For me, inspiration came early from Ronnie Hawkins when Rick Brown and myself were working on some co-writing. And listening to the incredible video of Ronnie on You Tube
(Ronnie Hawkins-Who Do You Love (Live on Lake Minnetonka) you realize that even in the late
70's Ronnie Hawkins can still sing and still rock.
Check it out. 

Ronnie was born Jan 10, 1935 in Arkansas and arrived in Canada about 1959 to clearly establish himself as a great musician. He became known as Rompin Ronnie or The Hawk. Even Bill Clinton once remarked that he had not met anyone quite like Ronnie. And its interesting that Ronnie played on stage with the likes of Eric Clapton, John Lennon, and the list is extensive.  I still enjoy the songs such as Mary Lou, Who Do You Love, Hey Bo Diddley, to name a few. They are classics. And in the early years perhaps his band had the reputation of being the bad ass group, playing loud and fast, but the years caught up to Ronnie like they do the rest of us, a scare with Cancer and certainly some high and low moments. But for the most part a steady-as-she-goes captain of his ship. And today we salute you Ronnie and hope life is good for you and you journey into senior years with guitar in hand shouting out...Who do you love,  Who do you Love.  Because Ronnie, all the fans would agree, that you are truly loved. I am sure when Ronnie Hawkins brought his brand of rock and roll, that special Memphis sound, Toronto and all of Canada was at a turning point in the music business. And its never been quite the same....