“I’d hit Value Village before it was popular. Before it got expensive,” Higgins says.
Her affinity with an earlier generation permeates her music. She is inspired by music that was rocking coffee houses seven decades ago, performed by artists such as Bessie Smith, Ida Cox and Memphis Minnie. Her own lyrics and music combine those groundbreakers with a contemporary blues beat.
“I’ve always appreciated the older styles of everything. I think my dad had a lot to do with that. He was an antique collector.”
“There were always antiques around the house that I was always fascinated by.”
Little Miss Higgins will be performing at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre on Oct. 24 as part of a double bill show with Deep Dark Woods. This will be the second time they have shared the stage in Prince Albert. This time Miss Higgins will be bringing her own five-piece band, the Winnipeg Five (AKA The f-Holes).
Higgins’ fascination with the old-world has permeated Miss Higgins, from her wardrobe to her music like potpourri roses tucked into a drawer of bargain shop panties.
“I also found that sometimes the vintage styles … just fit both my body and my personality a bit better than some of the newer styles, so why not keep them alive? And that goes for fashion and music and everything.”
Vintage or Retro style has infiltrated mainstream culture again and Miss Higgins says she is happy to see it receive recognition again as a valid style of music and clothing.
“I think there’s a lot of that music … that is still great. And so paying homage to it as well as keeping it alive and keeping it contemporary… I think is great.”
Miss Higgins uses her theatrical background to inform her presence, and her confidence on stage as she weaves stories for her audience.
“I love telling stories for one, and taking the audience somewhere, because that’s the key thing … I think with performance or music or storytelling. Is that you’re gonna take your audience somewhere where … they are not able to go in their regular life,” Miss Higgins says.
“I realized, ‘wow, I’m a prairie girl,’ for sure.” - Little Miss Higgins
“Whether it’s them dancing and partying and sweating and having a good time or whether their sitting and listening and laughing or even crying.”
During a theatrical jaunt in Nokomis, Sask., a town of fewer than 500 people, Higgins began to sprout her flatlander roots.
“I felt back at home even though I had never lived in Saskatchewan,” Higgins says. “I realized, ‘wow, I’m a prairie girl,’ for sure.”
While never herself as Saskatchewan girl, Higgins does have familial roots in the province on her mother’s side.
“There’s just a lot of space, which is nice.”
“I’ve lived in cities before and I always felt a little claustrophobic. So being able to see the horizon from walking down the street is pretty awesome.”
She has performed across much of Canada and in 2011 toured in the United Kingdom with her newest album. Across The Plains (2010), won two Western Canadian Music Awards in 2011.
Recently she shot a video for the song Bargain Shop Panties, which details the necessity of travelling to a slightly larger town, Watrous, to buy her panties from the bargain shop.
The video is a quirky, colourful sight with an up-beat rhythm and a plethora of panties, farmer boys, ’50s trucks and even a pitchfork. It can be seen at www.littlemisshiggins.com .
Miss Higgins hopes to record a new album this winter with the Winnipeg Five and tour later in the spring.
