Wayne Baker Brooks to Headline Blues on Water Street 2017

photo by Alain Boucly & Blues Island Productions Copyright 2016 by waynebakerbrooks.com

Wayne Baker Brooks is coming to Batavia to headline the 2^nd annual Blues on Water Street Festival June 10, 2017!

Wayne Baker Brooks is Chicago blues royalty, son of Lonnie Brooks, brother of Ronnie Baker Brooks, cut out of the same cloth as Chicago Blues legends, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. His “blues roots may run deeper and wider than the Great Lakes themselves”[1], but, he wasn’t just given a blue spoon on a silver platter. He has earned his way and forged his own reputation. He started out at the bottom, as a roadie for his father, before sharing the limelight on stage with a guitar. Even before that, Wayne and brother Ronnie were laying down rhythm tracks for their father’s songs produced for Alligator Records while they were still in elementary school![2] He was born to play the blues.

Wayne Baker Brooks earned a name in blues circles in his own right that led to a feature performance in that Chicago classic, the Blues Brothers movie. He earned a Real Blues magazine award for co-writing Blues for Dummies, started his own label (Blues Island), has been featured (twice) on The House of Blues Radio Hour with Dan Akroyd, headlined the Chicago Blues Festival and won five (5) more Real Blues magazine awards (including Best Chicago Blues Tune, Best Chicago Blues Album in the Modern category and Best New Talent).[3]

Wayne Baker Brooks has been described as a “down and dirty … from the gut” blues musician.[4] Wayne Baker Brooks can play old time, Chicago Blues with authenticity, but he also takes blues in his own direction, mixing blues, with hip hop, house music and funk. Blues is the common denominator, though, and he never strays far from it.

He literally grew up with the Chicago blues legends like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, KoKo Taylor and his father, of course, and he has played with a long list of legends that include Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Bo Diddley, Corey Harris, The Black Crowes, Otis Rush, Jr. Wells, Shemekia Copeland, Johnny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Keb Mo, Jimmy Vivino, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal, Mick Fleetwood, Otis Clay, Bobby Rush, Elvin Bishop, Billy Branch and others.[5]

And he is coming out to Batavia for Blues on Water Street. Block out June 10th on your calendar. Look for more details on this page and Facebook, including the rest of the musical lineup which will feature a totsl of six (6) acts on two stages with lots of room in between for hanging out, art viewing, good conversation, food from River Edge Bar & Grill, beer from Solemn Oath Brewery, Wine from Bright Angel and special Blues on Water Street cocktails combining aged bourbon from Whiskey Acres and handcrafted concoctions from Windmill Ginger Brew that you won’t want to miss.