“Just play what you feel, be real about it and enjoy yourself. That’s what Albert Collins taught me,” says award-winning guitar virtuoso and soul-deep singer Coco Montoya. The self-taught, left-handed player mastered his craft under Collins’ tutelage, for whom he originally played drums.

Alongside lessons from UK legend John Mayall, Montoya puts his own stamp onto every song. Since his first solo album in 1995, which won the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist, Montoya’s endlessly inventive guitar work and passionate, hard-hitting vocals have kept him at the top of the blues scene.

Montoya’s new Alligator Records release Writing On The Wall (2023) is his sixth for the label and is already considered one of his best. For the first time on Alligator, Coco brought his road-tested band—noted keyboardist / songwriter Jeff Paris (Keb’ Mo’, Bill Withers), bassist Nathan Brown, and drummer Rena Beavers—into the studio. The camaraderie of the long-time bandmates is evident and the results have left Coco, in his words, “over the moon.”

Produced by Grammy Award-winner Tony Braunagel (Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal) and co-produced by Jeff Paris, Writing On The Wall is a tour-de-force of memorable, hook-filled songs, sung with passion and fueled by equally memorable, top shelf musicianship.

Henry “Coco” Montoya was born in Santa Monica, California, on October 2, 1951, and raised in a working-class family. Growing up, he immersed himself in his parents’ record collection, listening to big band jazz, salsa, doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll. His first love was drums; he acquired a kit at age 11. He got a guitar two years later. “I’m sure the Beatles had something to do with this,” Montoya recalls. “I wanted to make notes as well as beats.”

Still an indefatigable road warrior, Montoya continues to tour virtually nonstop, bringing audiences to their feet from New York to New Orleans, and Chicago to San Francisco. Across the globe he’s performed in: Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, England, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Canada.

The son of Chicago blues legend Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks is blues royalty and has performed with some of the greatest artists of our time, including: BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, and Koko Taylor, as well as the legendary Eric Clapton. Ronnie was headliner at the Chicago Blues Festival and plays major festivals around the world.

Brooks recently teamed up with Chicago’s Alligator Records on a licensing deal for future recordings and his next release is planned for summer/fall 2024. His 2017 album Times Have Changed was produced by Steve Jordan (John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Stevie Wonder) and recorded in Memphis at Royal Studios, home of Al Green and Hi Records.

RBB is also a featured artist on Chicago Plays the Stones (2022) – a special “answer” recording to the Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome (2016) – which Mick Jagger and Keith Richards liked so much that they joined the sessions as guests on their own songs. Brooks’ history also includes recording and touring as a special guest member of Big Head Todd & the Monsters.

“In Ronnie Baker Brooks’ powerhouse hands, blues-rock never sounded so outrageous and soul never so delicious. And the blues never so profound…one of today’s top live performers.” – Blues Music Magazine