artist info

2025 Blue Music Awards Winner

~ Contemporary Blues Male

~ Contemporary Blues Album

~ Song of the Year

“A monster guitarist with an ample supply of technique and passion.” - ALLMUSIC

Chicago guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks is one of the city’s – and the world’s – most undeniably talented and electrifying bluesmen. Ronnie was born into Chicago blues royalty as the son of legendary multiple Grammy Award nominee, Blues Hall of Famer, and longtime Alligator Records recording star Lonnie Brooks. He is among the few contemporary blues artists who learned his craft directly from the many of the genre’s icons, including Albert Collins, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, KoKo Taylor and, most significantly, his father.

With his new Alligator Records debut, Blues In My DNA, Ronnie delivers an up-to-the-minute, organic masterpiece. The album, the fifth of his career, is firmly rooted in the blues with Ronnie incorporating his own brand of rock, funk and soul to the mix. Produced by famed studio wizard Jim Gaines (who has produced Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison and many others), Blues In My DNA is a career-defining statement from Baker Brooks, with each of the 11 original songs its own chapter in his ever-evolving story.

Born in 1967 in Chicago he received his first guitar from his father at age nine and learned the instrument as he got older, sharing his time between playing basketball and focusing on music. After high school he joined his father’s band – as a roadie. He earned his way slowly up the ladder, listening, watching and learning. At one show, Koko Taylor, pulled him aside as he was loading the gear and told him, “You learn from your daddy everything you can. And one day, it’ll be up to you to carry the blues forward.”

Brooks grew up watching all the players. He grew up putting in the time, study and practice. He grew up witnessing the and learning from the legends of the blues and is excited to continue to create Chicago blues as part of his family legacy and our shared history. “Dad started the fire, Albert poured the gas on it, and Koko put the grill on.” Now, with Blues In My DNA, it’s time to feast.”

“Ronnie Baker Brooks bristles with energy, inspiration and self-confidence.” – LIVING BLUES