Just had to share some good news from this side of
the pond.
A couple of years ago I saw a post on a newsgroup
from a lady named Laura Bligh about the difficulty
of getting airplay for music that didn't fit "the formula" -
in particular, Eva Cassidy.
I wrote to her agreeing and saying how much I liked
Eva's 'Songbird' album which had not long been released
on a small label in Brighton in the UK. Turned out
Laura was Eva's cousin and, since her death a couple
of years earlier, she'd had been trying hard to keep her
music alive, but felt like she was beating her head against a
brick wall. Whilst all the specialist folk radio shows were
all raving about her voice, mainstream radio just weren't
interested. One major commercial radio station, even though
they had been sent a press release saying that Eva died
of cancer in 1996, had even written back rejecting it, but saying
that it "showed promise" and to let them know when she recorded
her next album. (!)
Knowing that I loved Joni, Laura wrote to tell me that they
were planning to include Eva's version of 'Woodstock' on
another posthumous album they were putting together -
('Time After Time').
What has happened over here in the last few months
is truly amazing. It seems the producer of Terry Wogan's
morning show on BBC Radio 2 decided to play Eva's
version of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and the BBC
switchboards just went nuts. Meanwhile another BBC
TV producer had seen some old black and white footage
of Eva singing 'Rainbow' recorded live at Blues Alley in
Washington and decided to include it on Top of the Pops 2 -
getting the highest audience response they've ever had.
Suddenly all the newspapers were writing articles about her,
and this last week alone there have been features on national
breakfast television and on a major evening ITV news show.
More than two years after its release, it has just been announced
today that 'Songbird' is Number 1 in the Official UK Album Chart
this week.
US Radio, your call.
PaulC
PS. On the subject of radio airplay, this article says it all -
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/03/14/payola/index.html
Here's an example of what the author seems to refer to as the
'good old days' (!?!)
"The indie promoter was once a tireless hustler, the lobbyist who
worked the phones on behalf of record companies, cajoling station
jocks and program directors, or P.D.s, to add a new song to their
playlists. Sure, once in a while the indies showed their appreciation
by sending some cocaine or hookers to station employees, but the
colorful crew of fix-it men were basically providing a service".
