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appearing on stage at 3:15 p.m. Festival goers will get to celebrate with acclaimed acoustic blues duo Cephas & Wiggins the release of their new CD, Somebody Told The Truth with their live performance at the Blues Festival! Almost immediately after John Cephas and Phil Wiggins joined forces in 1978, the blues community proclaimed them as the new champions of the East Coast Piedmont style of blues first popularized by artists like Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Blake. And because both musicians were born in Washington, D.C., they bring an urban sophistication to the traditionally rural blues they perform. John Cephas was born in 1930 and raised in Bowling Green, Virginia. His first taste of music was gospel, but blues soon became his calling. After learning to play the alternating thumb and fingerpicking guitar style that defines Piedmont blues, John began emulating the records he heard by Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake and other early Piedmont artists. Aside from playing the blues, John worked early on as a professional gospel singer, carpenter and Atlantic fisherman. By the 1960s, he was starting to make a living from his music. Phil Wiggins was born in 1954. He began his musical career playing with some of Washington’s leading blues artists, including Archie Edwards and John Jackson, and attributes his style to his years spent accompanying locally noted slide guitarist and gospel singer Flora Molton. His harmonica sound developed from listening to piano and horn players, as well as the music of Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and Junior Wells. Phil also apprenticed with Mother Scott (a contemporary of Bessie Smith). Besides being a renowned harmonica player, Wiggins is also a gifted songwriter and singer whose material has helped define the duo’s sound. Phil first met John in 1976 at the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Along with pianist Wilber "Big Chief" Ellis and bassist James Bellamy, John and Phil formed the Barrelhouse Rockers. After Ellis’ death in 1977, the duo of Cephas & Wiggins was born. While overseas in 1981, they recorded two albums for the German L&R label. After two successful Flying Fish releases in the late 1980s, Cephas & Wiggins made their Alligator debut with Cool Down in 1996. The delightful follow-up Homemade was released in 1999. After hundreds of concerts at major festivals and concert halls, Cephas & Wiggins bring energetic good times to each performance, winning new die-hard fans everywhere they go. With the release of Somebody Told The Truth, they will no doubt be true to their mission of keeping the Piedmont blues alive and enthralling blues fans all over the world. As always, select artists’ CDs will be available for purchase at the festival. Cephas & Wiggins is a must have for any blues aficionado. |
