Eva Cassidy Songbird (Vinyl LP) * * *

Definitions," wrote Los Angeles Times critic Don Heckman, "become virtually useless to describe the singing of Eva Cassidy." The career of the gifted and acclaimed vocalist has likewise defied description and easy analysis. Her eclectic tastes – everything from folk and country to jazz, standards, blues, rock and pop - made Eva hard to pigeon-hole, and her lack of exposure beyond her native Washington, D.C. kept her profile low during her lifetime. Following her untimely 1996 death from melanoma at the age of 33, Blix Street arranged for the national release of Songbird in April 1998, a collection compiled by label founder Bill Straw. Songbird included Cassidy's re-defining version of "Over the Rainbow" with "Fields of Gold" and other tracks from her two existing albums, Live at Blues Alley and Eva By Heart. The formative compilation hit No. 1 in the U.K. where it has been certified 6x Platinum and remains Cassidy's best selling album abroad and in the U.S.