Live at Blues Alley

Music

Live at Blues Alley serves as an example of Cassidy's eclectic tastes, covering classic and contemporary artists from Billie Holiday to Sting, including Al Green, Pete Seeger, Irving Berlin and more. Eva's "Fields of Gold" was a popular radio song and record companies used it to promote her material; in 2001 Michelle Kwan skated to the music of Eva's version of this song. "What a Wonderful World", the last song she ever performed live, retains one of the rare introductions on the album that was not edited out in which she dedicates the song to her parents. "Golden Thread", by Pete Seeger, was declared by Eva as her favorite song in the album's liner notes and the song she felt had turned out the best on the album. It actually was not performed live at Blues Alley but was prerecorded months earlier.

Reception

The album inspired attention from audiences outside of her local following in Washington D.C. Before and during the album's recording, Cassidy suffered many physical health problems, whose causes, at the time, were unknown. A month after the album was released, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unfortunately, she died three months later without experiencing the peak of her musical career, which would come after her death. "Her posthumous success," writes William Cooper, "has been astonishing, with worldwide critical acclaim and extensive exposure on British television that helped her album Songbird climb to number one on the British album chart in March, 2001."

Track listing

1. "Cheek to Cheek" (Irving Berlin) – 4:03
2. "Stormy Monday" (T-Bone Walker) – 5:49
3. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) – 5:33
4. "Fine and Mellow" (Billie Holiday) – 4:03
5. "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield) – 3:36
6. "Blue Skies" (Irving Berlin) – 2:37
7. "Tall Trees in Georgia" (Buffy St. Marie)– 4:05
8. "Fields of Gold" (Sting) – 4:57
9. "Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert) – 4:57
10. "Honeysuckle Rose" (Andy Razaf, Thomas "Fats" Waller) – 3:14
11. "Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges) – 3:51
12. "What a Wonderful World" (Bob Thiele, George David Weiss) – 5:50
13. "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread" (Pete Seeger) – 4:46 [Studio recording]

Personnel

Production