The reunion of singer-songwriter Teresa Trull and pianist/singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Barbara Higbie, is a long awaited musical event. Their new duo CD Playtime captures the excitement and versatility that has endeared them to audiences since their 1983 release Unexpected. Critically acclaimed in publications such as People, Cashbox, Billboard, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe their vibrant fusion of energy and talent has earned them an enthusiastic and persistent following. Their collaborative joy is at once irresistible, irrefutable and engagingly quirky. Musically, they range over a terrain that varies from blues and gospel to folk, rock , jazz, and championship fiddle playing. They have shared stages with Tracy Chapman, k.d. Lang, Whoopi Goldberg, Nancy Griffith, and Ferron, among others. Combining gut emotion, technical brilliance and pure joie de vivre Trull and Higbie are a musical force to be reckoned with and thoroughly enjoyed.
Teresa Trull is a fiery-haired vocal dynamo who combines a gutsy blues/rock style, top-notch songwriting talents, and sharp producing instincts in her many high-energy projects. She has made five of her own recordings, including two successful duo pairings both with Higbie and with Cris Williamson (Country Blessed 1990). An accomplished producer of over 30 albums, Trull was named the Best Producer of an Independent Album at the New York Music Awards. She has performed and shared stages with Sheila E., David Sanborn, Joan Baez and many others. “Teresa Trull is absolutely magnificent.” (San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner)… “ Trull’s truly expressive voice projects a clear pure soprano and drops an octave below to achieve an equally clear strong alto… especially humorous…Her stage presence was always needle sharp… a world of talent.” ( The Sunday Oregonian)
Barbara Higbie has played everything from traditional jazz, bluegrass, and Irish to new classical music, blues, and African pop. She is known for her ability to compose in a style that is both genre-bending and accessible. A Grammy-nominated, Bammy award-winning composer, pianist, fiddler, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Barbara Higbie has performed on more than 100 albums.
As a solo artist, Barbara’s first solo CD, Signs of Life, was named a Washington Post “Top Ten of the Year.” Four other solo releases, I Surrender, Variations on a Happy Ending, Alive in Berkeley, and Scenes from Life followed to much critical acclaim. In 2011, Higbie was the first ever “Artist in Residence” at the prestigious West Coast jazz club, Yoshi’s, where she created two new bands: roots music’s Hills to Hollers with icons Linda Tillery and Laurie Lewis, and the exotic Cello Heaven with cellists Joan Jeanreneau and Jami Sieber.
In 2014, she was the sponsor and promoter of a piano series featuring such Bay Area music icons as Tammy Hall, Mary Watkins, Katrina Krimsky, and Adrienne Torf. Higbie has 13 solo and group recordings, as well as contributions to 10 compilations that
have sold in the millions. In addition to her instrumental music, Higbie’s singer-songwriter work—two CDs with vocal dynamo Teresa Trull and two solo CDs on Slowbaby Records—has won her critical acclaim and a large, devoted following.
Higbie has performed with Bonnie Raitt, Pete Seeger, Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Ferron, Vicki Randle, Amy Ray, and Laurie Lewis among many others.