Lil' Ed Williams (born April 8, 1955,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

ist,

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

. With his backing band, the Blues Imperials, he has built up a loyal following.

Biography

In childhood, Williams and his half-brother James "Pookie" Young received encouragement and tutelage from their uncle, the blues guitarist, songwriter and recording artist J. B. Hutto, who introduced them to his student Dave Weld. Together with Dave Weld, (rhythm guitar and vocals) formed the first version of the Blues Imperials. Since 1989, the band's lineup has been Williams (lead guitar and vocals), Michael Garrett (rhythm guitar and vocals), James Young (bass) and Kelly Littleton (drums). ''Living Blues'' magazine described the band as "Rough-and-ready South and West Side blues...Ed's swirling, snarling slide guitar work can be riveting, and The Imperials pound out blues-rock riffs and rhythms behind him as if they're overdosing on boogie juice." ''Guitar Player'' called the band "a snarling boogie-blues machine." A decade later,

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using ...

offered them the chance to record a track, "Young Thing", for a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''New Bluebloods'' (1987). Producer and label owner

Bruce Iglauer Bruce Iglauer (born July 10, 1947) is an American businessman and record producer who founded Alligator Records as an independent record label featuring blues music. Early life and career Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States ...

encouraged them to record additional material, and they cut a full album's worth of material at that session, released as ''Roughhousin (1986). They then appeared at

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

s and toured widely. Their second album, ''Chicken, Gravy & Biscuits'', was released in 1989, and their third, ''

What You See Is What You Get In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for what you see is what you get, refers to software that allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed document, web ...

'', in 1992. At this point the group disbanded. Williams issued two

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

albums, ''Keep On Walking'', on which he was joined by Dave Weld, a former member of the Blues Imperials, and ''Who's Been Talking'' (1998), pairing Williams with Willie Kent. In 1999 the release of ''Get Wild'' marked the group's reunion. It was followed by '' Heads Up!'' (2002), ''Rattleshake'' (2006), ''Full Tilt'' (2008) and ''Jump Start'' (2012). Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials have appeared multiple times at the

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

and festivals and clubs around the world. In June 2008, Williams played on three tracks on Magic Slim & the Teardrops's album ''Midnight Blues''. In June 2009, Williams was a guest on the radio quiz show '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'', produced by

Chicago Public Radio WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is fi ...

and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials have been nominated for eight

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s as Band of the Year and have won that award twice. Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials are 2024 inductees of the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum operated by the Blues Foundation at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to b ...

Discography

Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials

*''Roughhousin (1986),

Alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

*''Chicken, Gravy and Biscuits'' (1989), Alligator *''

'' (1992), Alligator *''Get Wild'' (1999), Alligator *'' Heads Up!'' (2002), Alligator *''Rattleshake'' (2006), Alligator *''Full Tilt'' (2008), Alligator *''Jump Start'' (2012), Alligator *''The Big Sound Of....'' (2016), Alligator

Solo

*''Keep On Walkin (1996), Earwig Music *''Who's Been Talking'' (1998), Earwig Music

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lil Ed 1955 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers Songwriters from Illinois Singers from Chicago American slide guitarists Blues musicians from Illinois Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Earwig Music artists Alligator Records artists American male songwriters

Biography

Discography

Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials

Solo

See also

References