Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials

Slideways [CD]

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY BY FEBRUARY 27, 2026. THE FIRST 300 CD PRE-ORDERS WILL RECEIVE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY. ALSO AVAILABLE ON RED VINYL LP
Slideways is bursting with Lil’ Ed’s rollicking slide-work and rough-hewn vocals on a joyous blend of smoking slide guitar boogies, raw-boned shuffles, and heart-stopping slow blues. Mixing smoking slide guitar boogies and raw-boned shuffles with the deepest soul-burners and heart-wrenching slow blues, Lil' Ed Williams and The Blues Imperials bring it all back home, playing each track with an impassioned sense of wild abandon. "Electrifying, raucous, pure Chicago blues...Lil’ Ed is a guitarist extraordinaire...slashing slide and flamboyant stage persona." –Chicago Tribune

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1.	Bad All By Myself	3:44
2.	One Foot On The Brake, One On The Gas	2:53
3.	The Flirt In The Car Wash Skirt	3:17
4.	Homeless Blues	5:24
5.	13th Street And Trouble	3:11
6.	Make A Pocket For Your Grief	3:35
7.	More Time	3:31
8.	If I Should Lose Your Love	3:44
9.	Wayward Women	5:17
10.	Crazy Love Affair	3:26
11.	Cold Side Of The Bed	4:36
12.	What Kind Of World Is This?	3:46
13.	You Can’t Strike Gold From A Silver Mine	3:05

Tracks 1,7,10,12 by Ed Williams, Eyeball Music, BMI
Tracks 2,3,6,8,9,11,13 by Ed and Pam Williams, Eyeball Music, BMI
Track 5 by Ed Williams and Carmine Cervi, Eyeball Music, BMI/C Joyride Music, ASCAP
Track 4 by Willie “Long Time” Smith, Publisher Unknown

Lil’ Ed Williams: Guitar and Vocals
Michael Garrett: Guitar (middle solo on Homeless Blues, first middle solo on More Time, middle solo on Crazy Love Affair)
James “Pookie” Young: Bass
Kelly Littleton: Drums
with
Ben Levin, Piano (3,5,7,10) or Organ (4,6,9,11)

Produced by Bruce Iglauer and Ed Williams
Recorded and mixed by Brian Leach at Joyride Studios, Chicago, IL
Mastered by Collin Jordan and Bruce Iglauer at The Boiler Room, Chicago, IL
Photos by Paul Natkin, Photo Reserve
Design by Kevin Niemiec

liledblues.com

Booking: Intrepid Artists, (704) 358-4777, staff@intrepidartists.com

Ed thanks Bruce for pushing me very hard and making me more motivated to play and sing. Thanks to Alligator Records staff for believing in me. Thanks to Carmine for co-writing 13thStreet And Trouble. Thanks to FitzGerald‘s for letting us do the photo shoot and to photographer Paul Natkin, and thanks to all the Ed Heads in the world. Thanks to my loving wife Pam, for giving me inspiration and trusting in me, and special thanks to The Blues Imperials for playing their hardest. And thanks for God and Jesus for being my savior.

Michael thanks Lisa W, Mike Jr. and Julianna, Brother Denny and Sister Sue, Coop and Connie, Mark Baier and Victoria Amps, Ed Heads near and far, and God above! Michael endorses LaBella Strings.

Pookie thanks Bruce Iglauer for believing in us as a band and sticking with us, and also the Alligator crew, and Rick Booth and Intrepid Artists for sticking with us. Also, thanks to Brian Leach and Joyride Studios for such a good job. Also, thanks to my wife for standing there with me. Last but not least, all the fans through the years—we love you and thank you all.

Kelly thanks all Ed Heads, Beckett Littleton, Monalise Hoffman, Bonnie Littleton, Zach Zalac and Henry Jones.

If you crave raw, rough and ready, old school Chicago blues, no one plays it better than Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials. Ed Williams and his half brother James “Pookie” Young have been playing together since they were children, growing up on Chicago’s tough West Side. They learned from the best—their uncle, songwriter, singer and slide guitar master J.B. Hutto. J.B. began recording back in 1954 and toured worldwide and cut 15 albums before his death in 1983. It was “Uncle J.B.” who taught Ed and Pookie the sound of spontaneous, straight-from-the-shoulder, real deal Chicago blues and the joy of slide guitar. He even painted mustaches on the youngsters to sneak them into clubs to back him up.

Ed and Pookie dreamed of being full time musicians. But when we met in 1984, they were playing at night, and Ed was still working as a buffer in a car wash and Pookie was driving a school bus. Their first time ever in a recording studio (to cut two tracks for an anthology), they ended up cutting 30 songs in three hours, the best of which became their 1986 career-launching debut album, Roughhousin’. Michael Garrett joined the band in 1987 and recruited his Detroit friend Kelly Littleton to fill the drum stool in 1988. Together, the four of them have created musical magic. They’ve toured worldwide and played thousands of gigs together. And now, 38 years later, they are still creating joyous, soul-healing, genuine houserockin’ music.

—Bruce Iglauer, the band’s proud producer