Out on the Prairie with Little Miss Higgins
Story: Lenny Stoute
Say you turned down a hidden street in a strangely familiar city you’ve never been in before, following raucous Twenties blues tinged with the sad strain of Appalachia. You follow the music swirling with the smoke into a club looks like home base for time travellers. Burning through the haze onstage a sultry woman with knowing eyes and a slash of scarlet for a moth and a voice for the ages, from the ages. So you surrender to the slippery sound worming itself inside your brain and time slips and the faces around you in vintage dresses and fedoras give no clue as to what time it is, even when time it is.
Such is the sonic world of Little Miss Higgins and you’d best be aware it’ll suck in and flush you out a believer. It’s been like that since the age of four, when Jolene Higgins’ daddy brought home a piano and encouraged his wee daughter to bang away at it. “It was a mini grand piano. He brought it home and told me it was mine. I carved my name in the side and started taking piano lessons.”
As with most of the breed, in her teens Higgins switched to guitar and started playing rock’n’roll. Until she caught the blues infection off a local radio station and fell under the spell of great blues ladies like Memphis Minnie and Billie Holiday,
“ From the very first time I heard that music, it touched me. I had to find out more about these singers and the world this music came from. It was the time of grunge and I did enjoy playing that but I was open to other things. It was like that the first time I heard Joni Mitchell. Immediately I felt like, who is this person? I needed to know more about her, about where her music was coming from. “ Since those formative years, Higgins has produce four albums reflective of the prairie girl’s deep immersion in the roots music of yesteryear. The resultant blend of country blues and folk jazz which frames her songs have yielded a growing fan base, international recognition and this past summer, serious accolades from the blues community. Current album Across the Plains won Blues Album of the Year and Best Album Design at the Western Canadian Country Awards and landed her a U.K. tour.
“ I wasn’t so much surprised at winning as I was puzzled, since there’s so much else going on in the music. That said, I’m honoured they were able to find a place for me and if it’s in the blues category, that’s just fine.
“ I feel it’s part of a movement to expand the category, trying to find other people that maybe should be there. It was also very satisfying to win for Best Design because art and design is my other love. I hadn’t had much time for it for awhile so it was great to win and get recognition for that”.
The success of Across The Plains spring boarded Little Miss Higgins across the pond first on a solo tour and then as openers for k.d. lang, a long-time hero. Higgins takes the performance aspect of her act very seriously and is a canny gauge of audience response. Given the oft-raucous atmosphere of a Little Miss Higgins gig, it’s to wonder if the vibe translates over there.
“Well, yes and no. They like the music, they’re into it but they don’t get as crazy as our Canadian audiences. They’re more reserved; they stand back and pay attention. Except for Ireland. The Irish audiences really get into it, They’ll get up and dance; they’re more like it is back here. That was the small club experience.
“ Touring with k.d. lang was a different experience, larger venues and a higher level of expectations. It was such an amazing opportunity to watch her work. Every show was like a learning experience; she’s so supportive and just an awesome presence to be around”.
Another Higgins heroine doesn’t fare as well. Whenever talk turns to reactivating vintage material in this decade, the name of Amy Winehouse is bound to come up, generating mixed feelings in Miss Higgins.
“ I totally respect her music and what she did for bringing a vintage style back into the mainstream. What I don’t respect is the lifestyle and the way it came to overshadow the music. Maybe it’s because I teach music to kids but I feel you have to be aware of being a role model and you do have to realise the effect of that influence on young girls.
“ The music did get lost in the image. When you read about young girls getting wrecked to go to a Winehouse show because that’s what they expect from her; well, that’s not about the music is it?”
As November’s grey days shorten into winter’s grip of black, Jolene Higgins and life/musical partner Foy Taylor plan on hunkering down in their small town Saskatchewan digs. Little Miss Higgins averages 200 gigs a year and has been doing so for the better part of a decade. With that and a watershed album behind her, it’s time for a time out before the next go-round.
“ I can do it but at heart I’m not a road warrior. I won’t do 30 dates in a row; I’m just not that type of person. It’s hard for me to be creative on the road so downtime doesn’t help that much.
“ I need to be at home, tending my garden and watching the kids (her students) as they grow musically. That is just so rewarding. We plan on taking a year off the road but I don’t know if our agent will let us. So we’re already into renovating the house and I’m getting back into my graphic design and we’ll be doing some writing. We’re just happy to be in a position to do this because we want to”.
So no Little Miss Higgins down your local gin joint anytime soon. But there’s always the album, Across the Plains and its string of old timey cherry bombs like The Tornado Song’ and ‘Glad Your Whiskey Fits Inside My Purse’. And if you haven’t heard ‘Bargain Store Pantries’ well, get it on.
