Biography
Gary Higgins, the free-folk enigma, surfaced in the broader public eye more than thirty years after his musical path ended suddenly, triggered when the 2005 summer reissue of his 1973 underground favorite Red Hash ignited widespread excitement. Raised in Sharon, CT, he obtained his initial guitar at age seven and later turned to French horn studies. During his late teens the early-'60s folk revival sparked his interest, prompting him, alongside schoolmates Dave Beaujon, Jake Bell, Simeon Coxe, and Ronnie Bailey, to launch the rock & roll unit Random Concept in mid-1965 following the British Invasion. The ensemble quickly gained traction locally, settling in as the house band at the Rumpus Room club, yet Higgins stepped away to pursue college. That academic stint lasted only one semester, after which he came back to Sharon and resumed bass duties with Random Concept. After the band’s debut New York City performance, the group eventually moved to Greenwich Village. Homesickness eventually drew Higgins, Beaujon, Bell, and keyboardist Terry Fenton back to Connecticut, while Coxe stayed behind in New York under the single name Simeon and later founded the space-rock innovators the Silver Apples.
Although he stayed based in Connecticut, the revived Random Concept kept performing in New York, supporting vocalists Gary “U.S.” Bonds and Dee Dee Sharp during an extended Albany club run. Their sound grew more psychedelic over time, leading to a 1968 engagement as the house band at the Hukah club in Torrington, CT. Higgins and Bell simultaneously played in the psych-folk outfit Wooden Wheel alongside singer Paul Tierney and cellist Maureen Wells. When Random Concept disbanded in mid-1971, Wooden Wheel served as their only outlet. In October 1972, however, Higgins was arrested during a drug sting and received a thirteen-month sentence for selling marijuana. Just days before reporting to prison he assembled musicians from both Random Concept and Wooden Wheel to cut an LP. Recorded in fewer than forty hours and issued on the small Nufusmoon imprint in a 3,000-copy pressing, the album—titled Red Hash without Higgins’s approval—emerged as a somber yet striking song cycle of rare intensity and substance. Though greeted warmly by those who encountered it, limited distribution, absent promotion, and the creator’s imprisonment caused the record to fade quickly, known only within collector circles.
After his April 1974 release from prison, Higgins sought ordinary employment as a dishwasher and waiter. He later married, fathered a son, and joined the State of New York workforce in 1982. Returning to music on the side, he constructed a home studio and performed sporadically with regional groups, though this activity remained secondary after he became a registered nurse in 1988. Unaware of Red Hash’s rising collector value—even as original copies fetched up to $200 online by the late ’90s—he watched a new wave of psych-folk enthusiasts, among them Current 93’s David Tibet, champion the album. Ben Chasny recorded a version of Higgins’s “Thicker Than a Smokey” for the Six Organs of Admittance release School of the Flower, noting in the liner notes his search for the songwriter’s whereabouts. Drag City contacted Higgins in late 2004; at the time he was managing community residences for Connecticut’s mentally challenged population. The label reissued Red Hash the next summer, sparking a media surge that briefly elevated him to minor celebrity status. Backed by former Random Concept members, he delivered his first solo concert at New York City’s Tonic in July 2005. While Drag City pressed for earlier recordings, Higgins preferred to make a follow-up album. Both wishes were met: Seconds, his second full-length, appeared to strong reviews in 2009, and A Dream a While Back, drawn largely from pre-Red Hash sessions, arrived in early 2011.
Although he stayed based in Connecticut, the revived Random Concept kept performing in New York, supporting vocalists Gary “U.S.” Bonds and Dee Dee Sharp during an extended Albany club run. Their sound grew more psychedelic over time, leading to a 1968 engagement as the house band at the Hukah club in Torrington, CT. Higgins and Bell simultaneously played in the psych-folk outfit Wooden Wheel alongside singer Paul Tierney and cellist Maureen Wells. When Random Concept disbanded in mid-1971, Wooden Wheel served as their only outlet. In October 1972, however, Higgins was arrested during a drug sting and received a thirteen-month sentence for selling marijuana. Just days before reporting to prison he assembled musicians from both Random Concept and Wooden Wheel to cut an LP. Recorded in fewer than forty hours and issued on the small Nufusmoon imprint in a 3,000-copy pressing, the album—titled Red Hash without Higgins’s approval—emerged as a somber yet striking song cycle of rare intensity and substance. Though greeted warmly by those who encountered it, limited distribution, absent promotion, and the creator’s imprisonment caused the record to fade quickly, known only within collector circles.
After his April 1974 release from prison, Higgins sought ordinary employment as a dishwasher and waiter. He later married, fathered a son, and joined the State of New York workforce in 1982. Returning to music on the side, he constructed a home studio and performed sporadically with regional groups, though this activity remained secondary after he became a registered nurse in 1988. Unaware of Red Hash’s rising collector value—even as original copies fetched up to $200 online by the late ’90s—he watched a new wave of psych-folk enthusiasts, among them Current 93’s David Tibet, champion the album. Ben Chasny recorded a version of Higgins’s “Thicker Than a Smokey” for the Six Organs of Admittance release School of the Flower, noting in the liner notes his search for the songwriter’s whereabouts. Drag City contacted Higgins in late 2004; at the time he was managing community residences for Connecticut’s mentally challenged population. The label reissued Red Hash the next summer, sparking a media surge that briefly elevated him to minor celebrity status. Backed by former Random Concept members, he delivered his first solo concert at New York City’s Tonic in July 2005. While Drag City pressed for earlier recordings, Higgins preferred to make a follow-up album. Both wishes were met: Seconds, his second full-length, appeared to strong reviews in 2009, and A Dream a While Back, drawn largely from pre-Red Hash sessions, arrived in early 2011.
Albums
Singles
