JAMES HIGGINS: A Drop in a Fall

James Higgins

A Drop in a Fall

© 2003 James Higgins (634479170126)

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Musical litterbug and artistic fidget, James Higgins writes acoustic rock spooky songs tinged with playful humor that often draw on his experiences as a street musician in Europe.

notes

Higgins' "A Drop in a Fall" has all his usual trademark mixture of humor, imagination, strange stories and the unexpected.
This CD definitely has deep acoustic roots but the branches are laden with all kinds of musical and lyrical fruits.
Higgins has the uncanny ability to take the listener into a small moment of time in a life and have a privileged look around.

People familiar with James Higgins describe him as a man with a walking imagination who leaves songs in his wake like a musical litterbug.

Higgins left his native Scotland at a tender age for a two week vacation carrying only a day pack, an old guitar, and a check from the unemployment office. He never went back, that was 20 years ago.

He spent that time on the road in continental Europe playing music on the streets, working in youth hostels, hotels and beer gardens. During this time he managed to keep his head above water, his fingers on the strings, and his pen to paper.

Throughout his travels, Higgins has come across people from all walks of life and diverse cultures: fellow bums and down-and-outs, buskers, musicians, doctors and politicians, gypsies, and travelers, many of whom have been the inspiration for his songs. His lyrics take you on journeys through Europe, up the Alps and down the other side, and all through North America.

After years of wandering, he settled for a while in southern Germany where he performed both solo and with several bands whose musical styles ranged from grunge to Irish-Scottish folk and punk to blues, reggae, R&B. With such diverse influences and experiences, it was inevitable that Higgins would begin to craft and shape them to create his own style.

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  • author: Bellingham Herald

    Unlike the songs of many of his folkie peers, James Higgins' material has personality. It's evident a few seconds into "A Form of Coal," the leadoff track from this ex-European's latest song collection. Higgins tempers his coarse voice and isolationist lyrics with psychedelic mysticism--an electric guitar slow burns here, an acoustic model tumbles to ash and an Eastern influence guides sparse Pick Up Sticks percussion. With tracks such as "Take it Down the Subway," "Misfits" and "Aint Nobody Heard Of Mr. Cale," Higgins matches his style to tales of subway musicians, unscrubbed poor people with bandana-ed dogs and bluesman JJ Cale, whom Higgins deems unjustly forgotten. They're underdogs. And though Higgins refuses sympathy and often obscures his topics in esoteric, vague descriptions, hes found a presentation to match and mirror their plight. It's consistent, and it's something to build upon.

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