Music
Press
Boston Globe
“Among the most promising new fiddlers in roots music today…Verch is never afraid to lace her playing with clever twists of bluegrass, blues, and pop.”
Dirty Linen
“Canadian fiddler (and step dancer) April Verch is one of those enviable people who can seemingly play anything with skill and ease.”
Sing Out!
“April Verch…is a marvel to behold. She's a true prodigy, who by the age of six was step dancing and fiddling in her native Canada…truly a player worth watching in the coming years.”
Bluegrass Unlimited
“…a strong composer…she displays a thorough command of her instrument.”
Toronto Star
“Playful and flirtatious, whimsical and wry, Verch is in peak form, having reached a transcendent level of musicianship where hard-earned technique can be safely
abandoned.”
Halifax Herald
“It's always a good thing for a performer to leave an audience howling for more. But she is
such a startlingly brilliant player/performer you have to wonder whether even too much
would be enough…pulling tone out of her fiddle leaf, stem, root and all, she yanked the final night crowd to their feet with her explosive style…”
No Depression
“…she takes a deep, refreshing look at old-time songs and sounds…and finds the right balance between parlor and stage, between contest improvisation and studio professionalism.”
All Music.com
“she jumps from one style to another, skirling out a vigorous set of jigs or crooked French reels one minute, then delivering a jazzy original tune or a straight-up country weeper the next. “
New Brunswick Reader
“The Otttawa Valley's April Verch is perhaps everything you want in a fiddler-singerdancer. Her vocals cut through eras and genres to take you to that timeless place, somewhere in our collective memory but very close to your heart. Her raw fiddling is playful, tuneful but not showy, a welcoming tone…I'm now going to admit something that may get me kicked out of the region: I think Verch is the best singing fiddler I know,
including all the Maritimers.”
Nashville City Paper
“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.”
Buffalo News
“Her voice is lovably high and lilting, like that of Emmylou Harris or Dolly Parton. It's almost as musical and delectable in their way too.”
Patriot Ledger
“…her Ottawa Valley roots - melding music of French-Canadian, Scottish, Irish, German (Lunenburg, NS) and Polish traditions – and her playing of various regional Canadian styles, make her music distinctly different.”
Saskatoon Star
“And if all that wasn’t enough to impress the crowd, Verch even sang a Phoenix few songs and dazzled with her fast and furious step dancing.”
Ottawa Citizen
“Her voice…swings easily from contemporary country to traditional gospel…her fiddling – at once articulate, crisp and spunky – is an endless delight…” - Various
Please visit www.aprilverch.com (Press & Reviews page) for updated reviews on April's performances and recordings. - on website
Discography
New release coming soon in 2008
Take Me Back - Rounder Records, 2006
From Where I Stand - Rounder Records, 2003
Verchuosity - Rounder Records, 2001
Fiddelicious - April Verch Music, 1998
Fiddle Talk - April Verch Music, 1995
Springtime Fiddle - April Verch Music, 1992
Photos
Bio
APRIL VERCH
April Verch sings with such stark, direct intensity that its almost surprising that her fiddle playing has touches of flash as well as fire.
- Nashville City Paper
Among the most promising new fiddlers in roots music today
Verch is never afraid to lace her playing with clever twists of bluegrass, blues, and pop.
- Boston Globe
Playful and flirtatious, whimsical and wry
a transcendent level of musicianship where hard-earned technique can be safely abandoned.
- Toronto Star
When you see April Verch perform, the first thing that strikes you is the pure energy that infuses her fiddle playing and stepdancing. When you listen to her though, what draws you in are more subtle thingsher pure voice, the finely detailed elegance of her fiddle phrasing and the depth of a repertoire that ranges through material from bluegrass to Brazilian to Celtic, from a jaunty Canadian folksong to a poignant contemporary ballad. April is world-class fiddler, a champion Ottawa Valley stepdancer, an acclaimed composer, and a vocalist whose voice has been hailed as absolutely captivating by the Toronto Star. In addition to Aprils talents, the April Verch Band features world-class musicians Marc Bru on percussion, Lincoln Meyers on guitar, and Cody Walters on upright-electric bass. The April Verch Band tours tirelessly across Canada, the United States, the U.K. and Europe. They have established a reputation as consummate performers, winning over audiences not only with sheer virtuosity on their respective instruments, but also with charm, humor and boundless energy on stage.
It was Aprils time spent studying music at Berklee College of Music in Boston (under Matt Glaser and Darol Anger) that first lead her to blend together different forms of traditional music to form her own distinct sound. She then launched her professional career by winning the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion and the Canadian Open Fiddle Champion titles (the first and only woman to win both). In addition to her vigorous touring schedule, she is in great demand for her teaching skills at workshops, master classes and music camps. She has released seven recordings to date, her 2001 Rounder Records release earned a JUNO nomination (the Canadian equivalent to a Grammy) for Best Roots/Traditional Album. Her most recent release (2008) features her touring band and includes the presence of familiar names like Tim Stafford, Larry Cordle, Ron Block, Melonie Cannon, and Sam Bush among the songwriters, harmony vocalists and instrumentalists.
April is an utterly unique performer, whose high energy brand of musicianship inevitably brings audiences to their feet, whether at a folk festival in Finland, a concert hall like the Ryman Auditorium, a bluegrass festival in Oklahoma, or a Celtic festival in California.
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