Lil’ Ed Williams

Lil’ Ed Williams, although small in stature, is a true giant of the blues, and among the very authentic West Side Chicago bluesmen. From smoking slide guitar boogies to raw-boned Chicago shuffles to the deepest slow blues, Lil’ Ed Williams is a master bluesman. A gifted guitarist and a remarkably gritty and soulful vocalist, Williams, along with his blistering, road-tested band, The Blues Imperials, has been tearing up clubs and festival stages all over the world for almost 25 years. Not since the heday of Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers has a Chicago blues band made such a consistently joyous, rollicking noise. Between the band’s wonderfully untamed music and Ed’s flying leaps, his back-bending, his toe-walking through the audience and his sliding across the stage on his knees, it’s no wonder The Boston Globe called Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials “the world’s #1 houserocking band.”

Lil’ Ed boasts a direct bloodline to blues history - his uncle and musical mentor was the great Chicago slide guitarist and recording artist J.B. Hutto. According to The Chicago Tribune, “Williams represents on of the few remaining authentic links to the raucous but pure Chicago blues.”

Born in Chicago, Ed grew up surrounded by the blues. He was playing guitar, then drums and bass, by the time he was twelve. Along with his half-brother Pookie, Ed received lessons and support from their famous blues-playing uncle, J.B. Hutto. “J.B. taught me everything I know,” says Ed. Ed and Pookie spent their teen years making music together, and in 1975 formed the first incarnation of The Blues Imperials.

The Washington Post described Williams’ music as “contagious wildness,” and the Philadelphia Inquirer expressed it as “raucous and hugely entertaining.”. But no matter how you describe it, Lil’ Ed’s seriously inspired music will take you on a fast trip from your chair to your feet. Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials will continue to shake, rattle and roll into the hearts, minds and dancing shoes of old-school blues fans everywhere.