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Arts & Entertainment

Wiggins Keeps Blues Alive in Takoma Park

Wiggins was self-taught.

Local musician Phil Wiggins began playing blues harmonica as a teenager in the early 70s. At that time, Washington, D.C. was home to a large community of blues artists who welcomed Wiggins to the fold and shared their knowledge and abilities with him. John Jackson, Mother Scott, and Archie Edwards were among them. He considers himself lucky that none of them was a harmonica player.

“Nobody was saying to me, this is how you play harmonica. I figured out how to play not by copying them, but by accompanying these guitarists and piano players.”

It wasn’t until he’d been playing for a few years that he discovered Little Walter, the blues harp virtuoso from Chicago. He was able to approach Little Walter’s style from the perspective of what can be learnt rather than imitating him.

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“I must have listened to Little Walter for a couple of years solid, I loved his music so much. It was Junior Wells who had that soul, though, that raw feeling, that way of making the harmonica scream that I did put in some time trying to copy.”

He also spent time analyzing Sonny Boy Williamson’s hand technique, and today Wiggins is known for his own hand work on the harp.

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Wiggins has lived in Takoma Park for fifteen years. He cites his extensive traveling with former musical partner John Cephas as his main reason for staying put.

“If I hadn’t traveled as much, I would probably yearn for different places. But since I have been to every continent except Antarctica, I like having a place I’m connected with that I can call home.”

Takoma Park’s vibrant arts community also keeps him here.

“I think that anyone stepping off the Takoma Metro for the first time can look around and say, this is a community to which art is important, a community that understands the necessity of art. This place has drawn a lot of people with similar sensibilities.”

Wiggins is performing at the Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival with two other Takoma Park residents, Eleanor Ellis and Warner Williams, as well as Rick Franklin and Jay Summerour. They all have roots in the Piedmont style of blues and have previously played together in various combinations. This event will mark the first occasion that all five musicians will perform together, and Wiggins is excited at the possibilities.

“We’re going to have all this different music come together, and it’s all dance music. Blues was always meant as a way for people who work hard and don’t feel appreciated to come together, dance, and feel recharged.

When asked if he believes a Fortune 500 employee working in a cubicle can experience the blues, he replied, “Everyone experiences the blues at some point. Something happens to cause a person to reach out for the blues because it bolsters us and nurtures our spirits. It’s there for everybody and everybody needs it. Now, whether that person can sing the blues is another story.”

The Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival is taking place at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson in Baltimore on June 18th. For more information, see the MTFF website: http://www.marylandtraditions.org/festival

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