Booking & Management:
Ed Kenney
McDermott Entertainment
30 Rowes Wharf, Suite 470
Boston, MA 02110
telephone: 617-350-5646
fax: 617-557-9166
eok@McDermottVentures.com
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by Al Riess, Dirty Linen #108, October/November 2003
April Verch returns to the recording studio with another charming CD of fiddle tunes, and this time she takes an additional step forward by adding a little bit of singing to her repertoire; five of the 14 selections feature vocals by this young, dynamic Canadian performer. First, the instrumentals; Verch’s fluid fiddling is front-and-center on all the tunes, and she is usually accompanied by three or four others on instruments such as guitar, piano. bass and accordion. Of special note are a wedding march she wrote for her August 19, 2000, nuptials, “August 19,” which has a fiddle/guitar/cello/viola lineup and an arrangement by Darol Anger, and the traditional bluegrass “Dixie Hoedown,” with Bruce Molsky adding clawhammer banjo and Kenneth Saulnier playing mandolin. Other styles represented on this wide-ranging offering are French Canadian, Scottish, traditional French, and, of course, fiddle music from Verch’s native Ottawa Valley tradition in Ontario, namely an “Ottawa Valley Medley” that includes pieces penned by four fiddlers from the area. Some of Verch’s own compositions on the album are “Fraser Valley Reel,” dedicated to members of a fiddle club in British Columbia, and “Faniuck’s Fancy,” of which she says “it had a Ukrainian flair about it.”
Now, the songs: Verch composed “A Riverboat’s Gone,” which is a mid-tempo, moving tribute to the late John Hartford, whose music “touched me in a way that nothing else ever has and ever will again,” states Verch. “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight” uses a “big band” approach - fiddle/guitar/piano/bass/dobro/harmonica - augmented with two harmony vocalists on a warm sincere version of the A.P. Carter classic, and Greg Trooper’s country-folk “Light in the Window” is given a relaxed, homey treatment. She has a light, youthful voice with a delicate touch, and it serves her well on the material she chose to sing. April Verch is one of those under-30 artists who should continue to be a stalwart standard bearer for both the folk and the fiddling traditions for a long time.
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