Sat 3/16 @ 8PM
Some people can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, as Lyndon Johnson so famously said of Gerald Ford (his actual statement was more vulgar, but this one caught on). Canadian vocalist/fiddler/step dancer April Verch isn’t one of those people.
Verch’s music, which combines simplicity and earthiness with well-schools chops, is the product of both tradition and formal musical training. Her father’s band played at dances in her native Ontario and she took up fiddle and step dancing as a little girl. As a teenager she began to win major competitions and attend workshops.
She went on to get a musical education at the noted Berklee College in Boston, giving her an even more solid foundation form which to interpret and build upon the traditional Franco-Celtic Canadian folk music of the Ottawa Valley.
Although she just turned 40 last year, she has been recording for more than 25 years with 10 albums to her credit, including 2017’s Going Home with multi-instrumentalist Joe Newberry. On it they combine Verch’s roots with Newberry’s Appalachian/Ozark ones.
Verch has been a frequent visitor in this area, performing at venues such as the BOP STOP, Nighttown, Oberlin’s Riverdog Retreat, and Peninsula’s G.A.R Hall. She’ll be returning to the latter this week. Tickets are $18 in advance, $22 day of show.
an-evening-with-april-verch-tickets
Peninsula, OH 44264