ALL ABOUT EVA

Niamh Armstrong on channelling the late, great Eva Cassidy

The first time I heard Eva Cassidy sing was a day I’ve never forgotten or never will.

Myself and my friends were in our flat in Rathmines just chatting about music, and suddenly we all stopped and heard this captivating voice. We were all like, Who is this?

Eva was singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow, live from The Blues Alley. The black and white clip was stunning, her acoustic guitar playing effortless. She gave me goosebumps.

There and then I discovered my love for Eva Cassidy .

The next day, I bought her album Songbird, an album that was going to capture the world by storm. I had this cd on everywhere I went.

I started to research her. I loved her approach about the music industry. She never wanted to be manufactured, always wanted to sing what she loved and did it organically. She had turned several music record labels down due to her stubbornly wanting to sing other people’s songs. That was her vibe .

She took any song and made it her own! Sting has said Fields Of Gold is not his song anymore after Eva recorded it.

This is something that inspired me. Eva taught me that you can record any song and make it your own with your own particular creativity and voice.

Over the years I wanted to give something back to her so I went in and recorded my 10-track album dedicated to her. All songs Eva had recorded. You get the elements of blues, soul, jazz and folk. She did it all!

She also gave me the inspiration to do what I’m passionate about. At the time I was thinking to myself how am I going to do this all on my own. So I got a journal and visualised it all. Then all of a sudden I was out performing my show, Remembering Eva Cassidy, and it’s going so well. I believe her soul is with me at every show.

It’s a very intimate show and it really connects to people’s soul. Sometimes people are even in tears. Good tears, of course!

I’m not Eva, but can you imagine if you saw her live. What a magical, emotional amazing experience that would be! I would have loved to seen her live. To this day, I’m still learning more about her and finding new songs she recorded. They’re all very precious.

She was an amazing artist. She loved nature and you can tell and see she was very spiritual and had good faith.

Performing in Waterford recently, I met people from Maryland, where Eva was born. They are huge Eva lovers! They couldn’t believe they where seeing a show in Ireland about her! So if that’s not a sign…

The connection I feel to this woman and her music moves me deeply. I’m just so glad to be a part of the Eva gang!

I’m really looking forward to the show at The Whale Theatre. We have a beautiful setlist, so, please come down and share the love for Eva.

She will always be with us…

Niamh Armstrong and her band perform Songbird: Remembering Eva Cassidy at The Whale on Friday, April 11th – tickets HERE.