James Higgins: Press

The latest CD Neilston is:
"kwality. Pure kwality."

About Neilston:

Flabbergasted

Of Passing Story:

James Higgins is the sun setting on a long day. The smoke at the end of an empty bar room. The dusty boots of a seasoned cowboy. His voice is Dylan meets the Doors for the gunfight at the OK Corral. “Twenty Tons of Thunder” is a very visual folk song with country back porch roots. The CD is loaded with rich guitar tones accompanied by shakers, wood blocks and congas. The production is very back roots which complements the vocal tones. On tracks like “Balayeur” there are some biting electric guitar leads that tear into the soul. My favorite song on the CD is “Was It Love in Summer”. The mood is one of sadness and wonder. Beautiful acoustic guitar with a harmonica begging for the answers. Was it love in summer, was it love at all? The puzzling question for which there is no answer.

Higgins is Kerouac: and not just any old Kerouac.

About Drop in a Fall:
Unlike the songs of many of his folkie peers, James Higgins' material has personality.

About Crawling out the Woodwork:

James Higgins doesn't hang out at the 3B,write for "What's UP" or to the best of our knowledge work in any area secondhand store. Know what? He still made a damn fine CD.

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.