John Cephas

John Cephas, Guitarist with the Duo Cephas and Wiggins, Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
March 7, 2009

John Cephas, a guitarist and singer who kept the Piedmont blues style alive as part of the duo Cephas and Wiggins, died on Wednesday at his home in Woodford, Va. He was 78.

Less celebrated than the raw Delta blues of Mississippi or its electrified offshoot in Chicago, the jaunty and melodic Piedmont sound developed in the coastal plains of Virginia and the Carolinas. Characterized by a lilting rhythm and complex fingerpicking guitar, it has echoes of ragtime and perhaps ...
read more