Biography
2009 Nominee for Maple Blues Awards (Vote for Little Miss at www.mapleblues.ca ):
Entertainer of the Year
Female Vocalist of the Year
2009 WCMA Industry Award Nominee for the video "In the Middle of Nowhere"
2008 Western Canadian Music Award (WCMA) WINNER for Outstanding Blues Recording for "Junction City"
2008 JUNO Nominee for Blues Album of the Year for "Junction City"
2008 Indies Winner for Best Blues Artist
11th Annual Maple Blues Awards Nominee for New Artist of the Year!
LITTLE MISS HIGGINS SONG "IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE" WINS THE 2007 IMA FOR BEST BLUES SONG!
2006 Western Canadian Music Award Nominee (Outstanding Blues Recording)
“As a 65 year old lawyer who has been in jazz and blues clubs from Greenwich Village to Yonge Street to Bourbon Street to San Fran for over 45 years, I was just blown away by what I have just seen and heard in 30 minutes tonight! Wow! You've been to the Crossroads and you got all of the devil's tunes! And then your own words, personality and Foy's foil made them all better! I turned to my partner after 15 minutes and said that I hadn't heard such down home raw talent since my previous reincarnation in the 1930's!”
--Neil Robertson, a fan.
Little Miss Higgins was born in Brooks, Alberta, and raised in Independence, Kansas.
Music entered her life early.
“When I was about four my dad bought this old piano at a local bar,” she recalls. “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.”
Growing up playing piano, Little Miss Higgins (aka Jolene Higgins) now uses guitar and voice as her main instruments as well as her theatre background to bring a “refreshing sound and story to the stage.”
Her stage name, Little Miss Higgins suits the undeniably inflammatory mix of her blues and country music repertoire but the moniker was largely accidental. “When I moved to Saskatchewan I made friends with this crazy Greek guy,” she recalls “He started calling me that, and it just stuck. I started using it on posters around 2002.”
Over the past five years, Little Miss Higgins—described as a “pocket-sized powerhouse” by Richard Knechtel in the Owen Sound Sun Times--has built a strong national reputation throughout Canada, appearing in clubs and on festival stages in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Owen Sound, and Canso, Nova Scotia performing traditional songs but also her own original music that picks up on blues styles of the past, but remains very much her own expression.
As a songwriter, she has been influenced by a range of artists from Memphis Minnie, Billy Holiday, Big Bill Broonzy to Joni Mitchell.
Then there’s her classical music background. She spent two post-secondary school years studying theatre, and a third studying music and drama at the Canadian College of Performing Arts on Vancouver Island.
Her studio albums “Cobbler Shop Sessions” (2006) and “Junction City” (2007) superbly showcase Little Miss Higgins as a highly-developed songwriter as well as a remarkable country blues performer in a style gracefully highlighted by her partner, guitarist Foy Taylor.
The release of “Junction City” resulted in a handful of honours for Little Miss Higgins. She kicked off 2008 at the 11th annual Maple Blues Awards in Toronto. Nominated in the New Artist of the Year category, she performed at the awards gala in Toronto.
A few months later, Little Miss Higgins won the Favourite Blues Artist/Group or Duo of the Year category of the 8th Annual Indies Awards held in Toronto during Canadian Music Week.
As well, “Junction City” won as Outstanding Blues Recording at Western Canadian Music Awards, and was nominated in the Blues Album of the Year category at the 2008 Juno Awards..
To her fan’s delight, there was the 2009 release “Little Miss Higgins Live: Two Nights In March.” The album was recorded at Amigo’s Cantina in Saskatoon, and Engineered Air Theatre in Calgary.
The album features such favourite performance fare as “The Dirty Ol Tractor Song,” “Velvet Barley Bed,” “In The Middle Of Nowhere” and “I’m Gonna Bake My Biscuits.” As well, there are several new songs including “Snowin’ Today: A Lament For Louis Riel.”
Between touring, Little Miss Higgins and Foy Taylor live a fairly simple life in the small but vibrant town of Nokomis, Saskatchewan. “We like to make things from scratch, and we have a big garden,” she says. “We don’t have a horse and cart, but maybe we’ll get there someday.”
Little Miss Higgins makes good use of the inspiration she gathers from the world around her, with many songs coming from her home community of Nokomis, formerly known as Junction City for its crossing railway lines, equidistant between Saskatoon and Regina.
--Stephen Cooke, Chronicle Herald, Halifax
"Saskatchewan's economy is boomin' and so is the province's music scene. Leading the way is blues/folk/roots singer Little Miss Higgins, who sings with the soul of a flapper."
--Sandra Sperounes, Edmonton Journal
"Unfortunately, I found myself prosecuted by the court of Murphy's Law which decreed that I not be in my seat but at the bar when Little Miss Higgins finally took to the stage. She's got a twenties or thirties sound thing goin' on and a voice that's smooth like a prohibition fog rolling in on a lake of honey surrounded by cotton ball trees... with Mint Juleps scattered around the beach, of course."
--Super Turbo Bunny
Instrumentation
Depending upon the event, Little Miss Higgins plays either as a duo, trio or as a four piece. Other larger formats possible as well.
Duo:
Little Miss Higgins: Guitar and Vocals
Foy Taylor: Guitar, Lap Steel and Vocals
Trio:
Includes bass Player Joey Lorer
Quartet:
Bassist Joey Lorer
trumpet player James Mckee
or clarinet player Cedric Blary
Discography
Little Miss Higgins Live: Two Nights in March (2009)
Junction City (2007)
Cobbler Shop Sessions (2005)
Little Miss Higgins (2003)
Links
| http://www.littlemisshiggins.com |