Schooled in the fiddle and dance styles of her native Ottawa Valley, the first and only woman to win both the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship and Canadian Open Fiddle Championship, April Verch has applied her formidable technique to a wide range of styles. The fiddler, vocalist and step dancer brings her eclectic blend of roots music styles to Marblehead on October 19th in support of "Take Me Back," her most recent release for Rounder Records.

Previous Rounder releases — “Verchuosity” (2001) and “From Where I Stand” (2003) — were marked by convincing forays into oldtime string band music, Brazilian rhythms and contemporary instrumentals, while the latter introduced her as a winsome vocalist. “Take Me Back” (2006) marks a new level of creativity and musical maturity, with wide-ranging instrumentals that draw on bluegrass, jazz, old-time and Ottawa Valley traditions balanced by contemporary Americana songs from writers like Julie Miller and Claire Lynch.

As “Take Me Back” producer Dirk Powell (Cold Mountain soundtrack, Tim O’Brien, Balfa Toujours, Uncle Earl) says, “Unlike many in her position, she has arrived at a place where the technique she strived so hard to attain no longer has meaning on its own. It is now a means to an end, and the end in question is the realm of true personal expression.” The Toronto Star recently raved about April’s recordings: “Playful and flirtatious, whimsical and wry — a transcendent level of musicianship where hardearned technique can be safely abandoned.”

In addition to April’s talents, the April Verch Band features world-class musicians Marc Bru on percussion, Isaac Callender on guitar, and Cody Walters on upright electric bass. Together, the April Verch Band has established a reputation as consummate performers, winning over audiences not only with sheer virtuosity on their respective instruments and stunning vocals, but also with charm, humor and boundless energy on stage. An April Verch Band concert is equal parts invigorating, surprising, heartbreaking, heartwarming, haunting, charming, thrilling, foot-stomping, faith-restoring, and smile-inducing — all in all, utterly unforgettable.

 

 

A warm, buoyant fiddler with a folk style bred in Canada’s Ottawa Valley, [April Verch] has recently become a delicate sweetheart of a singer. Her fine new CD, ”Take Me Back,” adds heart-rending Americana songs by Julie and Buddy Miller, Claire Lynch and Jennifer Kimball to the Canadian folk mix. Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald

April Verch sings with such stark, direct intensity that it’s almost surprising that her fiddle playing has touches of flash as well as fire. “Take Me Back” obliterates the notion vintage music must be presented in a stoic, reverent manner. Verch and her comrades perform such numbers as ” Take Me Back,” “Loggers In The Short Grass,” “Tennessee Wagoner” and “Seven Years” with equal amounts of eloquence and authenticity, yet there’s absolutely nothing remotely dated about the arrangements or solos. Whether doing Julie Miller’s enticing pieces “Take Me Back ” and “I Still Cry,” executing a medley of reels, or covering Mac Beattie’s haunting tunes about the Ottawa Valley, April Verch soars on a sparkling set blending country, Cajun, bluegrass and folk elements. Nashville City Paper