Lil’ Ed Williams
(born April 18, 1955)
By the age of twelve, this Chicago, Illinois native was already a fairly good guitar player, drummer and bassist. 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. The Blues Imperials, with Williams as slide guitarist, began building up a loyal following. A decade later, Alligator Records offered them the chance to record for a forthcoming compilation album. They produced a full album's worth of material that was released as Roughhousin' (1986). They performed at music festivals and were frequently touring throughout the country. 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 albums; Keep On Walking, followed by Who's Been Talking (1998), the latter with Willie Kent. 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 2008, Williams guested on Magic Slim's album, Midnight Blues.