Blues legend Lil’ Ed Williams —leader of the world-famous Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials— will appear on TBS Network’s CONAN on Tuesday, November 15. The award-winning guitarist will sit in with Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band for the duration of the show.
Lil’ Ed first met Conan O’Brien back in 2006 when he starred in a hilarious short film (which aired on NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien) teaching Conan how to play the blues. Together, the two made comedy gold, prompting the producers to bring Lil’ Ed, along with The Blues Imperials, to perform a full song on the show later that year.
The Big Sound Of Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, the band’s new CD, mixes 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. The Chicago Tribune calls Lil’ Ed “a guitarist extraordinaire” who plays “electrifying, raucous, pure Chicago 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. They have won many awards over the years, including the Living Blues Critics’ and Readers’ Awards for Best Live Performer and the coveted Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year. 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.”
