Podcast appearances and mentions of john cephas

This week's podcast is a heartfelt remembrance of blues harmonica master and 2017 National Heritage Fellow Phil Wiggins, who passed away last month. Phil Wiggins was celebrated for his extraordinary skill and soulful music, deeply rooted in the Piedmont blues tradition. In this interview, he shared his journey from his early days in Washington, D.C., playing with renowned bluesmen, to his long-standing partnership with 1989 National Heritage Fellow guitarist John Cephas—a collaboration that brought them international acclaim and numerous awards. Phil Wiggins also discusses the distinct characteristics of Piedmont and Delta blues, his musical influences, and his love for the harmonica. We explore his experiences performing globally, his insights on music and culture, and his reflections on a lifetime dedicated to the blues. This episode is filled with Phil's music and stories, offering a fitting tribute to his enduring legacy.  This 2017 podcast is hands-down one of my favorite interviews—not only because of Phil's extraordinary musicianship and thoughtful storytelling, but also because he was a true gentleman with a warm presence that drew people to him. He was deeply admired, respected, and loved. 

This week's podcast is a heartfelt remembrance of blues harmonica master and 2017 National Heritage Fellow Phil Wiggins, who passed away last month. Phil Wiggins was celebrated for his extraordinary skill and soulful music, deeply rooted in the Piedmont blues tradition. In this interview, he shared his journey from his early days in Washington, D.C., playing with renowned bluesmen, to his long-standing partnership with 1989 National Heritage Fellow guitarist John Cephas—a collaboration that brought them international acclaim and numerous awards. Phil Wiggins also discusses the distinct characteristics of Piedmont and Delta blues, his musical influences, and his love for the harmonica. We explore his experiences performing globally, his insights on music and culture, and his reflections on a lifetime dedicated to the blues. This episode is filled with Phil's music and stories, offering a fitting tribute to his enduring legacy.  This 2017 podcast is hands-down one of my favorite interviews—not only because of Phil's extraordinary musicianship and thoughtful storytelling, but also because he was a true gentleman with a warm presence that drew people to him. He was deeply admired, respected, and loved. 

Phil Wiggins joins me on episode 41.Phil  was one half of one of the best known blues duos around, Cephas and Wiggins, playing with John Cephas for over thirty years. They progressed from their early recordings in Germany to go on to tour the world, and even played at the White House to the Clintons. They played in the Piedmont blues style, Phil being one of its rare masters on harmonica, picked up from the guitar players who developed this approach.A native of Washington D.C., Phil wrote a book about the blues scene in the city, and went on to use his music to steer some of the troubled youth of the city onto a better path.Since John Cephas passed in 2009, Phil has continued his musical career by playing with various artists. Always sticking to his philosophy to play music for people to dance to.Links:Website: https://www.philwiggins.com/ Washington DC blues scene book:https://sweetbitterblues.com/Music & conversation with Joe Filisko and Eric Norden:https://34lounge.com/Videos:National Folk Festival 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POEo8vxU2e8With Ben Hunter:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4f-9OMLmOAChesapeake Sheiks: Struttin' With Some Barbequehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjqIVZoCQ2gAlso check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains many of the songs discussed in the podcast:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Selections from the Country Blues festival featuring all 12 faculty members, including six National Heritage Fellows. John Cephas and Phil Wiggins Rich and Maureen DelGrosso Orville Johnson Jack Owens Mary Flower John Jackson Suzy Thompson John Dee Holeman Steve James Howard Armstrong Del Rey John Miller Lagniappe of the week: look here for a video of John Dee Holeman and Algia Mae Hinton buck dancing. https://www.facebook.com/ptcentrum If you can’t hear it live - most Crackin the Vault shows will be available on the Centrum podcast channel: https://centrum.org/artists-in-place/crackin-the-vault-2/ Thanks for listening, have fun! Peter

Show 68 – Recorded 2-22-20 This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1978 to 2018. The blues artists featured are: Maria Muldaur, John Sabastian, Drink Small, John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Muddy Waters, Luther “Guitar Jr” Johnson, Bob Margolin, Calvin “Fuss” Jones, Pinetop Perkins, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Jerry Portnoy, Cora Fluker, Earl Hooker, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, J W Warren, Elmore James, Mary Lane, Captain Luke, Guitar Gabriel, Algia Mae Hinton, Taj Mahal.  

Show 68 – Recorded 2-22-20 This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1978 to 2018. The blues artists featured are: Maria Muldaur, John Sabastian, Drink Small, John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Muddy Waters, Luther “Guitar Jr” Johnson, Bob Margolin, Calvin “Fuss” Jones, Pinetop Perkins, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Jerry Portnoy, Cora Fluker, Earl Hooker, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, J W Warren, Elmore James, Mary Lane, Captain Luke, Guitar Gabriel, Algia Mae Hinton, Taj Mahal.  

ESPECIAL JOHN CEPHAS John Bowling Green Cephas nació un 4 de diciembre de 1930 en Washington DC, en el distrito del barrio de Foggy Bottom aunque tomó su apodo del pueblo de Virginia "Bowling Green" en el cual pasaba los veranos junto a su abuelo. En 1977 comenzó a tocar junto al armonicista Phil Wiggins después de que se conocieran en el Festival de Washington y a principios de los 80 comenzaron a ser conocidos tomando el relevo del célebre dúo formado por Brownie Mc Ghee y Sonny Terry.

ESPECIAL JOHN CEPHAS John Bowling Green Cephas nació un 4 de diciembre de 1930 en Washington DC, en el distrito del barrio de Foggy Bottom aunque tomó su apodo del pueblo de Virginia "Bowling Green" en el cual pasaba los veranos junto a su abuelo. En 1977 comenzó a tocar junto al armonicista Phil Wiggins después de que se conocieran en el Festival de Washington y a principios de los 80 comenzaron a ser conocidos tomando el relevo del célebre dúo formado por Brownie Mc Ghee y Sonny Terry.

Donna Fletcher sang as a child and learned harmony from her mother, and played protest songs in coffee shops when she was young. She started going to Blues Week thirty years ago and learned from some great Piedmont guitar masters, like John Jackson and John Cephas. She comments that "playing with other people will improve your skills by osmosis if you listen," and that "listening is a participatory sport!" She also has been booking performances for the Folklore Society of Greater Washington for decades and more recently the Holiday Market at Eastern Market in Washington, DC. She says she likes music that has a message and that that music can bring us all together.

Miles Spicer got his first guitar when he was 23, first went to Blues Week in 1991, and learned from many masters, including John Cephas, John Jackson, Mike Baytop, and his teacher Paul Bell. Miles said he "wanted to be able to sit in any situation and hold my own." He has now been playing with MSG - the Acoustic Blues Trio - for over 15 years. "Music is my form of self-expression," he says. "As a musician, you want to reach people. This is a shared experience; we are not playing for you, we are playing with you." He says, "music teaches people how to cooperate for a common goal."

April 15, 2015. In this concert, Sherman Holmes and Brooks Long are joined by the great blues harmonica player Phil Wiggins. Speaker Biography: Wendell and Sherman Holmes grew up playing the same mixture of music they draw from today: gospel, soul, R&B, country, and blues. In the 1970s, Wendell met and performed with drummer Willie "Popsy" Dixon, who was also a native Virginian. The brothers and Popsy formed the Holmes Brothers band. The group performed to national, and later international, audiences and recorded with stars such as Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Freddie Roulette and Rosanne Cash. Speaker Biography: In late 2013, Wendell Holmes began working with young Baltimore rock'n'soul musician Brooks Long, and for the past year, Holmes has been formally mentoring Brooks with the assistance of a Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Award. Speaker Biography: A native of Washington, D.C., Phil Wiggins spent most of his career playing as a duo with the late John Cephas. Besides being a renowned harmonica player, he is also a gifted songwriter and singer. As a harmonica-guitar duo, Cephas & Wiggins were uniquely able to exemplify the synthesis of African and European elements which co-exist in the blues. For more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6711

Aug. 6, 2014. A concert by Phil Wiggins and Friends, an all-star blues and dance group including Phil Wiggins (harmonica), Rick Franklin (guitar and vocals) Marcus Moore (violin) and Junious Brickhouse (dance). Speaker Biography: According to the National Council for Traditional Arts, "Phil Wiggins is arguably America's foremost blues harmonica virtuoso. While rooted in the melodic Piedmont or 'Tidewater' blues of the Chesapeake region, his mastery of the instrument now transcends stylistic boundaries. Born in Washington D.C. in 1954, Phil Wiggins achieved worldwide acclaim over three decades as one half of the premier Piedmont blues duo of Cephas & Wiggins. Since the death of guitarist and singer John Cephas in 2009, Phil has brought his harmonica wizardry to bear in a variety of musical collaborations." Speaker Biography: Rick Franklin has been entertaining D.C.-area audiences with his own mixture of traditional Piedmont blues and early commercial "hokum" blues for over thirty years, and is one of the area's favorite blues musicians. Speaker Biography: Marcus Childs Moore is a Marion, Alabama, native who earned his bachelors in jazz violin performance from City College of New York in 2009, has performed with numerous musical greats and legends, and was a member of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra for two years. Speaker Biography: Junious "House" Brickhouse is an award-winning urban dance educator, choreographer, community leader and cultural preservationist, whose latest project is called "The Meaning of Buck Dance." For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6557

We check out some historical duet performances from old-time music virtuosos Doc Watson and Bill Monroe, Piedmont Blues legends John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, and women bluegrass pioneers Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard and the hypnotizing sounds of Indian Tabla Tarang master Pandit Kamalesh Maitra.

Piedmont blues from John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, the poetry of Sterling A. Brown, and Civil Rights singers Bernice Johnson Reagon, Reverend Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, and Paul Robeson. Plus, a Baltimore sea chantey, a Canadian land prospector’s lonely ballad, and a song learned in a dream.

The late great Piedmont blues singer and guitar master John Cephas, New Orleans’ ebullient chanteuse Lizzie Miles, slave shouts from Georgia’s McIntosh County Shouters, rock music from Indonesia and Vodou music from Port au Prince.