Somewhere by Eva Cassidy (2008)

It's always a treat when a new collection by Eva Cassidy is released.

Eva Cassidy was a local singer in the Washington DC area with an exquisite voice. The songs she chose to perform were very eclectric--a classic song here, a jazz standard there, a country song, afolk song. She was an artist who frustrated record labels that wanted to sign her--but didn't --because she refused to be pigeonholed into a specific genre of music. She contracted melanoma in and died in 1996, unknown outside the DC area.

Two years later, a complation of her recordings titled Songbird was released and topped the UK charts (eventually going gold in the US as well), highlighted by her moving reinterpretation of Over The Rainbow.

True story: I'm a Reference Librarian in Pennsylvania and, back in 2002, a patron came in looking for some biographical information on Eva Cassidy, for he heard her version of "Over the Rainbow" at a wedding and, the very next day, he bought every CD she released. He told me to purchase a copy of her CD "Songbird" (which included Over The Rainbow, as well as beautiful versions of Sting's Fields of Gold and Fleetwood Mac's Songbird) and that I wouldn't regret it...he was right. I loved her music, I loved her voice, and I loved the mix of songs and musical genres she chose to explore. I bought all of her CDs and have always looked forward to any new collection released by her family.

Yesterday (Tuesday, August 26th) marked the released of Somewhere, which may be the final collection of original music from the Eva Cassidy archive of her unreleased music. In a word, it's STUNNING. The choice of songs included represent the mix of genres Eva is now known for.

Highlights include the opening track, a beautiful guitar and vocal interpretation of Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors. Other beautiful ballads on the CD include My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose, If I Give My Heart To You and A Bold Young Farmer. Then Eva rocks out on excellent versions of Aretha Franklin's Chain of Fools, and Ain't Doin' Too Bad.

The biggest treat on the comes from two songs written or co-written by Eva Cassidy herself, who never fancied herself a songwriter. The first, Early One Morning, is a rockin' interpretation of a folk song with lyrics by Eva. The best song on the CD, by far, is Eva's second composition ,that ends the collection--the title track, Somewhere (see above video). A beautiful verse followed by a powerful and moving chorus that resembles Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes. Just an exquisitie song.

Perhaps most amazing fact is that a huge amount of these songs were recorded LIVE in a single take.

The best CD of the year.

I only hope there are a few more gems in the Eva Cassidy archives that will be released sometime in the future.

To hear samples of every track from Eva Cassidy's Somehwere, check out the website for Blix Street Records.

www.evacassidy.org