Cephas and Wiggins

about

Cephas & Wiggins are leading exponents of the Piedmont Blues – specifically the Piedmont-style guitar, featuring alternating thumb and finger, with the thumb creating a steady, loping bass as the melody is simultaneously picked out on the treble strings. The two met in 1977 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., where Cephas was playing in the band of pianist Big Chief Ellis and Wiggins was accompanying gospel singer-guitarist Flora Melton. Along with pianist Wilber “Big Chief” Ellis and bassist James Bellamy, John and Phil formed the Barrelhouse Rockers. A year after Ellis’ death, the duo of Cephas & Wiggins was born. Almost immediately after the two musicians joined forces, 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. Since teaming up, they have toured the world, including the former Soviet Union, where they were the first Americans to perform at the Russian National Folk Festival in Moscow. In 1987, they were awarded the “W.C. Handy Blues Entertainers of the Year” and “Best Traditional Album of the Year.” After hundreds of concerts at major festivals, concert halls and colleges (not to mention the many workshops the two conduct), Cephas & Wiggins continue to bring energetic good times to each performance, winning new fans everywhere they go. They have performed in living rooms for only a handful

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