HOMEGROWN

Connecticut's Gary Higgins Wins Loads Of Hipster Fans, 30 Years After
The Original Release Of His Dope-Tinged Debut

Admittedly, it's a journey from total obscurity to hipster fame,
which is usually a kind of sanctified semi-obscurity anyway, but
singer and musician Gary Higgins' story is still an unusual one.
Maybe the most astonishing part of it is that New England's homegrown
freak-folk revival icon has simply been at it all along. And he's
ready for his close-up, if anyone is interested in any of his recent music.

Gary Higgins has been living mainly in the sleepy northwest part of
Connecticut, making music, raising a family (his son Graham performs
with him now), quietly going about his business, working as a nurse
in eastern New York. He spoke with the Advocate about the unusual
rebirth of his recording career. It came as some surprise to Higgins
and folks in Falls Village then when copies of Red Hash , a record of
moody and vaguely psychedelic acoustic songs that Higgins made with
his friends over three decades ago, started going for over $200 on
rare vinyl auction sites online and uber-hip Chicago indie rock label
Drag City re-issued the record this summer.

In recent months Higgins has been featured repeatedly in the New York
Times and in well-respected British music magazines. Even now Higgins
is a little incredulous that his record, of which only about 2,000
vinyl copies were originally pressed, has now taken on a second life.
"It's kind of magical that it even took place -- what has appeared to
have taken place -- and I definitely don't want to let the
opportunity slide by, or to let interest wane."

The story is complicated, only somewhat, by the fact that Higgins
recorded Red Hash with a prison sentence for marijuana possession
looming over his head (he went on to serve 13 months at the state
prison in Somers, Conn.), and the drug association of the title tends
to refocus attention on events that weren't completely rosy. "It was
pretty devastating, that whole thing that took place, for our family
and friends," he says.

Higgins wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the record's title at the
time, and he regrets that it's only increased the slight haze of
doobage that shrouds the record, though he concedes that the
perceived drug theme may have served to grab some people's attention.

"I was kind of worried that [drugs] would be the focus for a certain
group of people, but it just can't be helped. ... There were some
drug references, but they were really just coincidental."

Oddly enough, most of the musicians who played with Higgins on the
record are still in the area, and many of them have joined Higgins
for a few gigs he's lined up to celebrate the record's release. But
now they're all grown up with lives, families and day jobs of their
own, and the prospect of clearing off a stretch of dates on their
calendars in order to do some touring creates some logistical
problems. Plus Higgins is still scrambling to find a booking agent to
capitalize on the sudden burst of interest.

He played in New York City over the summer and was astonished.

"It was really incredible. People knew the words, clapped and hooted
when certain parts took place and were very warm and enthusiastic,"
says Higgins. "The biggest kick, however, was the age group of the
audience; most were under 30. A whole new generation of listeners
were appreciating the music. This was very, very satisfying."

Dusting off old songs after 30 years could present a challenge for
some musicians, but Higgins said all the time improved the material.

"It has been almost like doing new songs in a way. We ended up
revamping and expanding a few of them, which gave them new life, and
everyone approached it like a fresh project," he wrote in an e-mail.
"In a way we knew that fresh ears were listening, so it made it
easier and exciting for all involved."

The album, Red Hash , seemed like an unlikely candidate for revival
at first. It's a quiet record, with acoustic guitars, reserved
singing, a few odd time signatures, strange, squishy keyboards and
songs that tend to pivot between a few chords. But there's a dark and
somber thread woven through. Several songs touch on the subject of
madness. It reminds me of Joni Mitchell's Blue and a little of David
Crosby's dark drug-addled opus If I Could Only Remember My Name .

Higgins grew up in northwestern Connecticut. He attended the state
university in Torrington for a year before heading down to New York
City and the thriving folk and bluegrass music scene in Greenwich
Village in the mid-1960s. "I decided very quickly that I'd much
rather play music than go to school," he says. After playing in a
psychedelic rock band in New York called Random Concept with Simeon,
another cult legend of the electronic rock duo the Silver Apples,
Higgins returned to New England to play more acoustic music.

"I love acoustic guitar -- the kinds of tunes that tend to get
written, melodies and everything, it's just a different approach.
Quieter. You can go into areas it's not quite as easy to do with
electric music. It was kind of going back to my roots, more in
instrumentation than in sound."

Higgins is thrilled with the re-release of his 1973 record and with
the burst of interest in his old music. The attention has caused him
to re-evaluate the past in a way.

"Actually it's given me a little bit more of an appreciation of the
past," he says.

But he's been making, writing, playing and recording music the whole
time, and he only hopes that all of the attention on the old stuff
won't keep the crop of new fans from appreciating what he's been up
to for the past 30 years. His timing might be perfect. Higgins isn't
the only obscure musician from the 1960s who's been championed by a
whole new group of fans in the Internet age. British singer Vashti
Bunyan has a similar story. Her first record, Just Another Diamond
Day , was made over 30 years ago, and it was finally re-issued on CD
last year. She recently released a critically acclaimed record of
recent material.

"It's flattering that a younger generation appears to like the
music," says Higgins. "That's really satisfying. But, there's lots of
stuff that's happened in the last 30 years, and I would like to
actually have the same group of people hear that."