Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials @ Shank Hall

From working at Chicagos Red Carpet Car Wash to appearing on national television, from gigging at the smallest ghetto blues bars to performing on the biggest international concert stages, master bluesman Lil Ed Williams has come a long way. Mixing smoking slide guitar boogies and raw-boned Chicago shuffles with the deepest slow-burners, Lil Ed and his blistering Blues Imperials -- bassist James Pookie Young, guitarist Mike Garrett and drummer Kelly Littleton -- deliver the blues, from gloriously riotous and rollicking to intensely emotional and moving. Not since the heyday of Hound Dog Taylor Ed s edge. As much a family as a band, Lil Ed, Pookie, Mike and Kelly have outlasted sports stars and presidents, musical fads and fashion trends. And together, they continue to make blues history with each and every performance and new recording. The bands wildly energetic and seriously soulful new CD Jump Start is jam-packed with Lil Eds 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 albums 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 bands full throttle drive and is fueled by Lil Eds 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. Its 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.