Member Since: 11/02/2008
Band Website: http://www.TheDustDevils.org
Influences: Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads, Cash & Hag, 70's AOR, Epic Film Scores, Petty, Prine, Earle, & Young, U2, Tweedy & Farrar, R.W. Hubbard, Roget's, Bill Nelson, Pat Metheny, Joe Henry, Explosions in the Sky; a good woman's perspective; a strong spiritual component; and Barbara Malteze, (just to name a few).
BIO:Early on, I had dreams of becoming a recording star, but I got distracted by life. I came from working class roots, smack dab in the middle of a cultural wasteland called El Paso. I was told that we had no business dabbling in pipe dreams. Even so, I bought my first guitar with money I earned from running carnival rides and grooming horses. I got good enough to play in country and rock cover bands in high school. After graduation I was handed the harsh reality that I could either go to work or take on a student loan and go to college. My only true interest then, (as now), was writing and performing music, but since I lacked any formal training and had no desire to teach, I opted out of Music 101. I tried making a living playing in cover bands, but that just left me feeling cheap and intoxicated. So, I begrudgingly entered the working class and thus began my saga...I have lived on the streets and I have worked in luxury hotels. I have run drugs across the border and I've chauffeured dignitaries. I have battled my addictions and managed nightclubs. I have faded to black and watched as my name rolled by on the credits. I have been beaten down by the status quo and hammered nails in the hot Texas sun. I have had my heart ravaged and I have lavished in love. I have left my footprints across America and barely scratched the surface. I have paid my dues and chalked it all up as experience. All told, I have probably held over 30 different job descriptions from Texas to California.But, at the end of every working day, I saved a little of myself for my music.I never quit writing, vowing that someday, when my debts had all been whittled away and my soul was once again my own, I would go after that dream of mine. It just so happens it took longer than I expected. Kind of like Roy Hobbs in "The Natural" or Mac Sledge in "Tender Mercies." It's the same story. Once it's in you, it never dies. Once we come to realize exactly what it is we were put here to do, there can be no denying the source of the inspiration.I hope my music reflects that spirit. It ain't always pretty, but you can't hide anything from the truth.COMMENTS:"…Kevin Higgins (is) quite possibly the next great Texas songwriter…" (Rockzilla.com)"...Higgins is a gifted songwriter..." (Denver Post)"...daring, intense, terrific..." (Roots Music Report)ACCOLADES:2000 New Folk Finalist
(Kerrville Folk Festival)2004 “Company Time†placed in Sergio Arau’s controversial independent film,
“A Day Without A Mexican.â€
The song is also included in the movie’s soundtrack CD, released by EMI Records.2006 Texas Music Awards:Song of the Year
(Walk On) Album of the Year
(Gathering Dust) Vocal Duo of the Year
(Higgins & Malteze)
Sounds Like:
Robert Earle Keen getting cross-ways with Drive By Truckers; or ZZ Top after a weekend bender in Juarez with Calexico; or Angelo Badalamenti and Maia Sharp hunkered down in a storm cellar; or somebody who ain't quite figured out who he's supposed to sound like.
Record Label: Little Train Records
Type of Label: Indie