Search - Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials :: Jump Start

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, ranging from the non-stop boogie blast of ''If You Were Mine'' to the heart-on-his-sleeve honesty of ''Life Is A Journey'' to the bouncing and jazzy ''Jump Right In'' to the swaggering, autobiographical ''Musical Mechanical Electrical Man.'' The album overflows with the band s full throttle drive and is fueled by Lil' Ed's love of both serious blues and good time 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 Through my music, I want people to feel what I feel.''

Blues history runs deep through Lil' Ed's blood his uncle and musical mentor (to both Ed and his younger half-brother Pookie) was the great Chicago slide guitarist, songwriter and recording artist J.B. Hutto (author of the only non-original on JUMP START, ''If You Change Your Mind''). According to The Chicago Tribune, ''Williams represents one of the few remaining authentic links to pure Chicago blues.'' The Associated Press agrees, stating, ''Williams fills Chicago's biggest shoes with more life and heat than anyone on stage today.''

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.''