Blues Search Engine: Lil’ Ed Williams

Born in Chicago on April 4, 1955, Lil' Ed Williams grew up surrounded by the blues. Lil' Ed Williams was playing guitar, then drums and bass, by the time he was 12. Along with his half-brother Pookie, Lil' Ed Williams received lessons and support from their famous blues-playing uncle, J.B. Hutto. Ed and Pookie spent their teen years making music together, and in 1975 formed the first incarnation of The Blues Imperials. They played their first gig at a West Side club called Big Duke’s Blue Flame, splitting the $6 take four ways. Over the next few years, the group played every club in the neighborhood, but they still needed day jobs to pay the bills. Lil' Ed Williams worked ten hours a day as a buffer at the Red Carpet Car Wash. Pookie drove a school bus. Night after night they played their roaring brand of blues in tiny clubs, and eventually the word reached Alligator president Bruce Iglauer. What happened is not supposed to happen. Not in real life anyway. The band — never having been in a recording studio before — treated the studio like a club, playing live to Iglauer, the engineer, and all the people on the other side of the glass. After recording just two songs, the Alligator staffers in the control room were on their feet begging for more. Two songs later, complete with Ed’s signature toe walking and back bends, even the engineer was dancing. Iglauer offered the band a full album contract on the spot. The end result of the session was 30 songs in three hours with no overdubs and no second takes. Twelve of those songs became the band’s debut album, Roughhousin’, released in September of 1986. Several Alligator releases followed. After years on the road, the stress of touring and recording began to take its toll. Lil' Ed Williams broke up the band and, for the first time, truly put his life together. While off the road, he recorded two albums for Earwig Records: a collaboration with his old friend (and original Blues Imperial guitarist) Dave Weld and an album with Chicago vocalist/bassist Willie Kent. After getting his life in order and defeating his personal demons, Lil' Ed Williams reformed The Blues Imperials in 1998 to the great delight of blues fans everywhere. They returned home to Alligator and released Get Wild! in 1999 and Heads Up! in 2002 to widespread enthusiasm. A June 6, 1999 performance at the world famous Chicago Blues Festival gave the band an opportunity to prove it, as they ripped and roared in front of 100,000 screaming blues fans. The audience jumped to their feet and danced as Lil' Ed Williams paraded through the crowd riding on guitarist Mike Garrett’s shoulders.