Raised in El Paso, Higgins bought his first guitar with money earned from running carnival rides and grooming horses. He slogged through years in cover bands, lived on the streets and worked in luxury hotels, ran drugs across the border and chauffeured dignitaries, battled his indulgences and managed nightclubs, was beaten down by the status quo and hammered nails in the hot Texas sun before finally taking the great leap of pursuing his own music.

In a live setting, Kevin Higgins is an anomaly. No scripted, polished shtick, and not the withdrawn uber-artist who regards the audience as his minions. His demeanor morphs with ease from engaging performer to “man on the street.” Between songs he can be self-deprecating, philosophical, hilariously witty, and downright sarcastic. Sometimes he can be dead-on with social commentaries and other times he just sits there, eyes transfixed, seeing something we don't, as if there is a ghost leaning against the back wall.

A club booker friend introduced Higgins to Austin producer Stephen Doster, whose many musical endeavors include being Nanci Griffith's musical director and collaborating with James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders. “When I first heard Kevin Higgins’ songs I was absolutely knocked out,” he recalls. He gathered with Higgins and (wife/bandmate) Barbara Malteze and a blue-ribbon roster of Austin players in East Austin Recording Studios for an inspired set of analog sessions recorded in seven days resulting in the cd entitled Find Your Shine. Practically all the lead vocal tracks were captured in one take.

“I believe this is an important record that needed to be made,” says Doster. And in doing so, Find Your Shine showcases a notable songwriting presence on the Texas and American roots music scene.

Yes, Find Your Shine is a kind of magical album, one that offers a musical, personal and metaphorical journey that also tours through Higgins’ own life and the realm of the imagination to transport the listener to those special places where music and lyrics touch the heart, mind and soul, ushering Higgins into same league as lauded and gifted Texas singer-songwriters like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle (all of whom Higgins has been likened to by critics and listeners while also forging his own creative signature).

Audiences from New York to New Mexico and Nashville to Austin, thrilled by Find Your Shine, have hailed Kevin Higgins as the new standard-bearer of contemporary folk. Just listen and you are sure to agree

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