“Did Eva record any Christmas songs?” Yes, but only a few.
SILENT NIGHT: Eva accompanies herself on guitar for this lovely traditional carol. Since the 19th century carol was written expressly to be performed with guitar accompaniment, I love to hear it that way, don’t you? Eva learned the song in German from her mother, but sadly, did not record it in that language. Here’s a link to hear it on YouTube. It’s also available for download and streaming from the various music providers.
THE SAME, ONLY DIFFERENT: New for 2023, Eva is joined by her piano accompanist Lenny Williams in a very mellow, thoughtful “Silent Night.” Lenny and Eva had great rapport and worked together for years; he drew from that to create something I think she would have loved. Here’s a link to hear it on YouTube. It’s also available for download and streaming from the various music providers.
CHRISTMAS DUETS: Shortly after completing the 1992 album THE OTHER SIDE, Chuck Brown and Eva Cassidy recorded two songs for the Christmas season, “That Spirit of Christmas” and “The Christmas Song” (a.k.a. “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”). These duets were later included as part of Chuck Brown’s 1999 Christmas album, “The Spirit of Christmas.”
“I thought it would be a good idea to record two Christmas songs and release them on a special Christmas single, because every year they could be played on the radio,” says Chris Biondo. “We started recording the songs during the following summer, it took us forever to record them and we never got the timing right to release a Christmas single — the manufacturing season for Christmas albums was September. We finally had both songs finished, right around the time Eva got sick.
“The reason we did ‘The Christmas Song’ as the other one was because we had learned it to do at a Christmas party with the ‘Chuck and Eva Band.’ The party was at the Kennedy Center, I think it was for the radio station WOL, and Chuck suggested we do this song. That was the only time we played that song live.
“Kent Wood is responsible for at least 50% of the arrangement and instruments on that recording of ‘The Christmas Song.’ I remember he was in the studio when we laid down the vocal tracks, he thought it was one of the best things Eva had ever done. He said what she did with the line ‘Everybody knows that turkey and some mistletoe’ was amazing. So after Eva and Chuck and I had left for the day, Kent spent the whole evening working on it as a surprise for Eva. He must have been there for six hours, he really got into it. He just used whatever outdated electronic musical instruments that were lying around the studio.”
IT’S NOT THE PRESENTS: The Christmas song demo Eva recorded is called “It’s Not the Presents Under My Tree, It’s Your Presence Next to Me,” by the late Billy Poore (1945-2016) and Tex Rabinowitz. Eva recorded this at Chris Biondo’s Rockville studio. “It was when we first started working together. They needed a good singer, because they were going to submit the song to Linda Ronstadt,” Biondo recalls. “She just walked in and read it down. They handed her five twenties.” At that time, Eva was a complete unknown, and the small fee she earned for recording the demo would have been a welcome addition to her personal finances.
The song next turned up in a compilation album for a local charitable organization, Hungry for Music, which provides musical instruments to inner city children among other things (see their website for more information). “It’s Not the Presents” is on the CD “A Holiday Feast, Volume V” and according to the project’s director, the songwriters generously gave the charity a gratis license to use the song. It is now part of Hungry for Music’s latest album, a sort of “greatest hits” from all the HFM albums.
Now that Eva Cassidy is an internationally-known vocalist, this little Christmas demo has found its way to more seasonal albums, including “Target’s Holiday Sounds of the Season” and two Christmas albums from Time/Life. It is probably available to download and stream as well.
One of Eva’s fans, “Doug in Pennsylvania,” had occasion to ask Billy Poore about the song in 2002. Doug writes, “Poore was the main writer of ‘Presents,’ and Tex Rubinowitz did some minor tinkering with the melody to earn a minor songwriting credit. Sometime since, Mr. Poore sold his rights in the song to Mr. Rubinowitz, who now has sole licensing rights and still resides in the DC metro area, I understand. Eva recorded ‘Presents’ in two different sessions, first in May and then again in July, 1990. It’s the earlier one on the ‘Another Rockin’ Christmas’ album, and he said the other is on the Target album. Mr Poore’s book, Rockabilly: A Forty-Year Journey, contains brief mention of ‘Presents’ and Eva’s recording of it. Mr. Poore says he specifically solicited — and received — Eva’s personal permission to use her ‘Presents’ track on the original ARC album in 1995 and that he still has the message Eva left him about it on his answering machine tape.
“I found him to be one of the most musically-knowledgeable, gracious, and avid supporters of Eva’s belated success around! One more illustrative item: an interviewer asked him, of all the musical artists and personnel he has worked with through the years (no slouch list that includes Elvis, Dwight Yoakim, Danny Gatton, and more which are detailed in his book) for which one did he have the most respect. Without hesitation Mr. Poore’s answer was ‘Eva Cassidy.’ To which the interviewer not surprisingly responded: ‘Who?’“
OTHER CHRISTMAS SONGS in Eva’s performing repertoire: Mike Dove, “Eva’s first fan,” who attended most of Eva’s performances, recalls, “At Christmas time she would start every set with one or two Christmas songs, she’d do Christmas carols, and then do the rest of the set.” Chris Biondo remembers, “She used to do ‘Go Tell It On the Mountain,’ in a gospel version, like a shuffle.” My own favorite was “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.”
“It was so cool.”
