Little Miss Higgins aka Jolene Higgins returns to  Lethbridge to kick off the Wide Skies Music Festival at  the Southminster United Church with Shovels and Rope, July 30.
“ It’s an honour to open for Shovels and Rope,” said Higgins, on her way back from a quick tour out west for the Vancouver Folk Festival.

“ It was great. It’s music by the beach and a lot of great artists. We’ve never played there before,” Higgins enthused.

 They are still touring in support of their most recent album “My home, My heart,” which features most of  the Winnipeg 5, who usually play with her, plus special guests including Big Dave McLean on harmonica and producer Scott Nolan.

“It’s been received well. It’s been nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award,” she said. They released the CD last November.
“ It’s still fresh so we’re not working on new music,” she continued.

“I used most of the Winnipeg 5 on the CD and we had two bass players on the album. We recorded it in four-and-a-half days in Scott Nolan’s Song Shop studios, pretty much live off the floor,” she said.
“ It’s a mix of a lot of the Winnipeg music scene,” she added.

 She just was in Southern Alberta, playing Soul Fest at The Twin Butte Store.
“ It was great. We love Twin Butte and the organizers and the Twin Butte store,” she said.

 In addition to playing music, she has been busily raising a toddler with her partner Eric Lemoine.
“That takes up 98 per cent of my time. But I also garden. Hopefully that’s fine while we’ve been gone and that the deer haven’t eaten it. But we put up sprinklers. I’ve also taken up beadwork on leather,”she said adding she is excited to return to Lethbridge for Wide Skies.

“ Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave right away,” she said.
Little Miss Higgins will be performing as a trio with Patrick Alexandre Leclerc, her partner Eric Lemoine on banjo, guitar and steel guitar and Higgins playing guitar and baritone ukulele.

Festival passes are $105 which include admission to Shovel and Ropes and Little Miss Higgins on July 30 (tickets are $60 plus a five dollar service charge for that concert otherwise) and Frazey Ford and The Cave Singers on Aug 1 ($50 plus $5 service charge otherwise) as well as the July 31 afterparties at the Owl Acoustic Lounge featuring the Weber Brothers and at the Slice with Tom Phillips. Otherwise admission is $10 for each of those. Passes also include priority seating in the church if it rains during the free outdoor festival and a swag bag.