WOW! I've NEVER been so impressed with an artist!

[LiveMusic]

Oh, my. Have you ever discovered an artist that shook your world? I just did. Eva Cassidy. Stuff like this comes around only a few times in your life -- when you realize you have experienced something truly special.

 

If you can top this, I'd like to know what it is. (I'm serious; I seek other inspiring artists.) Music can truly be a very moving experience.

 

One of my all-time favorite songs is the classic "Over the Rainbow," the song from Wizard of Oz that Judy Garland made famous. I realized a few months ago how special that song is when I heard a local guy, my favorite piano-playing rocker, play his arrangement. It is a crowd pleaser each time he plays it. And this just after he tears it up on Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire. Quite a contrast. But a good song is a good song. Forever.

 

So, I got to thinking that maybe there's a guitar version by someone of "Over the Rainbow." (Since it's unlikely I'll be up to speed any time soon on piano.) Somehow, on this forum or another, someone mentioned Eve Cassidy. (It's Eva Cassidy.) I'd never heard of Eva Cassidy.

 

So, I found some music and downloaded the song. Wow. All I can tell you is it is THE most soulful, moving, emotional, touching, beautiful song I've ever heard. It's stunning. If you have dry eyes after hearing it, you're... well... you'll likely need Kleenex. I felt like an idiot getting all choked up. Then I did some more research and found out men and women all over the world are bawling their eyes out after hearing this. You oughta read the reviews. I recommend that if you listen to it, don't be driving. You'll have to pull over.

 

Five years after her death, as of this week, her "Songbird" album is #1 in the U.K.; I just bought it. I'm researching her other albums. I've downloaded three more songs. Now, I gotta buy her other albums. Because every song I've heard is great.

 

"Songbird" has ten songs, including:

 

"Fields of Gold," the song made popular by Sting (he said he cried after hearing it)

"Autumn Leaves"

"Wayfaring Stranger"

"Over the Rainbow"

(six others)

 

She has three or four more albums. Other songs include:

 

"Bridge Over Troubled Water," the Simon & Garfunkel song

"Time After Time," the Cyndi Lauper song

"Ain't No Sunshine," the Bill Withers song

"You Don't Know Me," the Ray Charles song

etc.

 

The "Over the Rainbow" song... I've listened to it six times, trying to figure out why it's so special. It gets me each time. Why? The song consists of her voice, acoustic guitar and what sounds like an oboe. Why is it so moving? I think because it's not only her haunting, beautiful, powerful voice, it's the arrangement. A masterful arrangement can make a great song sensational. And this one has it. Even without her singing, this song would be good.

 

I am reminded of the Kenny Loggins tune "House At Pooh Corner." That song has one of the most beautiful chord progressions I've ever heard. But the arrangement he did a few years ago (decades after the original)... maybe 1996 for the most recent edition?... that version is a mother lode of superior arranging. Beautiful! Credits for that song mention Amy Grant; maybe she's singing on the record.

 

And I have bad news. Eva is dead. Died in 1996 at age of 33 of cancer. That made it even worse for me. I was SO excited to find this incredible person and she's gone. Only the good die young. And Elvis is dead and I don't feel so good myself. Sorry.

 

This gal was striking in appearance. Kinda like Maryann Faithful, circa 1966. Long, straight blonde hair. Piercing blue eyes. A throwback to that 60s look that I never tire of. She was not only one incredible singer but an artist as well.

 

Have you ever discovered an artist that, like, took your breath away? If so, I'd like to check her/him out.

 

Cheers

 

P.S. There is an Eva Cassidy Foundation, which is for the promotion of music education for children, something I strongly believe in, something sorely lacking in the U.S. these days.

 

Here's an Eva site her cousin runs:

 

http://users.erols.com/hoganandbligh/eva.htm

[Tedster]

There were a couple of songs that did that to me. A lot of what Emmylou Harris has done tears me up. Her voice is so freakin' pure!

 

There's an indie artist named Nanette Malher (or is it Mahler?). She's got a song on her CD that tears me up the same way. I don't buy a lot of CDs, either big name or indie, but after hearing this one tune on her CD, I went out and bought it. She's got an almost Emmylou purity to her voice, too, but not quite as country, a little more bluesy.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

Stanley Jordan does a guitar version of Over the Rainbow on the album Blue Note Concert. I've never heard it but he is a very good, unique jazz guitarist.

[Tedster]

Go to:

 

http://www.nanettemalher.com

 

And where it says "Get an mp3" on the left side, listen to the tune.