Little Miss Higgins is the stage name of Jolene Yvonne Higgins, a Canadian folk and
acoustic blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
singer-songwriter who has performed both as a solo artist and as the lead singer of Little Miss Higgins and the Winnipeg Five.
Born in Brooks, Alberta, and raised both there and in Independence, Kansas, she settled in
Nokomis
Nokomis is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha'', which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is ...
, Saskatchewan after meeting and marrying guitarist Foy Taylor. She modeled her performance style on that of American blues singer Memphis Minnie.Cam Fuller, "Little Miss Higgins making name in music". ''
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...
'', May 10, 2007.
She independently released an EP in 2002 before releasing her full-length debut album ''The Cobbler Shop Sessions'' in 2005. She followed up in 2007 with the album ''Junction City'', which was a
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
nominee for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2008.
After separating from Taylor and moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba, she teamed up with the Western swing band The F-Holes for the 2013 album ''Bison Ranch Recording Sessions'', which was released as Little Miss Higgins and the Winnipeg Five. The album was recorded in a converted barn on bassist Patrick Leclerc's family farm. ''Bison Ranch Recording Sessions'' was a Juno Award nominee for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Group at the Juno Awards of 2014.
Her most recent album, ''My Home, My Heart'', was released in 2017, following which Higgins received a
Canadian Folk Music Award
The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...