Chicago is home to the blues. So many great artists have come from the Windy City, among them Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, a group that has been standing tall among Chicago blues greats for more than 30 years. The band’s big sound, fueled by Lil’ Ed’s rollicking slide work and deep blues string bending, along with his soulful vocals, is as real and hard-hitting as Chicago blues gets. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are the hottest purveyors of bottleneck boogie to come out of Chicago since Hound Dog Taylor.”
Lil’ Ed Williams comes to the blues naturally. Born in Chicago in 1955, in the heart of the city’s tough West Side, Ed grew up surrounded by music. His uncle, Chicago slide guitar king and master songwriter J.B. Hutto taught him how to feel, not just play the blues. He was playing the guitar, and then the drums and bass, by the time he was 12. Both he and his half-brother, Pookie Young, the band’s bassist, learned from their uncle. “J.B. taught me everything I know,” Lil’ Ed said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”
Ed and Pookie spent their teen years making music together, and in 1975, formed their first incarnation of The Blues Imperials. They earned $6 for their first gig and split it four ways. They played in clubs at night; during the day, Ed worked at a car wash and Pookie drove a school bus. Eventually, Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer heard of them, just as he was looking for some of Chicago’s younger blues musicians. “Ed and his band had a real good reputation,” he said. “I knew Ed was a hot slide player, but I had no idea what he and the band were really capable of. I asked them to come down to the studio and cut a couple of songs. I never expected what happened.”
What happened was that a band that had never been inside a recording studio treated it like a club. They recorded their two songs and kept playing. After 10 songs, Iglauer offered them a full album contract. Twelve of the songs that were eventually recorded became their debut album, Roughhousin’. The Village Voice said it might be “the blues album of the year.”
Soon after, guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton joined the band and things took off. Garret’s risk-taking rhythm guitar work and Littleton’s unpredictable, old-school drumming were the perfect complements to Lil’ Ed’s and Pookie’s rambunctious playing. With their album, Chicken, Gravy, & Biscuits, doors opened. The band toured relentlessly and coalesced as a unit. Their spontaneous and unpredictable live shows were legendary.
Lil’s Ed & The Blues Imperials have played the Chicago Blues Festival multiple times, and have appeared at jazz festivals in New Orleans, Portland, Tampa Bay, San Diego and worldwide. Their fan base, known as “Ed Heads,” appreciated each of the eight Alligator records released between 1986 and 2012, and with each one, the band’s stature grew. They took home the Living Blues Award for Best Live Performer three years in a row and won the prestigious Blues Music Award for Band of the Year twice.
For Ed Williams and his merry band, it’s about the music and the family. “We’re family, and families stay together,” he said.
Night after night, gig after gig, the musical family called Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials brings their big, dynamic Chicago blues sounds to fans around the country and around the world.
Welcome to the family.
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