Electrifying, raucous, pure Chicago blues… Lil’ Ed is a guitarist extraordinaire… slashing slide and flamboyant stage persona.
— Chicago Tribune
Rough and ready blues played with unmitigated intensity… Swirling, snarling, riveting slide… The Blues Imperials pound out riffs and rhythms like they’re overdosing on boogie juice. Scorching and soulful, joyous and stomping.
— Living Blues
Hard-driving, house-rocking Chicago blues… raucous, blistering, gut-bucket slide. It rocks and rattles and hums…a great performance.
— Grant Britt, No Depression (September 15, 2016)
Hard-driving… raw-edged exuberance and considerable emotional complexity. His slide can make his guitar scream like an outraged panther, moan like a hell-bound soul in torment and act the fool like a trickster, often over the course of a single song. His single string work combines post-B.B. string-bending with a raw, focused intensity. Lil’ Ed is a blues roots man and both traditionalists and contemporary-minded blues lovers with big ears should savor what’s here.
— David Whiteis, Living Blues (#125, October 2016)
Outrageous Chicago blues slide-guitar… Piping hot energy… forceful… A star of the first magnitude.
— Frank-Kohn Hadley, DownBeat (November 2016)
What’s not to like about the raucous sound of Chicago slide guitar maestro Ed Williams and his long serving trio? Great music that often seems spontaneous will have you bopping like crazy. Superlative guitar and piercing slow-burn slide will surely gain your immediate attention. Enthusiastic and passionate.
— Mike Stephenson, Blues & Rhythm, U.K. (#314, November 2016)
Forever fiery electrifying party music keeps the flame and tireless energy turned up high. Rock-steady approach to electric blues. Ed & Co. peel the paint off the walls, exorcising a few demons in the process. Burning solos and rough-hewn vocals.
— Eric Thom, Penguin Eggs, Canada (Spring 2017)
Contemporary blues outfits don’t come any finer than Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials. Diminutive but dynamic…elaborate guitar calisthenics make the band a top draw at concert halls and festivals.
— Chris Grayn Houston Press (March 27, 2017)
Williams represents one of the few remaining authentic links to pure Chicago blues.
— The Chicago Tribune
Slide guitarist Lil’ Ed Williams & The Blues Imperials bring the energy… spirited, origians… Ed’s a raucous guitar chops… good-time party.
— Allmusic
Lil’ Ed Williams is the musical descendent of slide legends JB Hutto. Hound Dog Taylor and Elmore James. The band is a snarling boogie-blues machine.
— Guitar Player
Fresh and unique… slash-and-burn sound… propulsive guitar that rips a blistering slide attack… listen and hear how a great blues player can make a guitar weep… A blues master at the top of his game.
— Blues Revue
A soundtrack for dancing and celebration infused with a sense of hard-won survival. Slide-seared rockers are take-no-prisoners party anthems and more serious material charged with passion and vulnerability. He attacks his lyrics like he attacks his guitar: with a bare-bones intensity that makes each word sound like a matter of lifer or death.
— Chicago Reader
A bazooka assault of foot-stompin’ party blues and slow-burnin’ knee-bucklers.
— Chicago Sun-Times
Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are one of the best and most impressive party blues bands on the circuit. Lil’ Ed is a slide guitarist extraordinaire… electrifying… raucous, pure Chicago blues.
— Chicago Tribune
Rough-and-ready South and West Side blues [played with] unmitigated intensity… Ed’s swirling, snarling slide work can be riveting, and The Imperials pound out blues-rock riffs and rhythms behind him as if they’re overdosing on boogie juice… a balls-to-the-wall good time… he has few equals in contemporary blues… An uncanny knack of delivering a ballad with the same emotional subtlety and intensity and relentless, high volume attack he brings to the uptempo material, less making it sound tender and heart-rent.
— Living Blues
Lil Ed is one of the links to the golden age of Chicago blues, and that is just how he plays, along with his band… Rocking, pain-stripping slide guitar and soulful vocals… fresh and cliché-free.
— Blues & Rhythm
Satisfyingly smoking tunes… Expressive slide and a sly wit… Sizzles and sways with style. Scorching and soulful… boogies with confidence. Crafty lyrics… clever… Joyous, stomping… Lil’ Ed is blaring full-speed ahead.
— Tom Speed, Living Blues (June 2012)
Anybody who has ever seen Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials play live knows that thy have seen the real deal – blues greatness incarnate. Explosive, pure, fun entertainment. Ed has one of the most distinctive slide guitar sounds in the world. Humorous lyrics… Energy, fun and growing depth of Ed’s songwriting. Slow burning and hard rocking.
— Tom Callahan, Blurt (August 8, 2012)
Irrepressible… raw, up-tempo blues and intense balladry.
— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer (August 3, 2012)
Houserockin’ Chicago slide guitar master.
— Washington Post (April 12, 2012)
