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Cephas & Wiggins - Richmond Blues (2008)

Posted By: mfrwiz
Cephas & Wiggins - Richmond Blues (2008)

Cephas & Wiggins - Richmond Blues (2008)
Mp3 (CBR 320 kbps): 155 Mb | Covers
Audio CD (July 29, 2008) | Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Blues


Product Description: In this special recording from the Smithsonian Folkways African American Legacy Series, John and Phil offer an outstanding historical presentation of Piedmont Blues, tracing the music from Richmond, VA all the way to Atlanta, GA. Each track is a real gem.
Cephas & Wiggins - Richmond Blues (2008)
Cephas & Wiggins were 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. After teaming up, they 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 conducted), Cephas & Wiggins continued to bring energetic good times to each performance, winning new fans everywhere they went. They have performed in living rooms for only a handful of people and in front of thousands at blues festivals all over the world. They even entertained at President Clinton’s inaugural party in 1997.

To Cephas & Wiggins, the blues lyric was the poetry of the African-American experience. Said Cephas, “The blues is a creation of black people in communities all across this country when times were hard. It was a way of expression, an outlet, and it’s had so much impact. Blues music is truth. The lyrics are true-to-life experiences that people everywhere can relate to.”

“People automatically think of sadness and depression when they think of blues. But the blues is uplifting music, music to rejuvenate you, to nourish the spirit. When you get down, the blues will pick you up again. Blues is nourishment for the human spirit,” says Wiggins.

They chose their repertoire carefully, not only for musical impact, but also to highlight the cultural and historical content of their genre. Their concert performances evoked life in the post-Reconstruction South. Hard work, celebration, joy, and struggle are all there. A verse that may sound like a straightforward love song may also contain an allusion to African tribal culture or the indignities of racism or an optimistic assertion of a better future. Cephas & Wiggins provided their audiences with a very special treat – a powerful and intelligent performance of a wonderful, American treasure, the blues.

Review: Guitarist and singer John Cephas and harmonica player (and songwriter) Phil Wiggins have been playing together as an acoustic duo since they met in 1976, releasing their first recording in 1981, and throughout that long association they have been faithful to the Virginia Piedmont blues tradition, a tradition that owes more to the local Appalachian foothills than it does to the Mississippi Delta. A gentle mesh of ragtime, gospel, and string band reels, with traces of pop, country, and R&B as well, the Piedmont version of the blues is as easy to recognize as it is hard to accurately define. It is, in a nutshell, the folk music of Appalachian blacks from two generations ago, and this duo's mission has been to preserve and represent it. Richmond Blues is fairly typical of how Cephas & Wiggins have done that since they joined forces, and it is an easy flowing listen, steady as an Appalachian breeze, with no jarring moments. Among the high points are a gently pulsing take on the folk nugget "John Henry," a moving version of "Careless Love" (the perfect example of how a non-blues ballad with blues themes ends up being a blues song when all is sung and done), a solid "Going to the River" (originally recorded by Fats Domino in 1952), and Wiggins' own composition, "Dog Days of August." There's nothing new or revelatory about anything here. It's just Cephas & Wiggins doing what they've always done, sticking to their roots, and that's a good thing, and undeniably affirming and pleasant.
Track listing


01 - Richmond Blues
02 - Going to the River
03 - Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
04 - Black Rat Swing
05 - Mamie
06 - Crow Jane
07 - Dog Days of August
08 - John Henry
09 - Pigmeat Crave
10 - Prison Bound Blues
11 - Key to the Highway
12 - Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
13 - Careless Love
14 - Great Change
15 - Reno Factor
16 - Step It Up and Go

Carl Martin (Arranger), John Cephas (Arranger), John Cephas (Author), Bill McElroy (Engineer), Jeff Place (Archivist), Ronnie Simpkins (Audio Supervisor), Phil Wiggins (Arranger), Pete Reiniger (Mastering), Pete Reiniger (Mixing), Mary Monseur (Production Coordination), Carla Borden (Editorial Assistant), Stephanie Smith (Archivist), Barry Lee Pearson (Producer), Barry Lee Pearson (Liner Notes), Barry Lee Pearson (Annotation), Barry Lee Pearson (Photo Courtesy), D.A. Sonneborn (Executive Producer), Sonya Cohen Cramer (Design), Sonya Cohen Cramer (Layout Design), Mark Gustafson (Marketing), Norman van der Sluys (Audio Supervisor), Amy Schriefer (Program Assistant), Toby Dodds (Management), Eileen Dorfman (Production Assistant), John Smith (Marketing)



Have a nice day.]