Songbird

by

Eva Cassidy

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Simply put, this CD has changed my life. "Over the Rainbow" stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, bringing tears to my eyes. I've listened to it at least 50 times in the last few days, and it still moves me like no other piece of music ever has. "Autumn Leaves" and "Fields of Gold" are equally brilliant and have also set new standards for their interpretations. Then in the blink of an eye, Eva turns into a soulful,sultry, bluesy wailer on "Wade in the Water", "Wayfaring Stranger", and "People Get Ready". The range of expression and depth of phrasing in her songs are second to none.

The most amazing thing about her singing, however is that no matter what type of music she sang, whether pop, soul, R&B, folk, jazz, or standards, she outsings the best of the masters in each area and does it effortlessly, simply and with no pretense. Are you listening out there, all of you graduates of the "Sam Harris(of Star Search infamy)/Mariah Carey School of Pyrotechnical Caterwauling"? Just sing from the heart, like Eva did!

Eva Cassidy has raised the bar by which vocal performance will be measured from now on. And she did it on her own terms, singing what she wanted to sing, the way she wanted to sing it. After trying to work out a deal with record execs and refusing to be pigeonholed into a certain style of music, she said "I just wanna sing. I like to do a little of everything". Eva, I just wanna listen!