RONNIE BAKER BROOKS (Wed, 2/25/26)

Chicago guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and multiple Blues Music Award-winner 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, 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 many of the genre’s icons, including Albert Collins, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, and most significantly, his father. “I’m blessed to have played with and learned from the best. I’m carrying them within me,” he says of all the legends he knew growing up and the journey he’s been on.

With his new Blues Music Award-winning 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. “I just play what I feel,” he says. “It’s all from the heart.” Produced by famed studio wizard Jim Gaines (who has produced Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, 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. 

Blues In My DNA effortlessly moves from the funkified rocker I’m Feeling You to the not-quite-sanctified, old-school blues Robbing Peter To Pay Paul to the deep Memphis soul ballad Accept My Love to the epic, crowd-pleasing, guitar-driven Stuck On Stupid. The autobiographical title track, a song Ronnie describes as “a bridge between me and my audience,” is the album’s centerpiece, the passionate guitar solos underlining the lyrics’ story of triumphing over racism, poverty, and glass ceilings. “I ain’t complaining,” he sings, “I’m just explaining,” before declaring, “I got love in my blood, the blues in my DNA.” 

For his efforts, Ronnie took home three 2025 Blues Music Awards, presented by the Blues Foundation: Contemporary Blues Artist Of The Year (Male); Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year (for Blues In My DNA); and Song Of The Year for the title track. AllMusic said, “Blues in My DNA is in a class of its own — resonant, sophisticated, and soulful.” Chicago’s WGN-TV declared, “Ronnie Baker Brooks is one of the most electrifying blues guitarists in the world.” 

Ronnie Baker Brooks was born in 1967 in Chicago. He received his first guitar from his famous father at age nine and learned the instrument as he got older, sharing his time between playing basketball and focusing on his 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 into the van 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.” 

Lonnie eventually allowed Ronnie to play bass with the band before bringing him on as his full-time second guitarist. Ronnie made his recording debut on Lonnie’s Live From Chicago: Bayou Lightning Strikes album in 1988. In 1991, he hit the road as part of The Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour band, backing Lonnie, Elvin Bishop, and Katie Webster. Each night, he’d join them, along with Koko Taylor and Lil’ Ed Williams, for unforgettable blues jams.