Gifted singer-songwriter Eva Cassidy lived in relative obscurity in a Washington, D.C., suburb before she died of melanoma in 1996. But her posthumous legend has grown steadily since then thanks to Blix Street Records in Gig Harbor.

During the last decade, the independent record label – which focuses on pop, blues, Celtic and new age music – has sold more than 7 million copies of Cassidy’s albums while growing her cult following here and abroad. While the singer is an esoteric figure in the U.S., Cassidy’s music – eclectic pop that bridges the gap between folk and soul – has penetrated mainstream consciousness in England where her first Blix Street album “Songbird” album went No. 1 in 2001, receiving a bump when her remake of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” aired on the BBC’s “Top of the Pops” program.

And the new Cassidy CD, “Somewhere,” is among the projects that has Blix Street anticipating a spike in record sales this fall. Since the album was released on Aug. 26, it has reached No. 13 on the top independent album chart in the U.S. and No. 4 on the British album charts.

“The real Eva-mania hasn’t hit America,” Blix Street owner Bill Straw said. “There’s been a movie in the works for a long time. And if that happens, and it’s well done, then it would probably have more success here.”

Cassidy’s family signed a deal for a biopic last year, Straw said, but various factors, including last year’s Writer’s Guild Strike, sunk the project. Robert Redford’s daughter, Amy, is part of the development team spearheading the latest effort.

“This ‘Somewhere’ album, to the extent that it’s successful, could help,” Straw said. “There’s talk of doing a documentary, and the BBC is sniffing around. What we’re trying to do is create as much heat with this new record as possible.”

Straw learned of Cassidy, months before her death, after Blix Street recording artist Grace Griffith sent him a cassette of Cassidy’s independently released “Live at Blues Alley” CD. He recalled being awestruck from the first listen. “She covers territory that would be inhabited by Roberta Flack, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt just to mention four – and does it very, very well. So I knew it was extraordinary,” he said.

The new album was culled from a various studio, performance and practice clips provided by Cassidy’s producer and one-time boyfriend, Chris Biondo. “Without his involvement, there just wouldn’t be a body of work,” said Straw.

The original plan was to include some of the material on an expanded reissue of “Songbird,” Straw said, but Cassidy’s family vetoed the idea in favor of reworking the tracks into a stand-alone album.

“It’s by far the most diverse record,” Straw said. “‘Songbird’ was a super album. But any criticism of it was maybe it was too middle-of-the-road. And this one, it’s got so many colors. There’s a lot of different facets to it. It takes a little time to get your head around.”

Among the best tracks is Cassidy’s version of “Won’t Be Long,” Aretha Franklin’s first single for Columbia Records. “That’s a rehearsal take, but it’s one of the best vocal performances by Eva or anyone I’ve heard,” Straw said. “It’s better than Aretha’s version. … Eva wasn’t (hampered) with any particular arrangement and got loose on that song.”

Straw also cited the bluesy “Early One Morning” as a great discovery. “I had heard an unfinished version of that for years, but it didn’t have any verse to it, and it was not that well mixed,” he said.

He discovered that there was a multitrack recording featuring Cassidy singing a verse. “Chris Biondo, you could say he’d been holding out, because I didn’t even know that verse existed,” Straw said. “He went in and put that together in the first of the year, so that in its present form is brand new.”

But the new Cassidy CD is just one Blix Street project generating a buzz. Here’s a couple more:

“Roll Away” by Back Door Slam: This young blues-rock trio (all its members are 21 and younger) hails from the tiny Isle of Man, in the British Isles, but takes its name from a song by Tacoma bluesman Robert Cray. The band ventured from that diminutive setting to Austin, Texas’ South by Southwest festival where it turned heads in 2007, followed by this debut album’s release several weeks later.

Singer-guitarist Davy Knowles is being hailed as the next young blues-rock prodigy and is often mentioned in the same breath as Eric Clapton. And the band has gained traction with high profile touring gigs in support of the likes of Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd and, soon, Gov’t Mule.

“No More Fear” by Franklin Roosevelt and His Supporters: Blix Street’s first digital-only single sets Roosevelt’s famous “fear itself” speech to music and definitely preaches to a lefty crowd. Chorus: “No more fear, Bush or McCain/No more years of the same ol’ same.”

“It’s kind of tongue in cheek,” Straw said. “And after hearing Palin’s speech (at the Republican National Convention) we even managed to work her into it.”

Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389 www.blixstreet.com

Learn more about Eva Cassidy, Back Door Slam and Gig Harbor’s Blix Street Records online.

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Hear Blix Street’s Bill Straw talk about Eva Cassidy online.