Time: Doors open 7 p.m., show 8 p.m.

Tickets: $32.50

 Fundraiser for Womanspace.

http://www.littlemisshiggins.com

From the Great Northern Plains of Western Canada, Little Miss Higgins struts and serenades her way, guitar in hand, lips blazoned red, onto any stage.  As if she just drove in off the back-road of another time with gravel dust and a sunset trailing behind her, this pocket-sized powerhouse plays music brewed up in old-time country blues sprinkled with a little jazz and maybe a hint of folk. Whether it’s songs about passion or songs about panties, she writes about real things in a rooted and poetic way.

This is all too true on her fourth release, “Across The Plains” (2010).  A testament to the roots of the music Higgins plays, much of her singing and guitar playing is accompanied by an old-school horn section, guitar, mandolin, banjo, upright bass, muck-bucket bass, and chunky percussion.  As well as writing and performing on all the songs, Higgins coproduced the album alongside fellow musician and producer Jaxon Haldane.

Little Miss Higgins (aka Jolene 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, 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.”  She spent a number of years after studying theatre at a college in Alberta, roaming Western Canada, acting in plays, frequenting blues clubs and playing her guitar.  Higgins finally settled down in Saskatchewan and that’s when music took the driver’s seat.

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 in 2002 I started hanging out with this Greek guy,” she recalls “He started calling me Little Miss Higgins so I used it on poster for a gig I was doing and it just stuck.”

Over the past five years, Little Miss Higgins 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 most often as a duo with partner and guitar player, Foy Taylor.

As a songwriter, she has been influenced by a range of artists from Memphis Minnie, Billy Holiday, Big Bill Broonzy to Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton and Bob Dylan.

Her first two 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 and occasionally a handful of other roots musicians.

The release of “Junction City” resulted in a handful of honours for Little Miss Higgins including JUNO and Maple Blues Awards nominations and won as Outstanding Blues Recording at Western Canadian Music Awards and Favourite Blues Artist/Group or Duo of the Year category of the 8th Annual Indies 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 as a couple of previously unreleased songs including “Snowin’ Today: A Lament For Louis Riel.”

With her newest release, “Across The Plains” and partner Foy Taylor, Little Miss Higgins now enters international waters with a tour to the UK in the spring of 2011.

"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

“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! She's been to the Crossroads and she got all of the devil's tunes! And then her 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. 

 Good Lovelies http://www.goodlovelies.com/site/

Good Lovelies – From Riches to Rags to Life on the Road

Funny and upbeat, with just a pinch of sass, the Good Lovelies‘ textbook three-part harmonies, constant instrument swapping and witty on-stage banter have enlivened the folk music landscape since they joined forces in 2006 for their first show at Toronto’s funky Gladstone Hotel.

How the Good Lovelies (Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore) got together is a bit of a mystery: Sue remembers meeting her band mates during a limbo competition, Caroline thinks they met at a chess tournament, but Kerri is convinced they first crossed paths during a bar fight… Whatever the story may be, the ladies immediately realized they had something special, so they hit the road on a mission to charm Canadian audiences coast to coast.

Their tireless rain or shine outlook and undeniable mutual respect have helped the trio weather years of constant touring. With jaunts to Australia, the UK and the US in their 2011 schedule, the Good Lovelies’ road-tested tenacity will bring them further afield than ever before.

Lighthearted songwriting and irresistibly buoyant dispositions have made them the darlings of the summer festival circuit, including spots at the storied Mariposa and Hillside Festivals and the Montreal Jazz Festival. They have toured with Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe and appeared on stages and in studios with Broken Social Scene, Kathleen Edwards and Jill Barber.

In addition to their acclaimed holiday album, Under the Mistletoe (2009), which showcases old and new seasonal tunes (including three original songs), the Good Lovelies’ self-titled full-length album (also released in 2009) proved their blithe brand of folk music has year-round appeal. With this record, the Good Lovelies won New Emerging Artist at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. In 2010, this same album received a Juno for Roots/Traditional Album of the Year.

Let the Rain Fall, their third full-length album, is an ode to camaraderie. With equal parts city and country, highway and home, wistfulness and sass, the Good Lovelies’ good humour and self-assurance shines through from the toe-tapping start of “Made for Rain” to the sweet final notes in the French-flecked “Mrs. T.” In between, you’ll hear reflections on urban imperfections with “Backyard”, straight-up love songs like “Best I Know” and upbeat numbers like “Kiss Me in the Kitchen.”

The album, like the Good Lovelies, has a universal appeal, sure to please not just their fellow Canadians, but those south of the border and across the pond too.

Let The Rain Fall, say the Good Lovelies, confident that bright and breezy days lie ahead.