Songbird: A Celebration of Eva Cassidy

Songbird: A Celebration of Eva Cassidy comes to Peggy's Skylight on Saturday 15 January, a tribute to the American singer who found her widest audience long after her death. Cassidy worked across folk, pop, jazz, blues and gospel, and her voice is often described as angelic yet full of emotional depth. She saw little success in her short lifetime, but she's since become internationally celebrated for the way she could take a song from any of those styles and make it her own.

Four musicians are behind this one, with Sara Leanne on vocals, Andrew Jones on piano and guitar, Tom Chapman on bass and Matt Brown on drums, and Leanne taking the artistic direction. They've built the set around Live at Blues Alley, the only album released during her lifetime, and they're treating it as a full-band affair. That means full-band versions of 'People Get Ready' and 'Wade in the Water', alongside stripped-back covers of 'Fields of Gold' and 'Autumn Leaves'. They're also drawing on material released posthumously, including 'Over the Rainbow' and 'Songbird'.

The band describes their approach as one that prioritises authenticity and heartfelt performance, and the setlist reflects that. By mixing the full-band arrangements with the more stripped-back covers, they're working through the different sides of her singing — the gospel-tinged power and the quieter, more intimate moments. It's a good way to hear the range she worked across, from the folk and pop that became her most famous recordings to the jazz and blues that sat at the root of her style.

It's a single night at Peggy's Skylight in Nottingham on 15 January, with Sara Leanne leading the vocals and the full band on stage. If you're familiar with Eva Cassidy, you'll recognise the songs; if you aren't, it's a fair place to start.