Sweet Bitter Blues was published in 2020 with the University Press of Mississippi (ISBN 978-1-4968-2691-6.) It hit the streets at the most inopportune time, just as the Covid pandemic shut the world down. Author/musician Elijah Wald wrote the foreword and Dr. Barry Lee Pearson and musician Eleanor Ellis each wrote accompanying essays. The peer reviewed book was edited by the renowned musicologist, Dr. David Evans, Professor at the University of Memphis.
What the Critics Said
“This is an instant classic: one of those books that offers revelation after revelation, both on the autobiographical level (it’s Phil’s story) and on a broader cultural level (it’s the first deep-and-wide history of Washington DC’s acoustic blues scene). Absolutely first rate. I can’t imagine a serious blues fan who won’t want a copy.”
Adam Gussow – Professor and Author of Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir and Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition.
“Sweet Bitter Blues by Phil Wiggins and Frank Matheis is a great and thoughtful read. Reading this book just gives me an even better appreciation for Phil’s music. He’s a true bluesman and I recommend this book to EVERYBODY!”
Charlie Musselwhite – Grammy-award-winning musician and Elder Statesman of the blues
“A fascinating first-person account of the Piedmont Blues scene over the past 40+ years from the eyes of one of the scene’s most important players. Full of details and deeply personal stories from Phil Wiggins’s decades of playing with not only his long-time partner John Cephas, but also nearly every other traditional blues artist in the region.”
Brett Bonner – Editor of Living Blues Magazine
“Phil Wiggins and Frank Matheis are great storytellers. I have known some of the Washington DC acoustic Blues Illuminati that Sweet Bitter Blues talks about and others not at all. Phil’s words are so personal and brutally, lovingly honest. Phil Wiggins has survived to tell the tale. This book is treasure.”
Guy Davis – Grammy-nominated blues musician
“It’s nice to wander down the path our elders blazed before us. Sweet Bitter Blues is a quintessential read for any blues lover.”
Jontavious Willis – Grammy-nominated blues musician
“GREAT BOOK!!!”
Richard Harrington – Famed Washington Post Music Writer
“I loved this book!”
Eric Bibb – World renowned roots & blues artist with over forty albums, three Grammy nominations, a multitude of Blues Foundation awards and countless more accolades
“Rarely is the Piedmont region discussed with any seriousness concerning the blues. This is corrected once and for all with Sweet Bitter Blues: Washington, DC’s Homemade Blues. This book is culturally priceless, and its history should be enshrined in every mention of the blues.”
Bruce Conforth – Former professor of American Culture, Founding Curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and co-author of Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson.
“Wiggins and Matheis are to be commended for this fine volume on an important musical community that continues to extend and honor the blues traditions of the Piedmont region. Their unflinching candor mixed with a palpable sense of joy at where life has taken him makes this book a joy to read.”
Mark Thompson –Blues Blast Magazine
“A collaboration between harmonica maestro Phil Wiggins and Living Bluescontributing writer Frank Matheis, is a unique exploration of the history and development of a distinctive African American blues community from the perspective of an artist who was initiated into the music, thrived there, and went on to bring worldwide recognition to himself and that scene.”
Dr. Robert H. Cataliotti – Living Blues Magazine
“The handsomely illustrated. ‘Sweet Bitter Blues’ is an invaluable addition to the literature about the blues.”
Ron Weinstock – Blues & Rhythm Magazine – UK