First Impressions: Walkin’ After Midnight by Eva Cassidy

Most folks reading this should already be familiar with the story of songbird Eva Cassidy, who tragically passed away from melanoma at the age of 33 in late 1996. For those few who don’t: She was a well-regarded interpretative singer within the D.C.-area music scene who released two albums in her lifetime, The Other Side—a standards set with Chuck Brown—in 1992 and, backed by her own band, the self-released Live at Blues Alley in 1996. Hers was a jazzy folk-n-blues sound that caressed the soul but, like so many worthy artists, she never transcended beyond local clubs to the national stage. 

That began to change with the posthumous Eva by Heart, which was released by Blix Street Records in September 1997. A 1998 compilation, Songbird, then became a sizable hit in the U.K. thanks in large part to BBC Radio 2, which featured her renditions of “Fields of Gold” and “Over the Rainbow.” A string of additional posthumous releases followed and, according to Wikipedia, her recordings have sold some 10 million copies.

Walkin’ After Midnight captures a club concert on November 2, 1995, at the Maryland Inn’s King of France Tavern in Annapolis, Md. When two members of her four-piece backing band failed to show, Cassidy—who played acoustic guitar—called on a Baltimore-based friend, jazz-classical violinist Bruno Nasta, to join her, bassist Chris Biondo, and electric guitarist Keith Grimes. The result is an airy set that gives ample room for her beautiful voice to shine. (The show may well have been lost to time—as so many are—if not for Biondo, who plugged a DAT recorder into the club’s sound system.)

The dozen songs span the genres, ranging from Patsy Cline’s first hit, “Walkin’ After Midnight,” to Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and “Cheek to Cheek,” plus Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and a sultry “Fever” that stays true to Little Willie John’s original version (written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell) and not Peggy Lee’s “Romeo loved Juliet” remake. A cover of ZZ Hill’s “Down Home Blues” proves positively sublime, with Nasta turning in a delightful solo on fiddle. The night closes with a wondrous rendition of the Eagles’ “Desperado.” (Update 1/14/2025: Make that “the album closes”; see Patrick Henry’s comment below for more.)

The album was shared to the streaming in September, while a physical version—LP and CD—is slated for release this Friday. It’s well worth many listens.