Lil' Ed Williams is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, singer and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. With his backing band, the Blues Imperials, slide guitar

Slide guitar

Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

ist Williams has built up a loyal following.

Biography

Williams and his half-brother James "Pookie" Young, received childhood encouragement and tutelage from their uncle, J. B. Hutto, and by 1975 the half-siblings had formed the first version of the Blues Imperials.

A decade later and Alligator Records

Alligator Records

Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...

 offered them the chance to record for a forthcoming compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

. In the event they cut a full album's worth of material that was released as Roughhousin (1986). They then appeared at music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

s and toured widely. Their second album release was entitled, Chicken, Gravy & Biscuits (1989), and their third LP, What You See is What You Get was issued in 1992. At this point the group disbanded, while Williams issued two solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 albums; Keep On Walking, followed by Who's Been Talking (1998), the latter with Willie Kent

Willie Kent

Willie Kent was an American blues singer, bassist and songwriter.-Career:Kent was born in Inverness, Sunflower County, Mississippi....

.

In 1999 the release of Get Wild marked the group's reunion, and has been followed in subsequent years with Heads Up (2002), Rattleshake (2006), and Full Tilt (2008) .

In June 2008, Williams and the Blues Imperials appeared at the Chicago Blues Festival

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 City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June...

. The same year Williams guested on Magic Slim

Magic Slim

Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam...

's album, Midnight Blues. In June 2009, Williams appeared as a guest on the radio quiz game show, produced by Chicago Public Radio

Chicago Public Radio

WBEZ is a noncommercial, public radio station broadcasting from Chicago, Illinois. Financed primarily by listener contributions, the station is affiliated with both National Public Radio and Public Radio International; they also broadcast content from American Public Media...

 and National Public Radio, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Lil' Ed Williams and the Blues Imperials

• Roughhousin (1986) - Alligator
  Alligator Records
  Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
  
  
• Chicken, Gravy and Biscuits (1989) - Alligator
• What You See is What You Get (1992) - Alligator
• Get Wild (1999) - Alligator
• Heads Up (2002) - Alligator
• Rattleshake (2006) - Alligator
• Full Tilt (2008) - Alligator

Solo

• Keep on Walkin (1996) - Earwig Music
  Earwig Music Company
  Earwig Music Company is an independent American blues and jazz record label, founded October 1978 in Chicago by Michael Frank.Before setting up his label Michael Frank from 1975 until 1977 had been - like Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Jim O'Neal of Living Blues magazine - employed in Bob...
  
  
• Who's Been Talking (1998) - Earwig Music

External links

• [ Biography] at Allmusic
• Official website