Eva enjoyed the musical challenge of singing in different styles as a back-up singer; she also gained valuable recording experience and was able to earn a little money. The styles ranged from folk to country to jazz to hip-hop. She often said that her grandest ambition was to sing backup for her idol Stevie Wonder!
Many of the projects Eva worked on have never seen the light of day, but you can listen to a few of them online. Details follow.
One of the rap songs Eva sang on is “This Is For My Mother.” It is occasionally available on YouTube, hence the link, but do your own search in case things have changed. At one point, “This Is For My Mother” was included in an out-of-print album called “Jiggas on My Roof.” Chris Biondo tells me, “JuJu House recorded that with a group called ‘Twenty Times Twenty’ in 1991, and Eva came in to do some vocals. JuJu coached those vocals, he told her what to sing, she came up with the harmonies. There’s some ad lib at the end where we encouraged her to hit the highest notes she could.” William Julius “JuJu” House was a member of the funk band “Experience Unlimited,” best known for its hit single “Da Butt.” He played drums on some of Eva’s early recordings, and returned to the Eva Cassidy Band for Eva’s last public performance at the Bayou in DC. (CAUTION: I have never heard this entire CD. Many rap and hip-hop albums contain “explicit” lyrics. The song “This Is For My Mother” does not — it is entirely innocuous, as befits a Mother’s Day song — but some of the other material on the CD might not be appropriate for those of us who have led sheltered lives.)
Another rap song that prominently features Eva’s vocals is “I Wanna Thank You” from the album “Tha Hall Of Game” with California rapper Earl “E-40” Wilson. “I wanna thank you, pimps and players, / For sharing your game with me / I wanna thank all of the hustlers / For showing me your life, on the street”
Other examples of Eva’s accomplished work with rap musicians are on the E.U. songs “Express” on the “Livin’ Large” album, and “M-O-N-E-Y” on the “Cold Kickin’ It” album (no links currently available, but you can do a search).
You can hear Eva on two songs on the album UNTOUCHABLE by local guitar legend Danny Gatton (“Ain’t That Peculiar” and “Stand By My Side” with singer Dixie Eastridge). Both tracks were recorded in 1992, but the album wasn’t released until 1998. Eva’s voice is somewhat identifiable, and Gatton is fabulous. Eva took a few guitar lessons from Danny Gatton at one time — I always wonder if their services were bartered. Eva’s brother Dan commented on Washingtonpost.com in 2015, ‘Eva did take a few lessons in the 80’s from Danny…. we were both huge admirers of his and went to hear him many times. By coincidence, we found out that our dad played bass briefly in a band with Danny in the mid-60’s. I think Eva was wanting to learn a few new chords from him at the lessons but when I asked her how it went she said that his musical knowledge was way above her head. I heard that Eva had asked Danny to sit in on one of her solo gigs, but have no more details on this. When Danny took his own life… she said “Doesn’t it seem like we have lost an uncle?”‘
Eva also provides backup vocals on the album JES GREW (1997) by Eva’s friend Jeff Muller. This CD, described by one critic as “A tasty slice of New Orleans funk,” would be a nice introduction to some of Eva’s musical friends who performed at the benefit concert at the Bayou. The album was dedicated to Eva’s memory. You can read a review here. Here’s a link to one of the tracks that contains Eva’s backup vocals, Maman Marie, with her friends Meg Murray and Mary Ann Redmond. Eva also sang backup for Mary Ann Redmond on “Love Doctor.”
Both Eva’s lead vocals and harmonic talents are on display on singer-songwriter Roger Henderson’s album REPLUGGED. Eva and Carey Colvin add wonderful background harmonies on the Tin Pan Alley standard “After You’ve Gone,” and Eva sings lead on “Gas Station Mountain Home,” which later was retitled “Penny To My Name” when the track was included on Eva’s posthumous TIME AFTER TIME album. Roger Henderson died of cancer in 2011. His website, now an online memorial, is here. Roger’s music is well worth investigating; I especially love his brilliant “A Song Away.”
NOVEMBER: Singer-songwriter Niki Lee’s stately chorale “November” is available on the major streaming services. Lee’s lead vocal is flanked by three angelic voices singing harmonies: Eva Cassidy, Pam Bricker, and Jane Brody.
Not yet available, but maybe someday:
YOU WOULD THINK I’D HEARD IT ALL after so many years of writing about Eva, but even I can be surprised. A recent online search brought to my attention an Eva Cassidy recording I’d never come across. Circa 1990, when Eva was earning extra cash singing backup vocals in Chris Biondo’s studio, one of the artists she worked with was was Bobby Smith, a Maryland rock and blues musician who is still performing and teaching in the Baltimore area. Smith was recording a Billy Poore song, “How Can a Strong Love Turn Into a Wrong Love” (henceforth referred to as “Strong Love”).
“It’s a pretty standard country song,” Smith told me, singing a few bars over the phone. He brought in a pedal steel player for the recording, and decided he wanted a singer to do harmonies; Chris Biondo recommended someone named Eva Cassidy. “Eva was a lovely girl, and very talented. She had a nice presence about her. I was very impressed.”
“As an aside,” he told me, “Eva probably saved my life.” Years later Smith was doing a show at the Kennedy Center with Jennifer Nelson, and some of the performers were discussing Eva’s recent death. “That was where I heard that it had been skin cancer. I had a big mole on my wrist and had put off doing anything about it. It inspired me to get the mole checked out, and it turned out to be malignant. If I had waited, the doctor told me I might have had to have my glands removed, and who knows what else. So in a sense, she saved my life.”
If “Strong Love” ever shows up online, I’ll post a link to it here. As Bobby Smith says, it’s a standard country song, and Eva was just doing backup harmonies, but I know some of you enjoy hearing all of Eva’s singing, however minor. And isn’t it wonderful that Bobby Smith took Eva’s cancer to heart and went to see the doctor about his mole?
EVA AND MEG: Eva recorded backup vocals with Meg Murray and Jeff Muller on a promotional demo album “It Ain’t Easy… Being Cheesy” that was never widely released. The songs are “I Want You Back,” “Midnight Train to Georgia,” and “Let’s Stay Together.” I have heard the first two, and they are excellent, so I wish I had a copy of that cassette or CD! It’s one of my “wish list” items on eBay. According to Meg Murray’s website, “the title comes from Meg and Jeff teasing Eva that it took a lot of work to be cheesy and silly at their shows.” Meg Murray is one of the local performers whose talents Eva appreciated most.
BLUE MIRACLE: Chris Biondo once mentioned to me that Eva had done a studio session with her friends in the popular Annapolis band Blue Miracle, and I set out to research whether Eva’s backup vocals might be on a Blue Miracle album. Steve Cyphers, co-founder of Blues Miracle, filled me in: “Eva actually sang on a DEMO of the song ‘Jenna,’ at Chris Biondo’s studio (at the time in Seabrook, MD). We wanted to fly Eva down to Decatur, Alabama, to cut tracks on our first (eponymous) CD, Blue Miracle. Eva, unfortunately had gigs in DC and could not be on the actual CD.” He says he might have a cassette of that demo somewhere, and if he finds it he’ll touch base. “We tried to locate the demo, through Chris, but he was unable to locate the master-reels.” Cyphers added, “I just recently left the band to form a NEW Solo band: Cyphers Band featuring [Eva’s friend] Meg Murray.”