I Can Only Be Me

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Eva Cassidy’s catalogue of recordings began that day in Chris Biondo’s studio where he, impressed with her talent, asked her to come back so he could record her as a soloist, eventually introducing her to Washington’s “King of Go-Go” Chuck Brown with whom she would make an album.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. I CAN ONLY BE ME by Eva Cassidy with the London Symphony Orchestra is a new work that employs the groundbreaking machine learning audio restoration technology developed by filmmaker Peter Jackson for his 2021 The Beatles: Get Back film. But as I went deeper into Eva’s life story and catalogue, I came to understand the extent to which she herself had experimented in the studio and had been for new ways to record her songs. All image and audio content is used by permission of the copyright holders or their agents, and/or according to fair dealing as per the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Tall Trees in Georgia" is one of Eva's most haunting performances,” explains arranger Christopher Willis. Incredibly, Eva sounds as present and hypnotic within the sweeping orchestration as she did on her original acoustic take on the Fleetwood Mac favourite which she made entirely her own. To complete this picture, in between Eva's verses, I imagined two birds, represented by two high penny whistles up above the strings. Funded in full by Cassidy herself, using cash from her day job in a plant nursery, it was the second release in almost a decade for Eva, and while the pair didn’t know it at the time, it would be the final record that Eva would ever make. Eva Cassidy's catalogue of recordings began that day in Chris Biondo's studio where he, impressed with her talent, asked her to come back so he could record her as a soloist, eventually introducing her to Washington's "King of Go-Go" Chuck Brown with whom she would make an album.

Back in 2001, it was the BBC playing Cassidy's version of "Over the Rainbow" that introduced her to British audiences and ignited a media storm on both sides of the Atlantic.William Ross, who created the album's “Autumn Leaves” track, said: "I can't possibly find the words to adequately express my thoughts and feelings about Eva, one of the most unique, hypnotic, and powerful singers of all time. Of the "Songbird" track, Christopher Willis commented: "The wonderful, resonant truth about this song is that Eva is the Songbird, singing naturally from the heart. Surly some nice portraits of Eva could of been used, or save the cost and just provide some poly inner sleeves instead! The goal with the orchestral version was to complement her pure vocal essence with a simple, yet broader instrumental arrangement - a lush musical landscape with Eva's voice at the center. The goal with the orchestral version was to complement her pure vocal essence with a simple, yet broader instrumental arrangement – a lush musical landscape with Eva’s voice at the center.