L.A. Beat

Little Miss Higgins, aka Nokomis, Saskatchewan’s finest blues woman or quite possibly  Memphis Minnie reincarnated is on her way to play Lethbridge with the Deep Dark Woods, Oct. 4 at the Geomatic Attic.
Together they are touring as the Roots and Blues Road Show.
Little Miss Higgins and guitarist Foy Taylor won the 2008 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Blues Recording for “Junction City” which also got a Juno nomination. The Deep Dark Woods won a Western Canadian music Award for best roots album for their latest effort “Winter Hours.”
The two groups have  been touring throughout Saskatchewan  and Alberta on weekends.
“All of the shows have been pretty much sold out,” enthused Higgins, adding she and Taylor have been opening the shows then joining the Deep Dark Woods on stage for an end of show jam.
So far the best times on this tour have been in Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan.
“We got to sit in a hot tub. It was  totally home made and heated by a wood fire. And we were playing a huge old dance hall, which seated 5,000,” she enthused.
“It’s just a small community but they have this huge dance hall. It was really special, it was built in the 1920’s.  And we actually had such a great time, and a crowd full of people who were dancing all night.”
Little Miss Higgins have also released a new live CD recording some of their favourite performances from two March shows in Saskatoon and Calgary including some new tracks which will appear on a new studio CD to be released in Spring 2010.
“We’ve been supporting that. It’s a great way to show off our live performance  which is a pretty important aspect of our music,” she said, adding the new tracks  have really appealed to audiences.
 A cover of Memphis Minnie’s “I’m Gonna Bake My Biscuits” is always popular as is a new original called “Bargain Shop Panties.” “A Lament For Louis Riel,” is also drawing favourable response.
“A lot of people appreciate the recognition of louis Riel and I have a line about Louis Riel that is pretty dramatic,” she said adding the studio CD will be recorded in Winnipeg’s Bedroom Studios with the D-Rangers’ Jaxon Haldane producing. Clagary clarinet player is helping her  compose horn arrangements
“We’ll use a few new players. There’s so many great musicians in Winnipeg like Big Dave McLean and Jaxon himself. We’re especially going to work on more horn arrangements to give them more of a ragtime, jug band and vaudeville feel,” she said.