Cassidy brother Eva so good

by TIM FLETCHER

A DUO featuring the brother of late American songstress Eva Cassidy is to perform to audiences in Burton and Ashby.

Cassidy from Maryland, was relatively unknown in her lifetime but became a global word-of-mouth phenomenon after her death from skin cancer, at the age of 33, in 1996.

Her posthumously released albums reached number one on both sides of the Atlantic after her spine-tingling versions of songs like Over The Rainbow received extensive airplay.

Eva’s brother, Dan Cassidy (pictured), played on many of her recordings, but is also an acclaimed musician in his own right and a virtuoso fiddle player.

Now based in Iceland, he plays alongside roots, folk, Celtic and blues performer James Hickman, best known as a member of BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards winners Uiscedwr, at Ashby’s Venture Theatre next Friday and in the Dove Room at Burton Town Hall the following Friday.

The gigs have been arranged by Ashbybased musician Brian Langtry, a member of Black Country folk band Giggetty, and Les Grice, from Branston, who visited the Cassidys’ parents at the house where Eva grew up in Bowie, Maryland, while on a visit to the States in 2001.

“I wrote to the family to say how much I enjoyed Eva’s music and how I hoped one day to visit their area, and out of the blue they invited me to go and spend the day with them,” he says.

“It was when Eva was just starting to break very big over here and they were taking phone calls from all over the place. The interest in her had come as a total shock to them.

“When she was alive, record companies had never shown much interest because even though she had such an incredible voice, her output was so eclectic that no one could nail down what she sang.”

Les teamed up with his co-promoter after being ‘blown away’ by Over The Rainbow — the touring stage show which Brian wrote tracing Eva’s life — and reckons the two gigs will be a treat for fans of a wide range of genres, encompassing swing, blues, country, bluegrass and trad folk.

“We’re expecting people who know Eva’s work to come along as there is that connection and Dan has played on a lot of her songs,” he says.

“But we think it will also appeal to anyone who is interested in good musicianship and an eclectic mix of different styles.”

Dan Cassidy and James Hickman play at the Venture Theatre, in North Street, Ashby, on Friday, November 13, and at the Dove Room at Burton Town Hall on Friday, November 20, with both gigs starting at 7.45pm.

Tickets, priced £10, are available by calling Les Grice on 07974 915584 or from the box office at the Brewhouse arts centre, in Union Street, Burton.