RBB
Ooh, you remember that?
The Wine Baron
No, I just read about it. I wish I was there! But it seemed reminiscent [referring to an
intense 1995 performance at Legends with Luther
Allison, Bernard's father, who died in August, 1997].
RBB
I grew up with Bernard - we kinda come up together. There's a connection there, there's a
brotherhood. We were both really young listening to blues and at the time we didn't have
no one to relate to. 'Cause a lot of our friends were listening to different styles of
music. There weren't a lot of black kids listenin' to the blues at that time. And so it's
kind of a kinship - and then our fathers being good friends also. It was a special night
for me tonight.
The Wine Baron
Ya, it was for me too. It was very special. Just so you know,
BluesWebChicago (Ed: now "SweetHomeBlues) I just
launched. I've been an Internet wine publisher for a few years. I wanted to say too that
in this interview I don't want to necessarily re-hash what's been said before, but to look
at the present and to look forward to the future.
RBB
Alright.
The Wine Baron
The first thing I wanted to ask, you did go to Switzerland recently, right? How was it?
RBB
Ya. It was great. They gave me a real warm reception over there. I was kinda worried about
it at first, because I've been over there before, but the times I was over before I was
with my dad and it's different when you run over on your own as opposed to going over with
a name like "Lonnie Brooks", you know, so when I got there a lot of
people remembered me from playing with my dad and, uh, they were real receptive. Had a
good time. Beautiful weather; great part of the world...
The Wine Baron
That was in the south of Switzerland...
RBB
Yeh, right on the border with Italy, in Lugano.
The Wine Baron
There's a big lake there...
RBB
Oh yeh, a beautiful lake, boating... we went out there; I relaxed myself, which I needed.
The Wine Baron
That's great. How did you come into playing at their blues festival?
RBB
A friend of mine, David Keyes, he has a band, and we met at the Handy Awards this spring
down in Memphis. He was telling me about this festival he plays in and that he can invite
different guest artists that can come and play with him. And he invited me - he hooked it
up. It was fun. I didn't take my band with me, I went alone. But they were talking that
they want me back with my band next year, so, hopefully we can do that.
The Wine Baron
It seems that you're very conscious about striking out on your own, getting a name for
yourself and getting established. How do you feel, now that you've been doing it for a
couple of years on your own? And what do you feel you need to do to really move forward
and get ahead... I know in one interview you mentioned some of the younger guys like Kenny
Wayne Sheppard and that you might never reach their level of success. But I watch you play
authentic blues and I go "Oh, if there's anything I can do, or that you know (to
reach more people)... I'm a marketing guy from way back... I just feel like, don't say
that, you are *so* good...
RBB
Thank you. I just play from the heart, man, and touch people. Music is, for me, a
healer... it's everything, it's everything for me and I mean all kind of emotions come out
when I listen to different styles of music. I love it. And I just try to give that back,
you know, when I play. I give that back, what I receive from it and hopefully through that
someone else will feel what I'm doin' and it'll touch them in some way. But those guys
(like Kenny Wayne), they may open doors that I could never open because of how this [music
business] is set up and that's fine. I'm not bitter at all. I'm happy playin' to 5 people
or to 5,000 people, it don't matter. If they're into what I'm doin' or if they have a love
and appreciation for music, I'm glad to play in front of them. But uh, I'm not givin' up
or anything like that, it's just when you have the big corporations behind you, it makes
it a bit easier to touch more people because you hit a wider audience. You know, I started
my own label, independently owned; I'm doin' the ground work myself (Watchdog Records).
Other than my dad and Jellybean Johnson, I produce, so it's like I'm doin' the ground work
myself, I'm building, and if it takes me ten years, whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm
keepin' this music alive, that's what matters. But I would love to take it to that level,
of course. You want to touch as many people as you can, but you gotta take a step at a
time.
The Wine Baron
What do you feel are the biggest challenges to get to mass distribution?
RBB
Well, you know, I have friends, like Jellybean - he produced Janet Jackson, New Edition, a
lot of people on the R&B side of the industry and he met a lot of heavyweights out
there. And he tells me, "it's hard getting up there, but it's harder staying up there
[laughs]. Because, okay, you did that, you made it - now what, what else do you have to
offer?"
The Wine Baron
It's like the "sustain" on your guitar and amp...
RBB
Exactly, exactly. There's many different challenges. You have set out what you want to do
in your mind and your soul and do it. That's what I'm trying to do, basically. I hope I
answered your question.
The Wine Baron
That's right. I think we're having a bit of a dialog here too and I can't help but think
that "word of mouth" is going to do it, because, you know, people like me who
saw you for the first time [in my case] at the Blues Festival here in Chicago, and my
daughter was saying, "I wish blues bars would let kids in." [Ronnie smiles in
sympathy] We didn't know that you can get around that, but finally we said, "Hey,
wait a minute, Famous Dave's must allow kids in, because it's a restaurant." And so,
us two, and the rest of our family came here to see you because we saw you before. Think
of the building of that. And I guess on the other level, it's who you know.
RBB
That's exactly it. Who you know. You get to know them and maybe they can see your
vision...
The Wine Baron
But, I think you play and sing with an honesty that's, uh, rather unique...
RBB
Oh, thank you. Thank you. That's a great compliment. I take that. Because people come up
to you and say things all the time - but that's exactly what I try to do. Be honest in
music.
The Wine Baron
So, moving forward, what's on your mind as you play your music - what do you feel is your
vision and mission?
RBB
Well, that's it. I'm on a mission. I'm keepin' the blues alive... [BWC: "That's
evident"] I'm givin' back what I received listening to Muddy Waters records, John Lee
Hooker records, Lightnin' Hopkins, and then bein' around my Dad and all the nourishment I
received from that, I'm tryin' to make that live on. It's like I'm a branch on a tree and
eventually I'll grow up and be a tree [laughs heartily]. I'm just a branch right now and
I'm tryin' to grow, musically, spiritually, and humanly.
The Wine Baron
I believe in the spiritual side of life. Do you feel like sharing what
"spiritual" means to you?
RBB
I do believe that we're all put down here for a reason.
And what you do with that is up to you. But if you focus on your purpose, you can succeed
at what you're put down here to do. But if you're not open to it, you miss it. Some people
do and some people don't. I try to focus on my purpose of being here and I truly believe
it's to play music and help people through my music, you know, relieve their stress, or
whatever they're goin' through... pain... that's what I think I'm here for and I try to
focus on that. A lot of nights when I'm down, tired, the spirit comes out. And I don't
feel tired until after I'm done, but at that moment I'm into it.
I focus on the spirit of that and I think that spirit - I thank the spirit of Jimmy
Hendrix and the spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Sometimes (I'm not lyin' to you), sometimes I
feel them when I'm playing... Luther (Allison), Junior Wells and Albert Collins, I get
that spirit from them. That's another kind of spiritual thing, but I believe in God, you
know, and I pray to God. We pray every night before the show. Thank Him [and ask Him to]
help us do the night.
The Wine
Baron
Amen, brother. [Pause] What is the blues to you?
RBB
Blues is a feelin'. It's ah, speaking the truth - facts - the real deal. You know, it's
not just - I'm sayin' what it is to me - it's not down all the time, it's not up all the
time. I think it's what you feel in your soul. You let it out. And if you let it out and
be true to it - the people are gonna feel it, and they'll relate to that. That's what I
think the blues is. That's what the blues is to me. It's a feelin'. [Being] honest.
The Wine
Baron
So it's an important form of music... having integrity - lofty...?
RBB
Ah, I don't want to say that it has more than [other forms of music]... because music is
like each individual's own painting. You know what I'm sayin', because I may not dig that
painting, I can't say that it's not true or real. If a person puts their heart into it,
whatever they do, if it's rap, if it's disco, if it's reggae, if it's country - they put
their heart into, then I have to say "amen". But I can't throw salt on that
picture because I love the blues, or I love funk, or whatever music I like. I think if
anything, the blues is more, uh - I'm gonna try to put this in a way that everyone can
understand: it's like learning vocabulary. You learn different words to say a sentence and
you learn sentences to say a paragraph and you learn a paragraph to say a story. With
blues you don't have too many words to tell a story. So you really have to hit the point
of what you wanna say with the little you have to work with. Now, with pop mush, you can
use a whole bunch of stuff to say what you want to get across. With the blues, you have
very little to say, some people just: "love", "hurt",
"happy" - all of those emotions are in different music, but you only have, like,
twelve bars to say it in a blues song. I'm just speaking of the structure...
But the, that's changing today. Where people are more acceptable to change in the blues...
but anyone, where it's comin' from their heart - what comes from the heart reaches the
heart - any kind of music, play it from your heart.
The Wine
Baron
I have a question for the web site. ... where can we expect
to see you in the future in Chicago?
RBB
I like to play everywhere around town. I normally play Buddy Guy's Legends, Famous Dave's
here (Ed: now closed) - actually, I play Legends on the 25th of November. House of Blues, B.L.U.E.S. on
Halsted, jammin' at Kingston Mines. In the suburbs, Chord on Blues in St. Charles, Beale
Street in Palatine, Bugsy's in Highland, Indiana. I'm usually there two times a month
(Thursday). A south suburb of Chicago. I've been playin' here all my life, so I play just
about everywhere.
The Wine
Baron
I'm a fair novice and a dabbler on the guitar. I make a lot of noise on the other strings
when I play. What do you do to avoid that?
RBB
[Laughs] I make a lot of noise with those strings too [more laughter]. You can't get away
from that. It's gonna happen. I just try to be a little more accurate. Just practicing up
and down strokes - little things while I'm watching TV, get my accuracy down. Be a little
more fluent, ... I practice scales. You know, little techniques. You start with one (da),
then two (da, da), then three, and build it up to where you hit your peak. It teaches
control of your picking hand.
The Wine
Baron
Thanks for your advice on that... What else do you want to say?
RBB
Well, I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to me and pick my brain and about
how I feel about this music. That helps a lot. That helps other people that may not listen
to the blues a lot, or who are into this kinda thing. Where you are, that might bring them
into it. That's an avenue that you've opened up and I thank you for that.
Basically, I've got a CD I'm tryin' to get out, the beginning of next year (2001). I got a
web site, you know that, RonnieBakerBrooks.com. Tryin' to do it... and keep my Dad's
legacy alive and add on to what he's puttin' down.
It's a family thing too, my brother and my Dad wrote the book "Blues For
Dummies" and it's doin' well. My Dad's doin' real good, he's out on the road now. My
brother's doin' a CD... It's a family thing. And maybe one day, we'll all get together and
do a record, all three of us. "Get Hooked on the Brooks"!
The Wine
Baron
That would be real nice. OK, thank you very much.
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