Lil' Ed Williams (born April 8, 1955,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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 tha ...

ist,

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes 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 gen ...

. 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 or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''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 community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

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, is a system in which editing software allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed d ...

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

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

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 Willie Kent (February 24, 1936 – March 2, 2006) was an American Chicago blues singer, bassist and songwriter. Career Kent was born in Inverness, Sunflower County, Mississippi. Although he had played the bass guitar in Chicago's clubs since the ...

. 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 Morris Holt (August 7, 1937 – February 21, 2013), known as Magic Slim, was an American blues singer and guitarist. Born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers, he followed blues greats such as Muddy Waters and How ...

& 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 serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and li ...

and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

. 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.

Discography

Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials

*''Roughhousin (1986),

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

*''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 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