Lil Ed & Willie Kent

Diminutive nicknames are common enough on the Chicago blues scene and in the case of Lil' Ed Williams the "little" is even shrunken down. This hard-driving guitarist and vocalist is nonetheless a formidable presence in the former genre circa the new millennium and events such as his 2007 Rattleshake tour and album. By then Williams had led his Blues Imperials for more than 25 years off and on, inviting comparisons to the kick-ass blues-rock of Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers. The "lil'" fellow has a connection both stylistic and ancestral with guitarist J.B. Hutto, a uniqu...