|
Here's the announcement from Eva's fansite:
NEW EVA CASSIDY ALBUM COMING AUGUST 26th
Blix Street Records announces the international release of SOMEWHERE, an album of twelve new songs from the Eva Cassidy "archives." Check back here soon for further details, but here's some preliminary information:
At least one song, "Coat of Many Colors," came from the "buried treasure" cassette tapes saved by guitarist Keith Grimes. You can read more about these tapes in this article about the AMERICAN TUNE album; it's a great story. I love this song because it sounds very quiet and intimate, similar in feel to "I Wandered by a Brookside." It's easy to imagine Eva sitting on the couch with her guitar, playing and singing just for you! Keith joins in on electric guitar.
The vocals on two tracks were recorded "live at Blues Alley" the same evening as the celebrated 1996 album: "Ain't Doin' Too Bad" (one of my favorites on the album) and "Chain of Fools."
Several songs, including "It Won't Be Long," "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Summertime," were taped "live" at the Glenn Dale studio. In other words, the tape was rolling while the songs were rehearsed.
"My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" was recorded at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis the same night as the previously-released songs "Woodstock," "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," and "Time After Time." Eva's tender, wistful rendition of the traditional folksong, with lyrics by Robert Burns, is accompanied by her own guitar arrangement. Could any singer ever hit a high note as lightly as Eva Cassidy? Eva was in great voice that night, far better than at Blues Alley. We are fortunate that Chris Biondo plugged his new DAT machine into the soundboard that night and preserved these wonderful performances.
Eva's brother, the fabulous fiddler Dan Cassidy, accompanies Eva's guitar in "If I Give My Heart," which the siblings recorded in Iceland.
One song is completely new to me -- even Chris Biondo had never heard it before. Eva recorded "Early One Morning" with her friend Rob Cooper. It's a wild, Appalachian-sounding song with complex vocal harmonies and lyrics taken from a traditional English folksong. I expect to interview Rob Cooper about the song soon.
The title song is "Somewhere" with lyrics by Eva Cassidy and music by Chris Biondo A few years ago I asked Chris for details about the song. His reply: 'When Eva and I first got together, we made a list of things we wanted to do together -- trips we wanted to take, things we wanted to learn, projects we wanted to do. One of these was to do a song like "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel, in the same kind of musical style, using it as a point of departure for the instrumentations and the vibe of the song, which is melancholy and anthemic. I put the music together in my basement, just with a synthesizer and drum machine, and gave the song to Eva to write the lyrics. After she recorded the vocals she was happy with the chorus but she didn't like the verses. We didn't have a good lyrical flow, and the verses weren't as strong as the chorus. So we never finished it, we just put it away as an experiment that worked only about seventy percent. But I thought that vocally what Eva did with the chorus was magnificent. The words she wrote express her confusion about people being evil to each other, that's what I get out of it.'
Early in 2008, Blix Street Records asked Chris and Lenny to revisit the song for the new album -- more details later after I talk to them. I can tell you, though, that the result is beautiful. Eva's sister Margret confessed that "It brought tears to my eyes, it really did." It's catchy too -- I heard my teenaged son whistling it around the house!
The lyrics of the chorus are as follows:
Somewhere, somehow
At some time someone cared
Maybe just for a moment
Or maybe for a lifetime.
Are the threads that bind us together
Falling loose or growing stronger?
Look at it now
Look at the picture
Has it changed
Or is it still the same?
Ah, I know what you're thinking. That's only ten songs. I'll reveal the other two... another day! Heh heh heh heh heh!
_________________
|
