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 older music as well; some scholars trace its origins to the country dance bands of the colonial era.
Since teaming with the harmonica player Phil Wiggins in 1977, Mr. Cephas had been one of Piedmont style’s most prominent exponents, winning a National Heritage Fellowship in 1989 from the National Endowment for the Arts. Cephas and Wiggins were regulars at music festivals around the world.
With a mellow baritone shaped by his early years in gospel groups, Mr. Cephas sang folk and blues standards like “John Henry” and “Key to the Highway,” as well as original pieces he wrote with Mr. Wiggins. He picked guitar in the banjolike manner he learned from relatives in tiny Bowling Green, Va., and from records by Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Blake.
“John had very direct connection with the tradition,” said Barry Bergey, director of folk and traditional arts for the N.E.A. “He’s one of those figures that bridges the great divide between contemporary culture and his own personal heritage, dating back to the 1930s and ’40s.”
