Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials to release new album on September 23

Alligator Records has set a September 23 release date for The Big Sound Of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, the new CD from one of Chicago’s most iconic blues bands. Mixing smoking slide guitar boogies and raw-boned shuffles with the deepest slow-burners, Lil’ Ed Williams and his Blues Imperials —bassist (and Ed’s half-brother) James “Pookie” Young, guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton— deliver gloriously riotous, rollicking and intensely emotional blues.

Currently celebrating 27 history-making years together, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials ply their musical talents with skills that have been honed to a razor’s edge. In 2013, the band was awarded the Living Blues Critics’ and Readers’ Awards for Best Live Performer. The band won this same distinction in the 2012 and 2011 Living Blues Critics’ Poll. The group won the coveted 2009 Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year, the same honor they received in 2007. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are the hottest purveyors of bottleneck boogie to come out of Chicago since Hound Dog Taylor.”

The Big Sound Of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials is musically electrifying, emotionally intense and downright fun. It features Lil’ Ed Williams’ incendiary guitar playing and soulful, passionate singing, with the ragged-but-right Blues Imperials cooking like mad alongside him. Produced by Williams and Alligator president Bruce Iglauer, it is a tour-de-force of authentic, deeply rooted Chicago blues. Williams wrote or co-wrote all but two of album’s 14 songs (those two being written by Lil’ Ed’s legendary uncle, Chicago slide guitar king and master songwriter J.B. Hutto). The Chicago Reader says the band’s music “is a soundtrack for dancing and celebration infused with a sense of hard-won survival. Williams attacks his lyrics like he attacks his guitar: with bare-bones intensity that makes each word sound like a matter of life or death.”

Born in Chicago on April 8, 1955, in the heart of Chicago’s tough West Side, Ed grew up surrounded by music. He was playing guitar, then drums and bass, by the time he was 12. Growing up, Ed and his half-brother Pookie received lessons and support from their famous uncle, who taught the boys how to feel, and not just play, the blues. “J.B. taught me everything I know,” says Ed. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Adding to the legend is Ed’s storybook rise, taking him from working at Chicago’s Red Carpet Car Wash to entertaining thousands of fans all over the world. A two-song recording session for Alligator in 1985 quickly turned into an on-the-spot full album contract (and 28 more songs) when the band floored Alligator president Bruce Iglauer with their raw and raucous sound. Twelve of those songs became the band’s debut album, Roughhousin’, released in September of 1986.

Since then, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials have toured virtually non-stop, have been celebrated by press and radio, and have earned new fans — known internationally as “Ed Heads” — with every performance. They have even made multiple appearances on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. According to The Chicago Tribune, “Williams represents one of the few remaining authentic links to pure Chicago blues.”

Live, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials simply can’t be beat as Ed breaks out the deepest back-bends, the highest toe-walks, and the most authentic electric slide-guitar blues being played today. Garrett’s risk-taking rhythm guitar work and Littleton’s unpredictable, old school drumming perfectly complement Lil’ Ed’s and Pookie’s rambunctious playing. Their energetic and spontaneous live show remains legendary among blues fans worldwide.

They have played the Chicago Blues Festival multiple times, and have appeared at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival, The Tampa Bay Blues Festival, The San Diego Blues Festival, The Pennsylvania Blues Festival and dozens of other festivals around the country. Satisfying worldwide demand, they have performed at festivals in Canada, Great Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Japan, Australia, India, Turkey and Panama.

With The Big Sound Of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials (the group’s ninth Alligator release) the band continues to bring their blistering Chicago blues to “Ed Heads” new and old. After almost three decades, Lil’ Ed, Pookie, Mike and Kelly have seen sports stars and presidents, musical fads and fashion trends come and go. Meanwhile, their fiery music has more than stood the test of time. “We’re not band members,” says Williams, “we’re family, and families stay together.” Night after night, gig after riotous gig, the musical family called Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials bring their big, dynamic sound to fans across the country and around the world.

Read the press release on Alligator Records.