Acoustic blues duo Cephas & Wiggins was founded in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s by guitarist John Cephas and harmonica player Phil Wiggins, both of whom were members of blues pianist Wilbert ‘Big Chief’ Ellis’ band. After the death of their bandleader, the two musicians chose to continue as a duo. They released their debut album, Living Country Blues USA, Vol. 1, in 1981, and followed that up with Sweet Bitter Blues (1984) and Let It Roll: Bowling Green (1985). They began playing gigs around Washington D.C. before signing with the Flying Fish label and releasing the albums Dog Days of August (1986), Guitar Man (1987), and Flip, Flop & Fly (1992). They then switched to Chesky Records for Bluesman (1993) before signing with Alligator Records and releasing Cool Down (1996), Homemade (1999), Somebody Told the Truth (2002), and Shoulder to Shoulder (2006). In 2008, they released their final album, Richmond Blues on the Smithsonian Folkways label. The duo continued to perform live, touring across the US as well as Asia, Africa, the Soviet Union, and South and Central America. Over the course of their career, they were honored with many awards from the Blues Music Awards as well as separate awards from the National Heritage Fellowship. John Cephas died of pulmonary fibrosis on March 4, 2009, at the age of 78. Phil Wiggins died of cancer on May 7, 2024, at the age of 69.
