This lively, crowd-pleasing duo specializes in traditional acoustic blues and old time gospel music from the ‘20s and ‘30s. Their authentic, vintage sound includes fingerpicking guitar, bottleneck dobro, harmonica, cornet, kazoo, washboard and playful male-female vocal duets.
Ellie Mae Higgins, a fingerpicking guitarist and singer, has been performing professionally since 1982 and has played in many clubs and coffeehouses in the Boston/Cambridge area. She studied under Grammy Award winning blues guitarist Paul Rishell and was heavily influenced by Blind Boy Fuller, Mance Lipscomb, and (her favorite) Memphis Minnie.
In 1995 Ellie met Bill Reidy, a slide guitarist and singer, who had been playing in various bands for 20 years, and together they formed an electric blues and R&B band (Highway 61) along with an acoustic blues trio (The Jukestompers). They played extensively in clubs and coffeehouses in Boston area, including The House of Blues, The Tam, Gilreins, and The Yard Rock Blues Club as well as The North River Blues Festival and the Plymouth Waterfront Festival
Since 1998, they have been performing primarily as an acoustic duo and have expanded their act to include not only vintage blues, but also swing, standards, bluegrass and gospel. In 2000, the duo moved to the Southcoast and have been performing locally at various restaurants and coffeehouses. In 2005, El and Bill began hosting house concerts, known as Club 90 Blues Cafe, which features some of the best local talent in the area.
"If you like the blues, we got 'em."
Selected Appearances
House of Blues, Cambridge Snakebites, Cambridge The Clock & Bell, Quincy Blue Note Exchange, Quincy Yard Rock Blues Club, Quincy Book and Bean, Plymouth Massasoit Community College Mount Blue, Norwell The Tam, Brookline Gilreins, Worcester North River Blues Festival, Marshfield Plymouth Waterfront Festival, Plymouth The Try Works, New Bedford The Hardware Café, Marion Cathay Temple, Mattapoisett Native Music Festival, Dartmouth Cup of The Bay, Onset Homecoming Day Event, Fairhaven Folk Fusion at Smugglers Den, New Bedford Marion Art Center, Marion First Night New Bedford 2007 The Belmont Club, Fall River Chili Head BBQ, West Bridgewater The New Wave Cafe, New Bedford
CLICK HERE to listen to a few cuts from Ellie Mae & Big Bill's CD
