Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials
LIL’ ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS
plus J.P. SOARS GYPSY BLUE REVUE
featuring ANNE HARRIS
Saturday, November 18 / 1:00 p.m.
DoubleTree Grand Ballroom
The Chicago Sun-Times called Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials “the hottest purveyors of bottleneck boogie to come out of Chicago since Hound Dog Taylor.”
Slide guitarist/singer/songwriter Ed Williams, born in Chicago in 1955, was taught by his uncle, the esteemed slide guitar master and songwriter J.B. Hutto.
He and his half-brother, bassist James “Pookie” Young, started The Blues Imperials more than three decades ago. Along with guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton, they have played together ever since. Their debut album, “Roughhousin’,” was released by Alligator Records in 1986 to rave reviews, and they released eight more albums with Alligator between 1986 and 2012.
Their latest album is ”The Big Sound of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials” (2016). They have been nominated for the BMA Band of the Year Award eight times and won it in 2007 and 2009.