"Full of fire, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials hit the floor running and accelerate from there.
High-octane, expressive, fiercely articulated, harrowing intensity, raucous slide." --Living Blues
Alligator recording artists Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, touring in support of their latest Alligator CD, JUMP START, will perform in Chicago on November 8, November 9, November 29 and November 30, 2013. Mixing smoking slide guitar boogies and raw-boned Chicago shuffles with the deepest slow-burners, Lil' Ed Williams and his rip-roaring Blues Imperials -- bassist James "Pookie" Young, guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton -- deliver gloriously riotous, rollicking and intensely emotional blues. Currently celebrating 25 history-making years together, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials ply their musical talents with skills that have been honed to a razor's edge. Recently, they were awarded the 2013 Living Blues Critics' and Readers' Awards for Best Live Performer. The band won that same distinction in the 2012 and 2011 Living Blues Critics' Poll. The group won the coveted 2009Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year, the same honor they received in 2007. Concert information is as follows:
Date: Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2013
Venue: B.L.U.E.S.
Address: 2519 North Halsted Street
City: Chicago, IL
Phone: 773-528-1012
Showtime: 9:30pm
Ticket price: TBA
Website: www.chicagobluesbar.com
Date: Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30, 2013
Venue: Rosa's Lounge
Address: 3420 West Armitage Avenue
City: Chicago, IL
Phone: 773-342-0452
Showtimes: 9:30pm (Friday, November 29) / 10:00pm (Saturday, November 30)
Ticket price: $12 advance / $15 day of show
Website: www.rosaslounge.com
The band's wildly energetic and seriously soulful new CD JUMP START is jam-packed with Lil' Ed's incendiary slide playing and rough, passionate singing, as the ragged-but-right Blues Imperials cook like mad alongside him. Produced by Williams and Alligator president Bruce Iglauer, it is a tour-de-force of untamed slide guitar, rock solid rhythms, heartrending ballads and authentic deep blues vocals. Williams wrote or co-wrote 13 of the album's 14 songs, which all overflow with the band's full throttle drive and serious sense of fun. JUMP START reveals a band firing on all cylinders and ready to spread the genuine houserockin' fever to their biggest audience yet. "It's all blues, really," says Lil' Ed. "Some of it will make you dance, some will ease your soul."
Lil' Ed boasts a direct bloodline to blues history -- his uncle and musical mentor was the great Chicago slide guitarist, songwriter and recording artist J.B. Hutto. 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 conversational, old school drumming perfectly complement Lil' Ed's and Pookie's rambunctious playing.
Adding to the legend is Ed's storybook rise, taking him from working in a car wash to entertaining thousands of fans all over the world. He's made multiple appearances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and has brought his music to fans from Japan to Poland. According to The Chicago Tribune, "Williams represents one of the few remaining authentic links to pure Chicago blues."
Now, with JUMP START, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials will continue bringing their seriously inspired and wildly fun Chicago blues to "Ed Heads" new and old, wherever they may be. After almost a quarter century together, Lil' Ed, Pookie, Mike and Kelly have played thousands of gigs, logged tens of thousands of miles and have no plans to slow down anytime soon. According to Littleton, "The journey has been amazing. We melded right away and have kept growing." Garrett agrees, saying, "It's a perfect fit. And we keep getting better." Young adds, "We are way stronger now, and we're still having fun. My dreams have all come true."
"Long ago," recalls Lil' Ed, "Uncle J.B. told me, 'When you get the right guys in your band, you'll know.' When Mike and then Kelly joined up with me and Pookie, we just clicked. I knew. We are a family," says Lil' Ed, summing it all up. "And families stay together."
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