01:12 Miner introduces Lonnie Brooks. 01:55 They talk about his upbringing in Dubuisson, Louisiana. It was a farming community which produced cotton, corn, potatoes and cattle. 02:45 Lonnie grew up hearing Zydeco, country and blues sometimes on WLAC radio. First time he heard blues was from the ice cream truck that would play Lightening Hopkins. 03:38 He bought a guitar when he was 22 years old. He talks about his grandfather from Bunkie Louisiana, who was a banjo player of the New Orleans style. 04:34 Miner mentions that he may not always be thought of as a Louisiana musician. Lonnie talks about moving away to Port Arthur, Texas at the age of 16 years. He worked in construction and finally saved up enough money at 22 to buy a guitar. 05:03 At 22 his first working gig was with Clifton Chenier. They talk about the length of his gigs. Lonnie recalls the blisters on his fingers and being shouted at by Clifton to continue playing. He mentions Clifton later saying Lonnie should thank him for making him a better musician because of this. 06:40 Miner compares Clifton to Professor Longhair in terms of the frenzy and length of their live performances. 06:58 Lonnie lives in Chicago presently. He talks about his early recording days with Eddie Schuler at Goldband records, mentioning ‘The Crawl’ record. He then travelled around, meeting Sam Cooke in Atlanta, Georgia. Cooke then asked him to go to Chicago with him. 08:05 Lonnie describes Sam Cooke. He recalls him as being shy and quiet with most people apart from his Chicago friends. He toured with him for several days, staying at Cooke’s mother’s house. 09:12 He talks about his first recording in 1969 on Capitol Records, ‘Broke and Hungry’. This was under the name ‘Guitar Junior’. He talks about having to change his name. 09:47 Lonnie talks about adapting his musical style to fit in in Chicago. He talks about all the artists that would play there every night like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Magic Sam, Otis Rush. 10:37 Lonnie’s style was more ‘rock n roll’ or ‘Fats Domino’ style as he describes. A more 'Louisiana style' of guitar. 11:03 Miner recalls first hearing him on ‘Living Chicago Blues’ Anthology on Alligator Records. She mentions ‘Bayou Lightening’ his first solo record. It wins the 1980 ‘Grand Prix du Disque’ at the Montreux Jazz festival. 12:20 Lonnie’s favorite record of his is ‘Bayou Lightening’ and ‘Bayou Lightening Strikes’. 12:30 Miner mentions her favorite songs and refers to his son, Baker Brooks, who has song writing credits on some of his records and travels with him now. 13:07 Lonnie describes teaching his son from the age of 6 and his early skills. 14:12 They play a recording of ‘Voodoo Daddy’. 15:35 Lonnie talks about researching what music made people dance and putting this style in his music. He used Louisiana, Texan and Chico styles together. 17:17 They play a recording of ‘Watchdog’. 19:38 He talks about the feeling of coming back to Louisiana and visiting his family in Washington and Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. 21:56 Changes in Zydeco music he has noticed. Every style now has more ‘rock’ sound in it. 22:22 An audience member asks a question: If Lonnie did any Heineken advertisements. He did two. 23:50 They play a recording of ‘Wife For Tonight’. 27:23 End.
