Sat 12/18 @ 8PM
Canadian vocalist/fiddler/step dancer April Verch, now 43, has been steeped in traditional folk music since she was little when she took up both fiddle and step dancing while attending local dances her musician father’s band played in their native Ontario. She began winning major competitions as a teenager. Later she attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, combining the simplicity and earthiness of the Franco-Celtic Canadian folk music of the Ottawa Valley with well-schooled chops. She’s now got 16 albums to her credit, including 2020’s Top of the Hill.
Like Verch, Joe Newberry comes from a musical family in his case in the Missouri Ozarks, where he absorbed fiddle tunes and bluegrass music all around him and took up banjo and guitar. He’s a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, and tours extensively, playing with fellow musicians such as mandolin player Mike Compton — and April Verch, whom he’s currently touring with on their Holiday Cheer tour celebrating their new release “On This Christmas Day.” (Yeah, we know he looks like her dad — but she’s 43. Honestly!)
The tour brings them to the appropriately rustic setting of Peninsula’s G.A.R. Hall this week to break out some of their lively tunes. Tickets are $25.
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