Cody, Clay & April @ The Great Wall in China (spring 2011)

With our next tour (starting November 30) and the end of this year comes a goodbye to our good friend and amazing guitarist, Clay Ross.  Clay joined the band in the spring of 2009 and brought with him a wide range of musical influences that added immensely to the AVB’s stage show and sound.  Audiences around the world were amazed by his kosikas (aka red balls!)  We’ve spent a lot of time together, on stage and off, and are really going to miss him.

Even though we’re sad to see him go, we are celebrating the fact that it’s for good reason.  Clay is excited to focus on his band “Matuto” which mixes the best of bluegrass and brazilian music for a sound that’s like a “Carnaval in the Appalachian mountains” as well as other projects.  Thanks for the great times and music Clay, and here’s wishing you all the best!

We are honoured to welcome back our wonderful multi-instrumentalist and ex-AVB guitarist Isaac Callender in January 2012.  Isaac has agreed to grace us with his presence and skills until May (including our Australian tour!) when our new full time guitarist will join us!

And finally…  Welcome Hayes Griffin to the mad-touring life of the AVB!  Hayes was raised in central Ohio and started playing guitar at the age of nine.  Inspired by the sounds of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and Tony Rice, Hayes completely immer

sed himself in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music at a young age.  As a teenager, Hayes gained local recognition as two-time champion of the Dan Emmett Flatpicking Competition.  Around this time his musicals interests began to broaden and he studied not only bluegrass but also jazz music at Denison University, where he earned a B.A. in Music Performance in 2010.  More recntly, Hayes has been an active member of Boston’s vibrant acoustic music scene, while pursuing a masters’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory (which he will have earned by the time he starts touring with the AVB next May!)

Ms. Verch is what can be described as a ‘quintuple threat’, being adept as an instrumentalist, singer, dancer, composer and songwriter. Aficionados and critics can argue over which she does best; intelligent listeners of music just sit back and enjoy her many splendored abilities. She has won just about any fiddle contest worth winning, recorded a whole bunch of CDs and authored a couple of books of fiddle tunes.  April has also become an accomplished songwriter. Just recently the title song of April’s latest recording- “That’s How We Run” was lauded by the music critic of Canada’s paper of record, The Globe and Mail. Robert Everett-Green called attention to the song as one of ‘four new songs worth a listen”-  “Ontario fiddler and vocalist April Verch wrote a tune that sounds as old as the hills, with a metric hiccup as her bright voice climbs through the verse. But the dark undertone of this song feels current: the sounds of the past stained by the troubles of today.” A decade of tours has taken her to China, Australia, various European destinations and hundreds of North American locales. All this has earned April the sobriquet of “established artist”.  Among other things, that means that you have the motivation, the credibility and the freedom to do new and interesting things.

April Verch’s new and interesting thing is to take her touring band- a tidy trio of April on violin, voice and feet, Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Walters on bass and banjo- and double it into a sextet. The featured guests are Riley Baugus on vocals and banjo, and two fellow fiddlers- Stephen “Sammy” Lind and André Brunet. All three are players of the first rank. Riley is one of the finest old time musicians alive. He learned at the feet of legendary fiddler and banjo player, Tommy Jarrell, and never looked back. He performed on the Allison Kraus/ Robert Plant “Raising Sand” and on Willie Nelson’s “Country Music”, both Grammy winners. He also teaches, builds banjos and does just about everything else associated with traditional music. “Sammy” is a founder of the Oregon based Foghorn Stringband, who describe themselves as the purveyors of “ass kicking redneck string band music”. He is equally at home working with old timey, bluegrass and Cajun bands- he’s in Joel Savoy’s Cajun Country Revival. Monsieur Brunet is Quebecois from the Montérégie region- that part of Quebec, south of the Saint Lawrence River, between Montreal and the US border- and spent 10 years with La Bottine Souriante- the gold standard of Quebecois traditional music.  He is presently in De Temps Antan, one of Quebec’s most respected traditional music ensembles. He and April were two of the six fiddlers selected to represent the Canadian fiddle tradition to billions of viewers at the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. It seemed reasonable to continue their collaboration.

It is not news that the Appalachian mountain range seems to leave its mark on the music the diverse inhabitants of its hills and valleys produce. This is the land that gave renowned English folklorist Cecil Sharp an abundance of traditional Anglo-Scottish ballads in the nineteen teens and where WSM began broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry a decade or so later- both key events in the evolution of folk based popular music. It is also the land that produced much of the raw material of what has been called the ‘folk revival’.  April Verch‘s native Ottawa Valley, while not an organic part of the Appalachians, shares a very similar history and aesthetic. Like Appalachia the early white immigration came from Ireland, England and Scotland. Unlike Appalachia there was also the French fact and, later, Polish and German settlers who brought their own traditions to towns like Wilno. The ongoing preservation of fiddle tunes, dances, traditional ballads as well as contemporary songwriting is shared on both sides of what would become the border.  Looking at a map of the Appalachian region, all 2400 kilometers of it, from Alabama through the north eastern United States, southern Quebec, New Brunswick and the west coast of Newfoundland, and adding the Ottawa Valley spur, you could make a pretty good argument that this is the richest vein of folk music and folk based popular music in North America. That is what April Verch thinks and she has decided to mine it for the hoard of rich musical possibilities it contains. The new project is going to turn heads and delight hearts.

Add three stellar collaborators to April’s trio and you have as talented, dynamic, creative (and a whole bunch of other adjectives) an ensemble as had ever trod the boards. They play -goodness how they play!- they sing and they dance. And what do they play, sing and dance? The music, songs and dances of Appalachia, Quebec and the Ottawa Valley. They play music that shares its origins in the creations of poor farmers, miners, lumber workers and other folks far from the centre of the artistic action, folks who created, out of their traditions and brains, some of the most passionate, sad, happy and enduring music ever heard. Many of the tunes share common origins in Europe that go back to the Middle Ages. The dancing ranges from the seated jigging that is unique to Quebec to April’s Ottawa Valley approach of dancing while she fiddles- something April is exceptionally good at. In Appalachia clog dancing is the thing and while not a big part of Riley’s repertoire, he says- “you kind of have to dance, at least a little bit… the dancing is a huge part of the music”. The songs range from traditional ballads to self penned numbers written by group members.

Given the deep roots in the tradition and their own creative abilities, this is an ensemble that is never going to have trouble finding interesting music to play. And playing is exactly what they want to do. This exceptional ensemble- April Verch’s Heartland Expedition – is ready! They are looking for audiences- festival audiences, concert audiences, all audiences who appreciate the finer things in life.  If you are ready to go on a sonic expedition through the Appalachians and related ‘terroirs’, exploring the varied possibilities to be found, April Verch’s Heartland Expedition will take you there. Get on board!

The fall has been a whirl wind so far.  I left home before Labour Day and we toured in the Northeast & New England for a couple of weeks.  Then we flew to Baton Rouge, LA where we performed a showcase at Southern Arts and played on live WRKF.  We were in and out of there overnight unfortunately, but hopefully as a result of the showcase we’ll be in those parts more often soon!

With no sleep and a super long travel day we flew to Atlanta and played in Dahlonega & Birmingham before heading to Nashville for IBMA’s World of Bluegrass.  We love WOB!  It always feels like a big reunion with friends and peers.

Official showcase at IBMA

Plus my parents were there this year so I got to see and visit with them a little bit.  We had an official and a couple of unofficial showcases and left exhausted but happy!  We toured the south for a few more days (TN, GA, NC, SC) with great gigs and a stop in for some home cooking at Clay’s folks in Anderson.  And then we headed to the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton!  A festival I’ve long heard about and dreamed of being a part of.  It is one of those festivals we’d heard so much about that we weren’t sure it could ever live up to all the hype.  But it did!  And we got to hear so much wonderful music, collaborate with some of our heros and new friends, and saw the beautiful foliage on the many drives around the island from concert to concert.  Ooooh, let’s not forget the early morning and late night Tim Horton’s stops that made me feel so at home!  I sure hope we’ll get to go back to Celtic Colours some day.  If you haven’t been yet – save up your vacation and go – you’ll thank us for the tip!

At Celtic Colours with Bruce Molsky & Nic Gareiss

Things have been going great with the new CD.  Thanks to our publicists (Jane Harbury in Canada, Stephanie Fields in USA) we’ve been doing lots of interviews, in-studio appearances and getting lots of airplay.  If you haven’t seen our DJ thank you video yet you can check it out here.  I also just ordered our 2nd batch of CDs from the manufacturer.  Yeeehaaww!  And…wait for it…we just got stickers and ordered t-shirts!  Can’t wait to see what they look like!  We’ll have them with us in a couple of weeks.

It’s been a fall full of conferences and showcases which bodes well for the upcoming seasons.  Our agents are hard at work and so are we.  Soon we’ll be able to tell you about our new and very exciting collaboration project too!  I can’t wait to share it – it’s going to be too much fun!

But for now, I should probably sign off and enjoy my first class meal and beverage service!  See you down the road!

Andrea Beaton, Bruce Molsky, Jason Lapine & Me (Celtic Colours)

Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival

I’ve always loved back to school time.  It’s kind of like the new year, where everything starts fresh.  New routine, new supplies, new teacher.  I bought new glasses the other day just to celebrate!

Well……  The new CD is officially released!  We’ve been selling it online and at our shows for a couple of months but it’s really exciting to have the media campaign in full swing and feel the buzz that goes along with it :)  Hopefully we’ll be sharing reviews with you soon!

It’s hard to believe that the summer flew by so quickly!  In August we had a great tour in the Midwest with stops in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Highlights included seeing and performing with our dear friends Bill & Kate Isles and hearing the Foghorn Stringband live for the first time.  I haven’t been able to stop myself from listening to their albums daily for months now, so I was in heaven, not only hearing them but having a chance to jam with them a little bit!

Jam with Foghorn!

We had our first AVB fiddle camp experience (the first time all 3 of us taught at the same camp at the same time) at Fiddle Works Salt Spring Island Fiddle Camp in British Columbia, and then I continued to Boston (where I didn’t feel the earthquake) for the first ever New England Fiddle Pal Camp!  As always, both camps gave us a new inspiration working with the talented faculty and students.  It’s so amazing that there are so many of these music camps all over the place these days – I think it’s impacting the music and the music community in so many wonderful ways.  We are honored to be a part of it!

Now we’re in the midst of our CD release tour that kicked off a few days ago at the historic and beautiful Earlville Opera House, followed up by a stop at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival in Woodstown, NJ (Claire Lynch Band rocks!).  I reported via facebook status a few days ago that this is the first time I’ve commenced a tour so endless I have no plane ticket home yet…  Is it crazy that that feels okay and kind of normal?!  I think this life suits me just fine!

I admit that with a hot, muggy, outdoor concert season nearly over I am very much looking forward to autumn and even winter.  I think fall might be my favorite season, though I really do love them all and find it hard to pick…

Cody's banjo workshop at MBOTMA Festival

We’re headed to New England next, then Louisiana, the Southeast, Cape Breton, the Northwest, Ontario, British Columbia…  That reminds me.  I need to get back to booking plane tickets.

Happy back to school to our young friends!  And our best wishes to all of you, especially our friends who have been impacted by the recent storms…
Take care.

April