Steve Ferguson

guitarist, singer (NRBQ) 

 

21.11.1948 - 07.10.2009

Mr. Ferguson, a guitarist, singer and songwriter, was born in Louisville, and formed the original version of NRBQ there in 1967 with a high school friend, the keyboardist, singer and songwriter Terry Adams. (The name, short for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet, was inspired by a very different ensemble, the Modern Jazz Quartet.)

Ferguson kept to himself for the next two decades, playing occasional local gigs and sometimes collaborating with his former NRBQ bandmates. In 1991, he had his first high-profile project in over two decades, co-producing and writing much of Johnnie B. Bad, the debut solo album by Chuck Berry's piano player, Johnnie Johnson. Emboldened by the success of that project, Ferguson released his first solo record, Jack Salmon and Derby Sauce. That New Orleans-flavored album (which, amusingly, features a cover of the Liverpool Merseybeats' "I Stand Accused") featured Ferguson backed by his aptly named new group, the Midwest Creole Ensemble: guitarist Pat Lentz, keyboardist Keith Hubbard, bassist Robert Monk Mackey, and drummer Max Maxwell.

After touring behind Jack Salmon and Derby Sauce, Ferguson and the Midwest Creole Ensemble made the even-better Mama-U-Seapa, a good-timey country-voodoo-jazz record with guest appearances by Adams and fellow NRBQers Joey Spampinato and Tom Ardolino. In 1999, Ferguson and the Midwest Creole Ensemble released a smoking live album, Moho Criollo: Live at Air Devils Inn.

John Cephas

guitarist, singer 

 

04.09.1930 - 04.03.2009

John Cephas was born in Washington, DC, in 1930, and grew up in nearby Bowling Green, Virginia. As a child he began to develop his Piedmont-style guitar playing skills with the help of his aunt, his cousin David Taleofero, and records by Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, and other prominent blues guitarists.

As a young man, Cephas served in the Korean War, sang gospel music professionally, and worked as a carpenter and fisherman. He became a professional blues musician in the 1960s, playing at first with barrelhouse pianist Big Chief Ellis. In 1977 he formed a duo with harmonica player Phil Wiggins, a partnership that lasted many years and carried the two men on tour around the world many times. One of their many albums, Dog Days of August, won the 1987 W. C. Handy Award, and in 1989 Cephas received the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Speaking to a Washington Post reporter in 2003, John Cephas described the appeal of Piedmont blues. “You hear that wonderfully melodic, alternating thumb and finger, you just stop and say, ‘I want to go hear more of that!’ It’s instant emotional appeal, and people all over, wherever they heard it, they’re just drawn to it.”

William Norris 'Billy' Powell

keyboardist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 

 

03.06.1952 - 28.01.2009

William Norris "Billy" Powell was an American musician and a longtime keyboardist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death in 2009. Around 1970, Powell found work as a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd and remained a member of the Skynyrd crew for two years, during which the band secured a support role for the band Mountain. In 1972, Skynyrd played a show at the Bolles School prom. During a break at that event, Powell sat down at a piano and launched into his piano-based version of "Free Bird". When the band realized their roadie's ability, he was offered the position of keyboardist.