told him to go solo.