Black History Month: Wound Up Tight by Lonnie Brooks
Chicago blues legend Lonnie Brooks plays "voodoo blues" with guest Johnny Winter
Wound Up Tight
Lonnie Brooks
Alligator Records
Released 1986
Lonnie Brooks was born Lee Baker Jr. in 1933 in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. He learned to play guitar from his grandfather but didn’t think about a career in music until he moved to Port Arthur, Texas in the 1950s. There he heard T-Bone Walker, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and other Texas blues guitar-slingers. According to legend, Clifton Chenier heard Brooks playing his guitar on his front porch and offered him a job. He released his first solo singles regionally under the name Guitar Jr. In 1960, Brooks moved to Chicago, reportedly at the invitation of Same Cooke, and took the stage name Lonnie Brooks. He played regularly in the clubs in Chicago and northwest Indiana. While in Chicago, he recorded more singles for various record labels before he signed with Capitol Records in 1969, releasing one album titled Broke an’ Hungry under the name Guitar Jr. He then signed with Alligator Records based in Chicago in 1979 and remained with the label throughout his career. He wore a cowboy hat while performing, a signature style that he may have picked up after making an appearance on the television program Hee Haw. Brooks’ style combined Louisiana swamp blues and Chicago urban blues that some described as “voodoo blues.” His guitar style was described by writer Robert Palmer as “astonishing.” Wound Up Tight is Brooks’ fifth album with Alligator. The songs are mostly originals written by Brooks that span blues, rock, and R&B. The band is in fine form, comprised of Tom Giblin (keyboards), Osee Anderson and Larry Clyman (guitar), Noel Neal (bass), and Jimi Schuette (drums). Johnny Winter joins on lead guitar on two tracks, including the opener “Got Lucky Last Night,” a rock and roll tune that sees Brooks and Winter trade solos. It’s followed by a great example of Brooks’ style of swamp blues, “Jealous Man.” Winter picks up his slide guitar on the title cut, a slow blues burner that name-checks many of Brooks’ blues heroes. Brooks’ sons Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks are also full-time blues musicians performing and recording with their own bands and often guested on their father’s shows and albums. They also booked shows together as The Brooks Family. In 1998, Brooks co-authored Blues for Dummies with his son Wayne and writer Cub Koda. Lonnie Brooks died in Chicago in 2017 at the age of 83. Lonnie earned two Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010.