Rating: NNN
Raunchy horns blow in on The Tornado Song as Little Miss Higgins’s jazzy voice sashays to the fore, singing of corn and strange weather. Higgins and partner/guitarist Foy Taylor call tiny Nokomis, Saskatchewan, home you can picture her pulling songs up out of their garden.
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A love of 30s blues permeates her third studio album, recorded to tape using vintage mics. Bargain! Shop Panties and Glad Your Whisky Fits Inside My Purse are good romps with gang vocals from a supportive cast of Prairie musicians, and Higgins’s Memphis Minnie-inspired guitar playing has a playful strut. French lyrics on Snowin’ Today: A Lament For Louis Riel are a sweet touch.
It’d be nice to hear more grit and less polish in Higgins’s voice – a small complaint about an otherwise entertaining package.
Top track: The Tornado Song
Little Miss Higgins play Harbourfront Saturday (July 24).