 |
REVIEWS | ||
| BIO REVIEWS |
Dec 2002, Bellingham Herald James Higgins doesn’t hang out at the 3B, write for What’s Up! or to the best of our knowledge work at any area secondhand store. Know what? He still made a damn-fine CD– Crawling Out the Woodwork. In an area where creative folk seem to be cliqued-out, Higgins literally lives up to his CD’s name. It’s like these songs just stumbled out of the backwoods. There’s no studio compression — Higgins fights but wins with his coarse voice, loose Tom Waits phrasing and songwriting smarts. There’s a great kazoo solo. Weird capitalization. Awesome, awesome, awesome. The Bellingham Herald/Take Five Sounds local - Quality CDs from Whatcom County By Tony Stasiek |
Nov 2002, Bellingham Herald Like everyone, Bellingham’s James Higgins has a back story. Maybe you’ll meet him somewhere some time, he could tell you his, and you could share yours. In terms of his CD, though, that stuff means nothing. On Crawling out the Woodwork Higgins is the romanticized encapsulation of a consciously beleaguered dude at the crossroads — be it between city bustle and country bumpkinning, halfway though life and halfway to death. Call that man 45 years old. Higgins might be nowhere near that age, which again, means nothing. Springsteen sang as that guy at age 32. Mississippi John Hurt pulled it off in his 70s. This figure’s the mouthpiece for blues’ and folk’s most lasting images, and Higgins lets him speak unabridged. "September in our Hands" recalls parts of Springsteen’s "Nebraska" by emoting longing via primal phrasing and a declarative coda. Higgins conjures Hurt, too, with the gritted-teeth nursery rhyme "No Hens in My Hen House" — whose washtub bass and hickory-smoked production sell Higgins’ shoutout to those darn chickens, even though it likely came during take No. 14 in someone’s studio. Powerful stuff. The Bellingham Herald/Take Five Recent Northwest releases web design and development: Sally A. Higgins |
 |