Ronnie Baker Brooks

Welcome to the weekend again.  Looking for good live music in a great small club atmosphere?  Blues is always a good bet, especially in this town.  There are so many great performers and so many wonderful venues.  Maybe you need a little help narrowing down the choices.  If so, I’m here for you.

Carl Weathersby

Lil’ Ed of [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials[/lastfm] is a dynamic performer with a tight, veteran band that is always a good choice.  He’ll be at Buddy Guy’s Legends tonight (Friday).  [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]John Primer[/lastfm] is about as real-deal-Chicago-blues as you can get.  He’ll be at Legends tomorrow night.  Rosa’s has [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Lucky Peterson[/lastfm] tonight and one of our town’s great guitarists, Carlos Johnson tomorrow night. And the briliant Carl Weathersby performs till late at night tonight and tomorrow at Kingston Mines.

My pick for the weekend, though, is Ronnie Baker Brooks at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn.  As the son of Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie was born into the blues but grew up hearing the same music a lot of us heard and took some inspiration from blues influenced bands like [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Aerosmith[/lastfm] and [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]ZZ Top[/lastfm].  He can quote [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]John Lee Hooker[/lastfm] and [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Howlin’ Wolf[/lastfm] and do a hillarious impersonation of [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Buddy Guy[/lastfm] (don’t tell Buddy).  His singing and guitar playing is soulful and his timing precise.  The best place to see Ronnie is at FitzGerald’s.  That club always draws a great crowd for Ronnie that tends to be very involved in the music from the bar leaners to the dance floor.

So get out there and see some live blues this weekend.

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