Little Miss Higgins is touring Alberta, and she is looking for an auctioneer.
The Prairie born blues singer set off this week on The Auction Tour, which features songs from her latest album, Bison Ranch Recording Sessions, recorded in a Manitoba barn with a five-piece band, surrounded by bison.
Higgins鈥攚ho goes by Jolene off the stage鈥攈as put a call out, asking auctioneers in the towns her tour stops in to lend their services during the show.
During her song 鈥淚 Was At An Auction鈥� she likes to actually auction off an item, selected and signed by her and the band, to really get her audience in the spirit of the song.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a once-in-a-lifetime event,鈥� she said jovially, in an interview Nov. 10.
Auctioneering antics aside, Higgins has built a reputation over her decade-long career for being a show women.
With years of theatre school under her belt, Higgins knows how to put on a spectacle. Backed by her musical chops, that flair for performance leads to interactive and unique shows, unlike most other blues shows you鈥檒l see.
A YouTube video for Higgins鈥� song 鈥淢e And My Gin鈥� is the perfect example.
The eight and a half minute performance takes place in an intimate venue, and features Higgins on stage backed by a single guitarist.
Midway through the gently chugging song, Higgins stops and calls for a shot. After knocking it back she grimaces, doubles over and shakes her hair wildly, before feeding the rest to her guitarist, as the crowd laughs and cheers.
鈥淟et me clean myself off here,鈥� she drawls playfully, wiping the corners of her eyes.
After one more shake of her head, her hair flying wildly in all directions, she blast out a two-minute solo using the glass as her slide.
Although she studied theatre, and worked as an actor for years, Higgins said music has always been a part of her life.
She鈥檚 been playing ever since she carved her name into the side of the piano her father bought for her when she was four. In her teens she made the leap from tickling ivories to plucking strings.
After graduating theatre school she hopped around the country, eventually landing in Saskatchewan, where she dove headfirst into music.
After playing open stages here and there she had finally learned and written enough songs to put on her own show. She knew some folks at Cafe Ultimate in Regina, and it was there she got her first real gig.
At her second she adopted Little Miss Higgins as her moniker鈥攁 term of endearment given to her by a close friend鈥斺�渁nd from there it started to grow, and it just didn鈥檛 stop.
鈥淢usic took the drivers seat. [It] took the reins and it just kept going,鈥� she said.
Trevor Nichols
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