Several years ago I went down to Elkins, West Virginia to learn how to play harp at Blues Week. Probably the best part of this experience was John Cephas and Phil Wiggins. Their rich brand of Piedmont Blues struck a resonant chord in me. I keep their albums rotating in my play list even after 10 years.

John Cephas passed recently and he will surely be missed. Not just by the thousands of guitar players who were his students, but all of us harp players who can recognize when a good guitar man knows just the right thing to play behind a blues harmonica.

I saw Cephas and Wiggins every time they came north, which was once in a blue moon. John always remembered me and we talked fondly about the Blues Week barbecues and the concerts. He was a quiet and intelligent man. He told good stories and could pick the hell out of a guitar.

I always wanted to go back to Blues Week when my financials improved, and see John and Phil play on the porch until the wee small hours. I waited too long. John won’t be going back.

Fredericksburg.com – John Cephas leaves on a high note