Folk Festival Brings Leading Blues Artists Cephas & Wiggins to Gays Mills

Get ready for another fun-filled weekend at the 14th annual Gays Mills Folk Festival of Music and Dance, coming up May 12 –14th.  This year the Folk Festival is especially proud to present the duo Cephas & Wiggins, all the way from Washington, D.C., leading exponents of the traditional Piedmont-style blues.  

Almost immediately after John Cephas (guitar) and Phil Wiggins (harmonica) joined forces in the late 1970’s, 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.  This duo has toured the world, including the former Soviet Union, where they were the first Americans to perform at the Russian National Folk Festival in Moscow.  They even entertained at President Clinton’s inaugural party in 1997!  In 1987, they were awarded the “W.C. Handy Blues Entertainers of the Year” and “Best Traditional Album of the Year”.  In 1989, Cephas received the coveted National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, recognizing those who preserve cultural legacies in music, dance and crafts.

Cephas & Wiggins choose their repertoire carefully, not only for musical impact, but also to highlight the cultural and historical content of their genre.  Wiggins is also a gifted songwriter and singer whose material has helped to define the duo’s sound.  Their concert performances evoke life in the post-Reconstruction South. Hard work, celebration, joy, and struggle are all there.  They provide their audiences with a very special treat – a powerful and intelligent performance of a wonderful, American treasure, the blues.  Cephas & Wiggins will be the headlining, final performers at the Saturday night concert, which begins at 7:30 pm, Saturday, May 13th at the Gays Mills Community Building.

Opening the Saturday night concert will be Folk Festival mainstays Dave Fox & Will Branch of Milwaukee.  For the past several festivals, Dave and Will have been providing wonderful concerts for kids and families during the Saturday afternoon activities at the Log Cabin Village Park.  This year they will demonstrate the breadth of their repertoire on stage with a variety including old-time, ragtime, blues and more.

Also appearing Saturday night will be Leela and Ellie Grace of Columbia, MO.  These young women grew up touring the United States playing music with their parents, professional folk musicians Paul and Win Grace.  Now they have branched out on their own, with lively performances that include original songs, traditional old-time American material, classic folk songs and percussive dance.

Many other activities will complete the weekend, including the Friday night square dance, 7:00 – 11:00 pm at the Gays Mills Community Building, Saturday daytime activities from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm such as workshops, an open stage, a fiddle bee, may crown making, and dancing, and the Sunday morning gospel sing from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm.  A weekend pass for admission to all events is $20 for adults, $5 for kids or $45 for a family.  Admission to the Saturday night concert only is $15 for adults, $5 for kids.  For more information, see the Folk Festival website: www.gaysmillsfolkfest.org, or call an organizer: 735-4546, or 735-4740.  The Gays Mills Folk Festival is a project of the Kickapoo Cultural Exchange and is generously supported by Organic Valley Family of Farms of LaFarge, Wisconsin.