Album Notes

Ellie Mae Higgins grew up listening to her dad play piano and sing funny Irish songs, which he had learned as a boy from his dad. As a child, Ellie played the accordion and then as a teenager she began playing acoustic guitar. She fell in love with the early blues guitar heroes such as Blind Boy Fuller, Pink Anderson, Memphis Minnie and Tampa Red and studied blues guitar with Grammy Award winner, Paul Rishell. Also a big fan of Motown, R&B, soul, and swing, Ellie cites all of these as her musical influences.
After years of searching for her musical soulmate, Ellie met her now husband, Bill Reidy, with whom she performs early blues, folk and gospel. Bill is a fine singer and multi-instrumentalist and is skillful at slide guitar, cornet, trombone, harmonica and recorder. Ellie performs with acoustic fingerpicking guitar, washboard and harmonica.
Ellie and Bill also perform in a band called 'Highway 61', a Blues and R&B band, with Ellie on bass guitar/vocals and Bill on electric and slide guitar/vocals.
Ellie’s work as a preschool teacher for several years inspired the material on the Miss Ellie CD. She completed a training program at Princeton's 'Music Together'---an interactive children's music program---and is a member of the Children’s Music Network. Ellie's primary business is called 'Miss Ellie's Fun With Music' where she is a children’s entertainer performing interactive music in preschools.