Blues man guarantees a good time
Lil’ Ed and the Blues
Imperials are coming to
Austintown on Saturday.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
When blues guitarist Lil’ Ed Williams was growing up in Chicago, he received advice from his famous blues-playing uncle J.B. Hutto that still rings true today.
“My uncle Hutto said, ‘If you’re having a good time, the people are having a good time. If you’re up there frowning and crying, everybody else will be frowning and crying,’” said Williams, during a recent phone call to his Windy City home. “So I’m always smiling and having a great day.”
In fact, Williams’ stage presence has been known to verge on the unexpected with crazy audience interaction. Blues fans attending the upcoming Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials show Saturday at Michael O’Malley’s in Austintown better come prepared for something special.
“I’m going to move around a bit now,” Williams said. “I like to walk on my toes, crawl on my knees, I like to do a lot of things. Oh yeah, and if people get wild with me, I might throw a flip into the show. Oh, I’ve done it before.”
Energy doesn’t appear to be in short supply for this soon to be 53-year-old Chicago-style blues guitarist, whose latest album, “Rattleshake,” found him digressing from his normal slide-guitar path. Alongside some of his quintessential bluesy material was more Texas-influenced, Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque guitar jams that were decidedly straight rock sounding.
Inspired by his rock digression, Williams is once again pushing the envelope on his next album, which is due out later this year. Already in the mix is country rock song “Don’t Call Me on the Telephone” and a cover of Brooks & Dunn’s 1995 hit single “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.” Naturally, it’s the latter track that caught our attention.
“The song really moves me,” Williams said. “I like the words, and I like the music. It’s a great song, and I also like Brooks & Dunn. So I’m going to bring a little bit more bluesy flavor to it, I know that. When I do a song by a different artist, I make it my own. It’ll have a bluesy tone and almost the same kind of rhythm pattern but just a tad different.”
He quickly added, “I ain’t going overboard with it because I still have to be Lil’ Ed. I don’t want to sound like anyone else. I want to sound like Lil’ Ed, but it’s going to be a little pinch of it all.”
A character straight out of Hollywood, Williams got his start by working in a carwash during the day and playing blues at night. Finally in 1986, Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials released their debut record, “Roughhousin’.” Critically acclaimed from the start, the outfit has toured incessantly over the past few decades.
In addition, Williams gained national attention when he appeared on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” a few years back. He attempted to show O’Brien how to play the blues.
With friends in the Youngstown area, Williams said he can’t wait to come back to Northeast Ohio.
“We’re going to have a good time,” Williams said. “We like to party, and I love my fans. So anybody would enjoy it because I like to have fun. And I’ll be having a good time in Youngstown.”