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LONNIE BROOKS
By Dave Leucinger
Lonnie Brooks is one of those story-telling musicians whose tales are best heard on a back porch after a few glasses of wine. The Louisiana-native
established himself with a few regional hits before a career turn. "I was performing in Atlanta on one of those all-star shows, and the headliner was Sam Cooke," Brooks recalled. "After the show I had
a friend waiting with a cab for me, and Sam had his limo. Well, the girls chased after him and managed to get in the one door, so he took off out the other door, jumps in my cab and asks if he can share it."
After talking back at Cooke's motel room, Brooks got the offer to travel with Cooke for the rest of the tour -- and eventually, to Chicago, where Cooke's connections landed Brooks several recording sessions.
Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, Brooks traded time between the established black South Side clubs and the emerging white North Side clubs. "But disco killed everything," he said. He moved to Europe
for a year, and then retuned to take a job in the die-casting industry. In the late 1970s, while Brooks worked shows on weekends, he recorded several tracks for Alligator Records' Chicago: The Blues Today series.
"Then Alligator gave me a whole album to record, and I was told that I needed to choose between my day job and the music," he said. "I was told I could make as much in one night as I could working a
whole week at the casting job. I talked it over with my wife, and I've been a full-time musician ever since."
Brooks and his current wife have also raised two sons in that time (he had two other children
from his previous marriage). Both Ronnie and Wayne Baker Brooks have backed their father on-tour and in the studio. Ronnie formed his own band more than three years ago. "And by this time next year, Wayne will
be out on his own, too -- he's in the studio now recording an album," Brooks said. He praises both for their independence. "They both found the blues, but wanted to learn everything else, too. Ronnie is a
hell of a writer -- he can write 4 or 5 songs a day. Wayne's also a good writer -- he's worked hard at it."
Brooks' most recent album for Alligator, Roadhouse Rules, included a widely praised acoustic
track, "Roll of the Dice." Could there be a whole acoustic album in the works for Brooks? "I was supposed to do one, and thinking about doing what I want to do." He noted the difficulties such a
project may entail. "It's a challenge," he said. "You have to have a lot of soul to pull it off. And it's harder for a person used to playing in a band -- you have to put your head in another
dimension."
An acoustic recording session could also display other surprising sides of Brooks. "Most of my songs I write as country tunes -- I do all my writing acoustically," he said.
"Then I add bass, some drum machine tracks, and some piano, and I have a demo tape for the band. But I love country music -- I don't have to think about it as I'm playing -- I feel the changes coming.
Blues and country aren't that different -- they have different flavors but have the same meaning."c
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