Blues guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks joins Joe Kelley to discuss his powerful new album Blues In My DNA and the journey behind it.

From growing up in the shadow of his father Lonnie Brooks to recording with Alligator Records, Ronnie shares deeply personal stories about loss, resilience, and why music remains a healing force.

He also reflects on unforgettable moments with Prince at Paisley Park, touring with B.B. King, and his long friendship with Jellybean Johnson.

A must-listen conversation for blues fans and music lovers alike.

Episode Notes

• New album: Blues In My DNA
• Return to Alligator Records
• Memphis recording sessions
• Touring the U.S. and Europe
• Prince & Paisley Park stories
• Music as healing

Man, that would have been cool.

Welcome to another edition of Musicians reveal with Joe Kelly.

We are awful excited today because one of my long time friends has a new record out.

He's really excited about it.

We've been playing tracks as soon as we got a little advanced copy from it.

He hails from Chicago, Illinois.

Amazing guitarist.

Hale's also from blues family blues in his DNA.

His father, Lonnie Brooks, long time blues great.

And his brother, Wayne Baker Brooks.

And I know a few of his other family members have musical talent as well.

I think he told me his sister sings as well, but haven't talked to Ronnie in a few years, since the pandemic started.

But I'm really excited to welcome my great friend, Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you for having me back, man, on the show.

Mandy, I miss you, brother.

Yeah, I missing you.

The last, the last time I saw you was, I think, at the Westport Blues in Connecticut.

Yeah, that was, yeah.

I still got some video clips if I could maybe put a couple in this interview, so.

Yeah, yeah.

I had the horns with me then, right?

Yeah, you did.

You did.

Yeah.

The uptown horns set in with me at that gig, I believe.

Yeah, they did.

Yeah.

I remember you told me you were switching on and off performing and such like that.

Yeah, man, it's good to see you.

Yeah, great to see and talk with you.

And let's talk about this record, which is on the prestigious alligator records, which I know you guys have been dancing for a long time together and your father was on the label.

Yeah.

What was the decision to join up with the big label?

Well, you know, during the pandemic, man, I had time to think, Joe.

I had a lot of time.

You didn't know what was going to happen when it first, you know, unleashed on us.

And I hit a reset button because this was the first time I had to deal with something, this, of this major level without my father.

You know, normally I would have my father to bounce off of or get suggestions or see how he would react or I.

Someone to relate to that could, you know, I could trust that, you know, I mean, and he was gone, man.

And so I had to do it myself.

You know, I had my mom still.

Right.

I'm talking about from the business standpoint of being, you know, a musician and all that.

And, and I had time to think.

And I started doing these Facebook live shows every Friday.

That was great.

Yeah, yeah.

And so I started doing some of my father material that I'd never done before, ever.

And I was like, man, a lot of the first things that I've done, like, the first album I played on was on Alligator Records.

Okay.

Yep.

The first record I ever sang on was on Alligator Records.

The first song I ever wrote that got published or, you know, performed on was on a record was on alligators.

Like, man, there's a lot of stuff there.

And I started thinking about the platform that my father built along with Alligator that allowed me to grow.

And my manager, John Bonsomino, was like, hey, man, I've been talking to Bruce Iglar at Alligator, man.

I think we should set up a meeting.

You know?

What you think?

And I never really.

In the beginning of my career, I thought about it, but after I got watchdog records, started my own label, started watchdog Records, I didn't think about, you know, any other label, to be honest, until the time to change album came out.

And that kind of opened the door to me thinking different, too, when I did the time to change album with Steve Jordan.

So I said, yeah, man.

I told my manager, yeah, set it up, man.

Let's see where it goes.

You know, let's see where it goes.

And he set up the meeting with Bruce, the president, the founder of Alligator.

And Bruce said some things to me, man, that he had never said before.

He had talked about my dad's and said some things to me that he had never said before.

And he was very, you know, during that time, everybody was in a.

In the pandemic.

We were kind of, you know, we didn't know what was unknown.

It was unknown.

And I think he felt like he needed to tell me these things.

Cause I felt that it was sincere, right?

And I was like, wow, let me think about this, you know, and prior to that, I went to my mom.

At the time, my mom was ill, and she was battling her, you know, things with her health.

And I said, mom, you know, they trying to set up a meeting with me and Bruce from alligator.

What you think?

She said, I think you should do it.

At least listen to him and see what he got to say.

And, you know, and I did it, man.

He said what he said to me, and I was like, man, okay.

And we set up another meeting, and then I decided to do it.

I decided to do it because I can't change what happened in the past, but I can change what happens in, you know, presently.

Right, right.

I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, but I can't.

I can change what happens right now, you know, and.

And when we decided to do it, I said, bruce, let's.

I know you love this music because he's been putting out the blues, what, 54 years or so.

53 years or so, yeah.

And I was a big part of the early.

I mean, you know, the middle part of that, you know, with my dad, my dad, Washington important, the very beginning of it.

Right.

And I came in on the middle end of it, and I went away, you know, and then I came back and I said, man, I know you love this music because you worked very hard at what you've done, and you built a strong legacy.

Let's make a record for the love of the blues.

Yeah.

He said yes.

And he.

He suggested the producer, Jim Gaines.

And Jim Gaines produced Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Luther Allison, Lonnie Brooks, and a bunch of other greats, even, you know, several other.

Steve Miller, several other rock groups, you know.

Yeah, Huey Lewis in the news and, wow.

And, yeah, he's got a strong, you know, track record, man.

And I had worked with Jim Gaines on my dad's record, roadhouse rules, and I was like, yeah, let's do it.

And, man, and here we are, man.

And I known a lot of the staff there at alligator for years because, you know, my father had been there for so long, and some of them that's still there today, I grew up with.

Right.

Yeah.

They still doing it.

I'm still doing it.

Right.

They were coming to my shows, man, when they found out we were talking, they were, like, really excited, like, ronnie, I think this would be really good, man.

I think you should think about it.

And so the excitement stopped building, man.

And I just went in the studio I presented.

Before I got to the studio, I presented 30 original tracks to Alligator.

Cause I had time to write songs during the pedestal.

Yeah, yeah, right.

And, man, the hardest part, Joe.

Well, one of the hardest parts was breaking down the 30 songs to the eleven that we have.

Yeah.

You know, what is that process?

You got all that music, you do it yourself, or you got a little roundtable or the band or producer.

I started with a roundtable.

It was alligators.

Tim, that works for the radio department, Bruce, and my manager John.

We had the first couple of meetings, and then I got a couple of friends, my friend Gus Taylor, that I played with my dad back in the day.

I was in a band with him.

He was very influential in my growth as a band member, you know, and I trust him, and I share some of the songs with him, and I was just bouncing off people.

But ultimately, Joe, it came down to me to decide on what I felt.

And what I.

What I had to do was I was taking what they would like in.

And I go, okay, yeah, I can hear that.

And I can hear that.

And then I.

To be honest, no one knew what I was going to record until I got to Memphis.

I recorded outside of Memphis with Jim Gaines at his house.

He's got a home studio that his wife, she grew up in this house, and they made it a studio.

And I got down there, man, I had.

I had about.

I got it down to about 20 to 15.

You had a ways to go still.

And when I got down there, man, we drove from Chicago because I had my bus.

I had to take all my gear down there.

And we drove through, me and my man scooter.

You remember scooters used to drive for me.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know him as much as Rico, but I know Scooter.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, he took over after Rico passed away.

Me and him drove from Chicago to Memphis, man, in a rainstorm, a sleet storm, man.

Wow.

The day before my birthday in January, man.

Wow.

And I'm really, like, thinking about the songs on the way down there with all this gear in the back.

And I.

When I got to the hotel, I called my manager, said, man, I got my list, and we went in and did it.

Wow.

What's it about Memphis?

I know you're the producer.

You know, it's out of his home, obviously.

It's good you work at his place, but what's special about recording down in that area of the country?

You know, the idea of getting away from home.

Okay.

Yeah.

And where I could just focus on that, what I'm doing, you know, I know the distraction.

I mean, when I'm home, I can do that as well.

But then you come home, I got distractions where, you know, family stuff.

Not, not, not.

I don't mean that in a distraction way, but things that take priority over what I'm doing at the time.

Right.

My family is first priority, you know, and so getting away, going to do that, only it gives me a focus level that's.

That's, you know, I'm more comfortable with.

And I just love.

I love the vibe down there.

I've recorded all my records down there.

Yeah.

But I do want to do one here in Chicago.

So the album blues in my DNA will have links all up on our YouTube description.

We'll be flashing up pictures of everything, and you can order it.

The official release date, I believe, is October 7, right.

October 11.

11Th.

Okay.

October 11.

And you.

You did a signing already of record release.

Now, tell us about that.

I came in at the end, but what was that about?

Look.

Pretty cool.

Well, the cool thing about being with alligator also is they right here in Chicago, right?

They got the warehouse here.

The office is here.

Now I can go up there.

And they actually.

To come up and sign what they're doing on their website.

The first 300 cds, pre ordered, get this autograph CD.

Okay.

And then the first 100 albums, get the signed album.

And they asked me to come up there and do that.

Excuse me.

And I went up there to do that, man.

And that brought back so many memories, because I had.

Excuse me.

I hadn't been in the warehouse in a long time.

I've been to the office.

You know, we were having meetings at the office, and that brought back a lot of memories.

But when I went in that warehouse, like, whoa, man, I hadn't been there in a long time.

And it brought back a lot of memories.

And meeting the staff that was there, man, Bill, he'd been there, head of the warehouse for 50 years.

Wow.

He's got some stories.

And, man, I'm looking in the place.

We used to rehearse there.

We used to rehearse for records.

You know, like, whenever my dad was doing a record, we would rehearse there.

We rehearsed for tours there.

I wrote the song like father, like son there with Bruce.

We wrote that song together right there at the warehouse.

A lot of memories, man, playing with Coco Taylor, you know.

Oh, man.

And I was like, it just brought back a lot of memories, and I thought it was cool to be there.

I said, you know what?

I should go live.

And we did the cd and album autographing live.

Wow.

So that's you got you.

This is the busy time, the records recording.

But, you know, promotion.

I'm sure you'll be all over the place, if not already.

But, yeah.

What about you?

Live for the stage.

So what's the early plans for dates coming up?

That.

Well, my cd release party.

The cd.

The album comes out October 11, worldwide.

All platforms everywhere.

That's the one thing cool about alligator, when I was doing watchdog stuff.

That will come out whenever I come to your town.

Yeah.

Rakhia, right?

Rakaya Lee.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Shout out to Lee.

You know, Ricaya passed away.

Oh, really?

Okay.

Oh, I didn't know.

Wow.

Rest her soul.

But, yeah, it comes out worldwide.

October 11, October 18, I'm doing an album release party here in Chicago at.

Well, outside of Chicago in Berwyn, Illinois, at a place called Fitzgerald's.

I used to play there a lot.

Many years.

Matter of fact, I used to play there with my dad.

Many years.

It's kind of like a well known venue here.

And then I hit the road.

I go up to Detroit the next day or the Detroit area, playing at the token lounge on the 19 October in Westland, Michigan.

And then we come home and head to the blues cruise.

I do the blues cruise.

Yeah.

You've done that a few times, right?

Yeah, man.

We have an album release.

Party on the cruise.

Oh, wow.

And then when I get off the cruise, I go to Europe and I don't know if you remember this video that went viral of this twelve year old kid playing against.

Yeah, I remember that.

Yeah, that was with me.

Mandev.

I know, I know.

Well, a lot of people didn't know because they kind of cut me out of it, you know, but that was Toby Lee.

And that was taken at the Den in Denmark at the Blues Heaven festival.

Is that the one on the water?

No, it's inside a venue.

Okay.

The one we did, I've done it several times.

And I'm going back there in November.

And then when I get back from Denmark, we hitting the road.

I'm coming to east coast, man.

I'm doing some dates with my friend Coco Montoya.

Oh, yeah.

And so, you know, we moved out of Connecticut.

We're in Saratoga Springs now, New York.

Oh, okay.

Remember.

Remember you and Shemeeka played Albany outside the blues festival?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm 20 minutes north of there, so I.

Okay.

Yep.

So hopefully you get up here.

Yeah, I got dates, man.

All of my dates on my website, Ronniebakerbrooks.com.

Okay.

And we building a new website and I got new merchandise.

I got a new record.

I'm coming back on the road, Joe.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to tell our viewers, listeners, if you haven't seen Ronnie Baker Brooks perform in person, just go to YouTube.

There's amazing performances.

This brother lives for the stage.

There's no doubt about that.

I mean, you just have that connection with your audience even if they haven't seen you.

I love people, man.

Yeah.

You know, and if I can make them happy, I love seeing people happy, first of all.

And if I can make them happy playing music, it's double the pleasure.

And, you know, I.

It's been a while.

You know, when times of change came out, it was a crazy time in my life.

It came out.

But, you know, like we would.

I didn't want to put it out on watchdog because I wanted to find a label that fit what we were trying to do.

And we even presented it to Alligator.

And at the time, it was like, you know, they didn't.

They wasn't feeling it as far as the format of what they're doing, what they were doing at the time.

And so we got with mascot, and Mascot put it out, man.

I turned 50 that year.

My father was sick.

I had to take care of my father here at my home.

Wow.

He eventually passed away, unfortunately.

This one year, my daughter graduated from school.

My wife graduated from college, got her degree in nursing.

We got married.

My sister passed away.

My sister was the one you talking about, Jackie.

She put out a gospel cd.

Oh, she passed.

She passed, she passed.

She helped me start.

She helped me get watchdog record started with my mother.

Okay.

And then my mother fell ill.

It was a crazy time, man.

I had some, like, high highlights and some lowlights in my life, and I wasn't on the road, man.

I didn't.

I didn't go on the road for a while, you know?

So I am really looking forward to coming back out there.

Yeah.

Now you're kind of like, okay, things are focused.

I mean, all the stuff that you mentioned are life, things we all go through.

But to be on the road, away from things you need to take care of, must be real tough, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was.

It was tugging at my heart because I was doing something.

Some dates, and, you know, we kept my father illness private within the family.

Okay.

And I didn't want to lie to the people.

They're like, how's Lonnie doing?

I would always say he's hanging in there.

You know, I wasn't lying, but he wasn't.

He wasn't able to be out there on the road anymore, and he was here at our home, and, I mean, I literally had to take care of my dad.

And it was an honor that he trusted me to come here with me and my wife, Sandy, and to allow us to be there for him, man.

And I'm very grateful that God allowed me to do that because I had some great conversations with my dad before he died.

Right, right.

Some man to man.

It was weird.

Joe, all my life, my dad.

Remember that image of a kid walking with his dad in the rain, and dad got the umbrella.

Yeah, yeah.

And the kid holding onto his coat, and he.

Protecting him from the rain.

Right, right.

That was me with my father even when I was grown.

Wow.

You know, that's how much of a hero he was to me and he is to me.

And when he moved over here with us before he got sick, that role started changing.

He started depending on me more and more and more.

So eventually he had to depend on me totally.

Right, right.

And during that, during that transition, man, he was giving me stuff, man.

He was giving me nuggets, man, on life.

And, like, he even told me, like, man, if something happens to me, if you able continue playing, because that's the best thing for you.

That's the best thing and get you through it, you know?

And it so happened to.

He passed the week.

I had two shows to do here.

One was here in Chicago and one was in South Bend, Indiana.

And I was contemplating canceling it.

I mean, he died this Saturday.

And I had another.

I had a gig on that Friday, upcoming Friday and Saturday.

And I was like, man, I couldn't sleep for like two days, man.

Right, right.

And I know I'm babbling, but, no, keep on babbling.

Okay.

Okay.

So I'm gonna tell you what happened after he passed.

I couldn't sleep for like two days, man.

I mean, literally, I was up for like two, three days, man.

I'm just spinning, right?

I said, oh, man, I can take my garbage out front.

It's garbage pickup day.

And I'm still contemplating on am I gonna play or not?

And I, they waiting on me to give them the answer, man.

And I'm trying to set up the arrangements and all this stuff going on.

It's pitch dark.

They said the darkest hours just before dawn.

And it was pitch dark, man.

And I took my garbage out front.

And right when I was walking back to my home, a bird flew at me.

And I was like, whoa.

And the bird flew up to the tree, and I could see the bird, you know, and just start whistling real loud, like he was upset.

And I said, dad, is that you?

And right when I said that, joe, another bird came, ran that bird out of the tree and sat there and looked at me.

And at that moment, I felt, you know, like someone poured some warm water right, right on the top of my head.

And it was a soothing effect that came over me.

And I heard my dad's voice say, ronnie, go in the house and get some sleep now and do your show.

And then I went in the house, went to bed.

I called him the next day and I said, I'm doing the show.

We had the show, man.

I told my brother to come down, Wayne, and I'm gonna tell you, that was the best thing I could have done because I got all of those emotions out and I began my process.

And I suggest that to any of the musicians out there that really loves this music.

Love music.

The music is a healer the music is a healer, man.

I remember when John Blackwell, drummer with Prince, his daughter drowned in a swimming pool while they were on the musicology tour.

They took one date off, and he came back and they resumed the tour, like, a couple days after.

And I always thought, wow, how can you do it?

But you mentioned it's a healer.

Yeah.

It's hard, you know, to get to that place, to think that way.

But once you do it, I'm telling you, man, for me, it was the best thing.

I could hear my dad's voice, man.

Go and play.

Because when, you know, when.

Rico.

You remember my driver, Rico Rica, when he died, man, we were in San Diego, and he didn't show up for the flight.

And when I got off the plane, they said, oh, they found him dead in his house, mandy.

And I was like, oh, I was so messed up, man.

I didn't know what to do, man.

I called Jelly Bean.

I was talking to jelly Bean, man.

Then I called my dad, and my dad would just talk me through it.

I'm in the cab headed to the hotel.

I said, man, I don't know if I could do this.

He said, no, get to the hotel, son.

I got to the hotel.

I left the cab.

I left my guitar in the cab, man.

Wow.

And I'm checking in at the hotel.

The honest cab driver came to me, said, sir, you forgot this.

And at that moment, I could hear Rico saying, play, play tonight.

And my dad talked me down.

They said, man, you there?

He said, you.

You can't fly back.

It was the club owner.

He hired me for a private party for his birthday.

So he had all this planned, right?

So I didn't even tell him about it.

I didn't even say nothing to the club owner about it.

And he said, you got to do it, man.

Go and play.

Because you're going to sit in that room and just bounce off the walls.

And sure enough, I go and play.

It was the best thing I could do for me to get through the process.

And that's why I always say, man, the music, when I play, I try to give it all to the people, because I know the power of the music.

I know what it can do, because I know what it does for me.

Yeah.

I mean, Rico has such a great sense of humor.

I remember being on your tour bus before.

You were playing a gig in Manchester, New Hampshire, and it.

People were cracking on because he was saying the word paparazzi.

Paparazzi.

And you guys were having a blast.

Yeah.

And they had a debate, I think.

Muddy Waters.

It was the debate.

Muddy Waters.

And I forget the other Miles dungeon.

Oh, it could have been.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was pretty spirited debate.

Yeah.

So, yeah, yeah.

And that.

The cool thing about Rico, he saw all of them.

Mandev.

Rico saw all of them from Slidestone.

Jimi Hendrix.

He saw all of these people in concert, man.

Miles Davis.

I was like, when we'd be on the road, I used to just question him, man, like, you know, did you see such and such?

And he started telling me stories.

Yeah, I saw them.

He saw slidestone and, like, what?

And you.

He loved the blues.

He loved the blues.

So it was, like, mind blowing that he listened to all these other people and then got to see him in.

Concert, you know, I had a chance to see Sly stone this when he was solo.

Bobby womack was on the bill, and.

But he was late, and I didn't have the patience to stick around, so I bolted.

So, yeah, I don't know if he showed up or, you know, what shape he was in at the time, but, man, the closest.

The closest I got to that was I was in Europe at the North Sea jazz festival, and Larry Graham.

Larry Graham was playing, and we had actually hung out prior to that in Paris.

And I got to hang out with him, you know.

Cause over there at that time, you know, wasn't too many people speaking English, you know?

And then you found some musicians.

We all just kind of hung together, you know?

And he allowed me in the circle, man, and we got to North Sea, man.

I was on the side of the stage.

Larry has those people, man, bouncing up and down, man, and I could feel it in my stomach, man, like, whoa, the energy, man.

And I'm standing on the side, man, with Marcus Miller and Lenny White, Kev Mo.

It was star studded on the side.

And he just said, he told us all, come on out, come on out.

And we all got up on stage with Larry, man, and he had us jumping up and down, man.

And I was like, wow, this is the guy that played with Sly stone, man.

And I could feel the impact that he had with the audience and the music, the power he had in that music.

I could feel that.

I could feel all of that.

And I could see why slidestone.

And all of them were so impactful, man, because it's soulful cats, man.

Yeah.

And he's been on the show a couple times.

He told me that he's only been away from his wife like one or two days.

And the whole time they knew each other.

She.

She's always with the tambourine on the steep part.

You saw her on stage, right?

Yeah, she was there, man.

He had us all pray with her.

They were all praying together.

We all prayed together before the show.

Yeah, yeah.

He's Jehovah's Witness.

Yeah, so that you mentioned Jelly Bean.

Jelly Bean Johnson with the time and guitarist on his own.

Right.

The jelly bean Johnson experience.

You guys are soul mates, brothers.

And you work together.

And tell us about the connection, you guys, first people that don't know how you guys became affiliate.

And, you know, to this day, you guys are going strong, man.

It's been over 30 years I've been knowing being now, man.

We hit it off immediately, man.

I met Jelly Bean.

This how it happened.

I was on tour with my dad.

I was playing with my dad behind Coco Taylor, junior Wells and my dad.

We were the alligator all stars.

This was back in 93, and we were touring with Bb King.

It was the Bb King Blues festival, and we were touring all over the United States with Bb as it closed.

The show with Eric Johnson.

He was part of the show.

And then buddy guy, and then us, Coco Taylor, Julia Wells and Lonnie Brooks.

And we played up at Minnesota, at the state fair in Minneapolis.

And Bean was there.

I didn't know.

I didn't know Bean at the time, and I didn't know he was there.

He was in the audience.

And so fast forward, we had a week off or something like that.

And we was here in Chicago, and I was just hanging out in Chicago, man.

On the north side, it's this club they used to have called Blues on Halsted.

And then directly across street is the Kingston Mines, a famous blues club and two famous blues clubs, like right next door to each other.

I mean, you know, across the street from each other.

So I'm at blues and somebody said, albert Collins is down at the mines.

I was like, what?

I love Albert, you know?

Right.

So I run down to see Albert.

AC Reid was playing, and I walked in the door, Albert was watching AC Playdhezenhe.

And I walked in the door, jelly Bean was sitting there, and jelly bean.

6465 and where's her hat?

A lot of time and make him look like he's seven foot, you know?

And he just stood up right before I got in and said, hey, you Ronnie Baker Brooks?

I said, yeah, jelly Bean Johnson.

Man, to be honest with you, Joe, I was so caught up in seeing Albert Collins, it didn't even ring a jelly Bean Johnson.

I'm thinking, because he was so big, and he had on a Vikings, Minnesota Vikings jersey, I'm thinking he a football player and, man, and I collect myself.

Oh.

He said, man, I just saw you when y'all just up in Minnesota.

I said, yeah, man, yeah.

And it started clicking.

This is jelly Bean, you know, from the time, you know.

And, man, we hit it off, man, and we exchanged phone numbers, and, like, during that break of that tour, we played the fine line up there in Minneapolis, and I invited Bean to come down, and he came down, he met my dad, and, man, we just hit it off immediately, man, I would come back up there and go hang out with Bean.

We go hit the, you know, all the clubs, and.

And we became like brothers, man.

You know, we would go jam together.

And it came down to me getting ready to do a record, and I just called being the vint about it, like, man, I'm trying to get this record done, man.

I was running to obstacles, you know, and he said, babe, give me a ticket down there.

I'll come help you to Memphis.

You know, give me a ticket to Memphis.

I come down and help you.

I'm like, what?

He said, yeah, I'll produce it.

I like.

You kidding me?

Now, I didn't know at the time being had never produced the blues record.

It was all r and b or rock, you know what he did, you know?

But I go to his house.

Prior to that, he got, damn there more blues records than I had, man.

And I don't forget, I'll be at his crib bed.

I'm blasting some Aberra King early in the morning.

I'm like, oh, let me turn this down.

He's like, no, turn it back up.

Turn it back up.

Or we listening to John Lee Hooker while we eating breakfast, you know, and our relationship built, man.

And when we went down to Memphis to look at studios, quick story.

We were looking at studios and went to my friend's studio.

Nico Larrys had a studio called cotton roll, okay?

And in that studio, three six mafia was recording out of at the time.

And they were.

They were building.

They were hot, but they were getting, like, to that level where they were getting ready to win that Oscar, you know?

And we go in there, man, me and bean go in there to look at the studio before when we got there, it was all these expensive cars parked in the front like Bentley's and, you know, may box and trucks.

And I like, ooh, somebody big in here.

You know, we go on the door, man, and Nico's like, look, Mandy, when you come here, I'm a lock this down.

It's normally like, he thinking, I'm a blues guy, you know?

I'm gonna be a little offended by these rappers in there with.

We walked in the studio, man.

It was weed so thick, joe, you couldn't even see yourself.

Yeah, it was like a p funk.

Yeah, yeah.

But the vibe was thick, man.

They were in there creating, man.

And soon we walked in, it was like, you remember that song hit a mother?

Yeah, they had.

Yeah, they were.

They were cutting that put that hit a mother.

I don't know if I could say the words on the show.

Yeah, but do it as our Kamala Harris.

A m.

And it doesn't end with er.

Yeah.

She said, that's.

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

Hit him.

Hit.

Put that.

Hit him up.

You know.

And, man, they put that song.

He said, put it up for Jelly Bean Mandev.

Because they knew Jelly Bean.

They knew.

They didn't know me too well, but they knew Jelly Bean.

And me and Bean was looking at each other like, whoa.

He said, man, this is crazy.

But it's a great studio.

And that's when it started, man.

Me and Bean worked our butts off, man.

Sometimes we'd be in the studio 24 hours, man.

Yeah.

And you work together with other Minnesota crew, you know, Michael Bland, Sonny T.

Chance Howard.

Yeah, with Jelly Bean.

That.

That must have been a cool recording session, right?

That all stemmed from being.

Yeah.

Um, we did the gold digger cd down in Memphis with Steve Potts, uh, on drums, Dave Smith on bass, and then, uh, Ernest Williamson on keyboards.

And Bean helped me out on some guitars.

And I did some guitars.

Most of the guitar.

All of them.

All the guitars being.

Helped me on some.

So for the.

Take me with your record, beans, like, baby, we gonna do something a little different.

I said, what you talking about?

He said, well, we gonna do the Memphis stuff.

But I got something now.

He didn't tell me.

So we do the Memphis.

We do the Memphis stuff.

He said, man, I set up.

I set up a session here in Minneapolis with Sonny and Michael bland and chance.

I was like, what?

So I went up to Minnesota, man, and we cut a.

We cut about five or six tracks up there with them, man.

I'll never forget.

Mick edition was coming in the studio checking us out while we were cutting, and it was just a cool vibe, man.

And Sonny and Michael B.

Was awesome, man.

And they would.

They were, like, so cool to me.

Like, Ronnie, we should take this on the road, man.

You know, at that time, they wanted to go on the road as a three piece and being, you know, four piece with being as a special guest, you know.

Yeah.

I was like, you know, if I had what I have now with the backing of alligator records, I would do it, but at the time, I didn't have no help.

I was just trying to do it all by myself.

Yeah.

And, you know, when you bring out Michael and Sonny, it's got to be that level, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

You got a business decision, too, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So.

But that was an honor to work with them.

And then we did it again on the Torch album.

And the cool thing about being introduced to those cats, man, they all come from the blues, but of course they do what they do, what they known for, but they got that blues root in them and all of them, you know, and even Terry Lewis and Jimmy.

Jimmy jam, they got that blues root in them.

And you played on one of the tracks with the time that hasn't been released, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So the cowboy or cowgirl?

Cowgirl.

Okay.

Yeah.

Maybe one day.

One day, hopefully, man.

Larry Graham's on that track.

I believe prince is on the track.

Terry, I think.

No, Terry didn't play as Larry, I think beings on drums.

I'm not sure.

I forget.

I know I played the prince.

I believe Prince is on rhythm guitar, too.

So I know you've told the story on my radio show, but to the YouTube audience and everything, you had a connection hanging out with Prince of Paisley park.

Yeah, a little while back, which is pretty cool.

Yeah.

What was that about, man?

That.

Well, that was actually during that same time being.

See, what he told me, this hike being always, look, you know, hold his cars real close to his chest.

Because I was young, you know, I was young, and he, you know, and they.

They're famous, man.

You know, you got.

You got to protect that, you know.

And he called me up.

They said, man, prince is doing this celebration at Paisley.

You should come on up.

I was like, cool.

So I went up there not knowing that he had set up this session with.

With Terry Lewis at Terry Lewis House.

So that's when.

That's when I did cowgirl.

Right, right.

So we cut.

We cut two days.

I went there first day and hung out at Terry's house and talking, you know, getting to know Terry a little better.

And then the second day, I came back and he.

Oh, your audio dropped out.

There you go.

Yeah, I had cut the track that day before, and Terry asked me just to come back, just to make sure we got it, you know.

And I came back the next day.

He was like, man, I don't know what you did to this track, Ronnie, but I could not let it go all night.

I've been working on it all night, man.

And he.

I was like, come on, Terry, don't you know?

But being like, no, he's not.

He's not playing.

Terry's serious.

Terry's very serious.

And so we ended up that night going to see Prince.

And at the celebration, man, it was George Clinton, Erica Badoo was Washington performing that night with common, the rapper common.

Uh, man, some.

Everybody, man, was there.

And, um, prince said, hey, man, after the show, we was at the sound booth.

He came to the sound booth, said, hey, man, y'all come to the studio after the, after the set, you know, and he walked away, and I said, bean?

Did he mean me too?

He said.

He said, y'all right, right?

I ended up going to the studio, you know, was inside of the building, but a different part of the building.

And, man, I was quiet as a church mouth Joe.

I was like, man, I'm not saying nothing.

I don't want to get kicked out of it.

I remember me.

We all get there, and Terry had us do some chanting on this track he was doing for Morris.

Morris was there, and we were doing this chant, and Terry said, hey, why don't y'all go out there and get some girls?

I need some girls to do some chanting, you know, on this record.

Some oohs and ahs or whatever.

It was right?

And right when the girls came in, prince came in and he started preaching, what are you doing, Terry?

What are you doing, Morris?

He said, we're just getting some chance, man.

Why do you want to do that to the sisters?

Now?

They wasn't doing anything bad.

It was just like, ah, you know what?

Nothing provocative or nothing, you know, bad at all.

But I think Prince used this situation to try to connect and get them to convert to Jehovah Witness.

And that started a whole conversation that night.

We ended up there to like eight in the morning, man.

Prince hail court.

Now.

We ended up on the floor of the studio.

I never get this.

Prince is on the piano talking.

He trying to get Terry Morris, jelly Bean and Jerome.

Everybody was there to convert to Jehovah Witness.

And they like, man, we not ready for that.

You.

You there, man.

But we not.

You know.

And, you know, I can understand both sides, you know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And.

And he was playing this beautiful melody on the piano, man, while he was talking.

And he'd get up and he'd say something, and he just threw out the question, what's the ultimate goal in life?

What do you.

What do you want to do?

What's your ultimate goal?

And when he.

We would talk about music, I wouldn't say a word.

But when he started talking about faith, now we equal, right?

Right.

We equal now in Kazae.

And my guys, are we equal?

And I said, man, I don't know where I got the courage from, Joe, because I just said, hey, man, ultimately, I want to be the best person I could be.

I want to be better than I was yesterday.

Prince got up out of his chair, man, got on the floor, and I'm sitting next.

Me and Tory ruffins sit next to each other.

Tori, my brother, man.

Tory, I guess I could say this now.

I didn't say it before.

I can say it now.

God rest Prince soul.

But, you know, he didn't allow no alcohol or nothing.

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

So I think Tory told the story.

Maybe if this is you, tell it.

Yeah.

Okay.

So me and Tory sitting next to each other, we, you know, we whispering.

And Prince talking over there.

We just.

Yeah, Mandy.

I'm trying to listen, man.

And all of a sudden, Tory, he had a flask in his jacket, and it fell on the floor.

Boom.

It made the noise.

And we all look at.

He grabbed it real quick before Prince can see it.

Like if your dad walks in.

Right, right, right.

You think he saw him in?

But Prince kept on talking like, as if he didn't see it, man.

But me and Tory was crying.

Laughing, man.

We were crying loud, man.

You gonna get us kicked out of here, Mandy.

So, you know, and then after that, prince came and sit down next to me, man, when I said what I said, and he's talking, and I'm like, whoa, I'm into it with him.

We talking back and forth.

And then all of a sudden, Joe, I just looked down at his boots.

He had on some bad boots, man.

Really nice, sharp boots.

Custom looked like, with a heel on it, right?

And then it just hit me.

This is Prince.

This is the modern day Jimi Hendrix.

This is Prince.

That's right.

Yeah.

And I went back into.

Shut up.

Yeah.

Great night, man.

We were there all day, man.

And then after most of the people left and would just.

Terry, jelly Bean and Morrison and most of the time, you know, the man and me, he really got uncanny.

And that's beside I saw a prince that I was fortunate to see because he was just.

When he was around them, it was like brothers.

They were like brothers.

It wasn't this I'm a star thing or this thing.

He let that down, that guard down.

And just like one of the fellas, man, he took us around, showing us Paisley, man.

And he showed me the triple diamond of Purple Rain.

I had never seen a diamond record, and he had a triple diamond record.

And he was like, yeah, like, man, that's cool.

And he showed me his Batman piano and just showed us around, man.

We were just walking around talking, man.

And it was just a beautiful day for me, man.

I'll never forget.

Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a relatable story to that.

Nobody sees the few.

You're one of the few to get to see.

I was blessed.

Yeah.

That was because of jelly Bean, man.

You know, and jelly Bean, I knew he knew about me, but I would always say, ben, you think he remember.

He said, yeah, he remember you, man.

He might not know your name, but he know you, my brother, you know, he know me and you.

And fast forward, man.

It was a time when him and bean kind of fell out and, you know.

Cause at that time, the time was trying to do a record and prince wouldn't let him use the name or whatever.

Yeah, original seven.

Yeah, that a frustrated being alive because he was.

He was doing the family, too with, with Paul and them, Paul Peterson them, and they wouldn't let them use that name.

And being was getting frustrated and being was just going off in the.

In the press about it a little bit.

Not.

And I would call being like, hey, man, cool out.

Be, you know, babe, bro, I'm tired.

I'm tired of this, you know?

And Jerome called me.

Jerome called me one morning and said, man, prince told me to call you.

I said, what?

He said, yeah, prince told me to call.

He said, what?

For one, he said, why don't you talk with being, man?

He said, he wants you to talk with being.

Because being wouldn't respond back to Prince at that time or whatever.

And I said, man, I can't talk to Bean.

If y'all could talk to him, he said, no, you being really tight, you know, he think being might listen to you.

So I used to tell b man, this, you know, that's.

That's y'all brothers.

You keep their family stuff in.

Inside, you know, and.

But eventually, unfortunately, Prince passed away and being called me to confirm that, man, I know that broke his heart, because prince was reaching out to Beanore.

He was trying to reach out to Bean, and being was so hurt or mad.

He was kind of like.

And, you know, I understand both sides, man.

I just tried to be a mediator and let my brother bean understand a different side.

I know, because I can't walk in his shoes, but I can also look at it as a different lens than him and say, hey, man.

Because I.

I kind of come up with my father, and my father was always a problem solver, you know?

And he always say, you don't argue with someone when you're emotional.

When you're emotional.

Cause you know, and do some things that you don't mean.

You might say something that you don't really mean.

I know Bing said some things that he really didn't mean.

Cause he loves Prince.

Right, right, yeah.

And, you know, the last time we hung out with.

The time in Connecticut was after a show in a hotel room that had a couple adjoining rooms.

And it was right after Prince passed away.

And it's the first time I've ever heard Morris Day speaking a regular Morris day.

His speaking voice.

His regular voice.

And then the character, and he, you know, he would.

They were all affected by it, but.

Yeah, yeah, I remember seeing Morris after it happened, and he was just.

You could tell you just numb, man.

He was numb.

He was like, they did a show here.

He was so kind of like you could.

I know, but when he hit the stage, you couldn't see it, you know?

But before the stage, you could see it is all over him, man.

They were hurting.

They were brothers, man.

I mean, you know, anytime you make a history like they did and they do, right, it's some good, bad and ugly, man.

But the one thing I can say about all of them.

Yeah, they brothers, man.

They love each other.

They fight.

I fight with my own brother.

Right.

It happens.

I got.

I got six.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah, but they made some incredible music.

And I was just thinking about this the other day.

They got the hook in America's belly with some of them songs, man.

All them songs they did that time of the.

Of that time.

Yeah, they were it.

Yeah.

It's like the Minneapolis song.

You got the p funk, you got Motown, you got Chicago blues.

But it's funny, from.

From being.

Asking questions and being around musicians, you ask, what was it like knowing you made great music like that?

And the effect it was on people.

I swear, everyone who was involved in a big movement like that I was like, I don't know.

We were just making music.

Yeah.

Being creative.

They weren't thinking about, like, hey, we're going to make our.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So no expectation.

Just doing it for the love and, you know, you want to do something with your life, man.

I remember someone asked Morris, but we were somewhere.

I was hanging out with them somewhere, and somebody asked Morris, what would you do if you wasn't a musician?

He said, I'd probably be a vagrant.

And I was like, you know what?

That's probably of most of us.

Yeah.

But he'd be dressed to the nine still.

He'd have his old clothes on his stage.

Clothes.

Stacey Adams, you dedicate your life to this, man.

You know, they made some incredible.

I mean, look at all the people they inspired, man.

Look at the disciples from that, man.

Look at the tree from that.

What they've done, man.

And even today, you can hear the music, the inspiration and the young people.

That's coming up now, you know.

Right.

So we got to jump back into your record.

Yeah, I got a little detour, but that was great.

Talking about jelly Bean and Prince and everybody like that, but, um, blues in my DNA, alligator records, October 11.

All the dates on your website, going out on the road.

And.

And speaking of cope with Montoya, you.

Right before the pandemic, you guys were doing some dates, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Did you play Connecticut?

Fairfield?

I know you were scheduled.

We did.

Okay.

We did.

We.

That was after, though.

That was after.

When would they start?

No, no.

Yeah, it was after.

Wait a minute.

I gotta think about it now.

Mandev.

It was after the pandemic.

Okay.

Yeah.

It was after.

It was right when they start opening up things and we still wasn't really open.

Like, it is still not really open.

But, I mean, we still got the effects of the pandemic, but it's much better than it was then.

And we were doing some dates together.

But what it was, we were doing a tribute tour to Albert Collins.

Okay.

Yeah.

And we got two dates in Manda.

Excuse me.

And we were headed up to Minneapolis.

And the worst I getting around, man, about it closing out when I saw them shut down the NBA.

When the NBA shut down the basketball NBA.

Yeah.

I like, yeah, we're next.

Yeah.

And then I saw buddy.

God canceled dates.

I was like, oh, that's it.

That's it.

And I got the call out because I was calling Bean.

Like, Bean, we coming up there, man.

And we was in soundcheck.

We had a show here.

We had played Milwaukee, and then here.

And we were headed to Minneapolis the next night and being was calling.

He called me doing sound checks.

Hey, babe, bro, they canceled your show.

I didn't even know.

And I guess he got out up there that it was canceled.

And they're being called babe r to cancel your show, man, I had to call my manager.

My manager didn't even know.

Being new before my manager, and after that, everything shut down, man.

Yeah, well, we.

Sorry about that.

Yeah, but.

But, yeah, we're.

We're in present time.

You got a great record.

You know, we've heard the whole thing.

You know, we.

Thanks, alligator, to dropping us in advance.

And before I run out of juice on the computer here, I gotta ask you to talk about your band.

I mean, you got Darryl Coots still rolling with you, your rhythm section.

Tell us about the other guys in the band.

Darrell coots still with me on keyboards.

I got a young kid.

Well, he's not.

He's young, but young, young to me.

But he's been with me about four or five.

Well, about four years now since the pandemic.

Chris Singleton is on drums.

Okay.

And then my man Phil Castleberry on base.

Phil is a well known basis here in Chicago.

He come up a little bit before Darrell Munch Jones has played with the Stones.

Right.

Phil used to play with the OJs.

He played with some of everybody, man.

I got him on base.

And we just hit the road, man.

We actually rehearsal this week and got rehearsal coming up next week and getting ready for the tour.

So how many off the top of your head do you.

How many artists are on alligator because you played with so many on tour, right?

Yeah, I know.

My sister, Shameka Copeland, who's.

The whole record's coming out.

Yeah, yeah.

Hers.

Her album's out now.

It's called blame it on Eve on Alligator.

My man, Coco Montoya, he's got an album out called writing on the wall.

Nick Moss is from Chicago.

He's got a record out.

Toronto Cannon got a record out.

Tommy Castro got a record coming.

My man Billy branch is working on the record right now.

So we here, man.

You know, it's changed, Joe, from back in the day with my dad and Coco Taylor and Albert Collins and Sun Seals and little Ed still around.

Little Ed still here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he's still on alligator.

But it's changing now.

It's another.

Another family coming up with the blues.

Our generation, you know.

Well, you.

You pushed reset and, you know, thanks for keeping us in the pandemic with those gems, especially the one with jelly Bean at your house?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah, one final question I want to ask you, because you're notorious for going out in the crowd and playing live, walking through the crowd.

People love that.

Any mishaps ever happened while you were out there?

Yes.

And you could say.

Yeah, I could say it on air.

It happened at the club I'm having my cd release party at on the 18 October at Fitzgerald's.

I never forget this.

I go out in the audience and I normally have my man with me.

It was back in the day, it was Rico, but now his scooter or my man Luther.

I got my man Luther with me now they'll go out with me.

You know, Rico started that with the flashlight thing.

He would bring the flashlight out with me when I walk out, you know, people can see me.

He put the light right on me.

Be so bright, sometimes I can't see where I'm going.

So my man, this.

It was scooter.

I go out in the audience, man, and this lady.

This was before I was married.

This lady came up to me, you know, I'm playing tour, you know, and she just grabbed me, man, put her face all in my chest.

I'm sweating.

Right?

Put her face all in my chest and then bite my chest, man.

Joe, I wanted to hit her with my guitar, man, because it hurt me.

I was, you know, reacting to the pain.

Right, right.

What are you doing?

That's one of them, man.

But most of all, it's been a great experience going out in the audience.

It was my way of connecting with them and making them feel a part of the show and making me feel a part of them, you know, because I'm a fan too, so.

Yeah, you're amazing performers.

YouTube videos all over there through the years.

You go back as far as 15 years.

You can see Ronnie performing, performing with his dad, jelly Bean.

And you know this guy when he comes to your town.

Or you could travel a little bit.

Definitely.

Well worth going to see.

Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Yeah, yeah.

And the new record.

Get it, get it, get it.

Yeah, you got it.

Now you can.

You can pre order it now.

Okay.

This is the album.

It's gonna be on a blue vinyl, man.

I hope I got time to show you real quick.

Yeah, yeah.

It's on out.

It's on vinyl.

And then I got it, of course, on all of the, uh, the platforms.

Wow, that's neat.

Blues in my DNA.

Yeah, that's right.

That's the perks.

Yeah, that's the perks of being with alligator, right?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, they got, you know, a machine there, man.

It's got a history.

And, you know, I'm proud to say my father helped build Bill, and hopefully I can add to it.

Exactly.

So, hey, I'm going to.

I'm going to bid our audience ado.

And thanks, Ronnie, for coming on the show.

Your brother for life.

And always nice to have you on.

Thank you, brother.

Thank you for all you do for the music and the musicians.

Mandy, gotta try.

We gotta try.

We're working together, so hope to see on the east coast.

I'm sure you'll be adding more dates as well, so.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Ronnie.

Thank you.

Just explain I got my boobs in my DNA oh, yeah.