At 77, blues veteran John Cephas has enjoyed a long storied career. In 1977, Cephas hooked up with Phil Wiggins. The duo have been performing and recording ever since. The pair has toured the world and the States many times, bringing their taut mix of traditional and original blues in the Piedmont style. Phil Wiggins plays harmonica and sings vocals along with Cephas’ finger-picking guitar playing. The duo’s latest album, titled Shoulder to Shoulder is impeccably recorded with minimal manipulation, which gives the work an authentic sound–not overproduced.
To find out more about the duo, I called John Cephas at his Bowling Green, Virginia home where he is getting ready for the touring season, which runs from April through December. A confirmed bachelor, Cephas is easy to chat with and exudes positive vibes. I asked him to summarize his career and some of his milestones out on the road.
“Both Phil and I were playing separately up until 1977, then we decided to go out as a duo. It made sense financially and we liked the challenge of performing with just two players. We did three tours with the National Folklife Blues Festival traveling through China, Europe, Japan and many other countries. We also did USO tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department all over the world at military bases. We spent most of the 1980s touring overseas and even in Moscow, Russia.”
“I came from a deeply religious background and got my start in church singing gospel. Then I learned to play the alternating thumb and finger-picking guitar style that defines Piedmont blues. I then listened to records by Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis and other early blues artists. By the 1960s I was making a living playing music that was influenced by many unsung musical artists of the time.”
“As a duo with Phil, we’ve been very successful and we are close friends. Phil was born in Washington, DC in 1954. He paid his dues with Archie Edwards and John Jackson. He says his style was influenced by the early slide players. He tried to imitate them playing harmonica. We’ve been a duo for so long, he is like my brother. We made our Alligator Records debut with Cool Down in 1996, then we recorded Homemade in 1999, and in 2002 we released Somebody Told the Truth. We got some great reviews on that record.”
“We loved playing in other countries that have no indigenous blues artists. They treat us like kings over there. Of course, we’ve been lucky to keep working steadily in both the States and overseas. I’ve even done some acting. In 1991, I played a blind blues man in the Kennedy Center production of Blind Man Blues. I was also in the cast of John Sayles’ Matewan. With Phil we were in the stage production of Chewing the Blues, and in the documentary films Blues Country AND Houseparty. It was fun and different from our live gigs,” Cephas said.
As for Cephas and Wiggins’ latest album Shoulder to Shoulder, it’s a must listen for classic blues devotees. I found it refreshing in its glorious simplicity. Catch them live on Saturday, April 7 at the George’s Music Springing The Blues Festival in Jacksonville Beach.
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