Living Blues Magazine Living Blues #294 Back Issue

Living Blues #294 (January/February 2025) features Chicago guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks. Son of blues star Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks carries on the family legacy of powerful blues with deep, traditional roots. On the heels of his debut release on Alligator Records, the label that helped cement his dad’s career, Ronnie sits down and reflects on his life in the blues. Chicago vocalist Gerald McClendon calls himself a soulkeeper. His career is based on keeping the sounds of classic soul alive and thriving in the Windy City. Mississippi artist Harrell Davenport, better known as “Young Rell,” is just 17 years old, but he has embraced the blues with a passion and is stepping off into what he hopes will be a lifetime in music. This issue’s Let It Roll focusses on The Famous Hokum Boys recording session for ARC in New York City on April 8–11, 1930. Just six months after the 1929 stock market crash, ARC came to Lester Melrose looking for musicians to record. Among the artists he provided were three top talents bundled together as the Famous Hokum Boys. Big Bill Broonzy, Frank Brasswell, and Georgia Tom Dorsey headed to New York and recorded 17 sides in four days that feature their exceptional skills.

All of this plus Catching Up with Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, LB Talks To Eleanor Ellis, the latest in Blues News, and over 50 record and book reviews including releases by the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra featuring Willy Jordan, Steve Cropper, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Reed.