April Verch Band
The April Verch Band will bring a high-energy show of fiddling, singing and step dancing to View on Thursday, January 17.
The band, which mixes traditional Canadian tunes with historic Appalachian ballads, is led by Canadian fiddle champion April Verch.
Verch is the first woman in history to win both of her homeland’s most prestigious fiddle championships—the Grand Masters and Canadian Open.
Her reputation as a world class fiddler led to a performance at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver where she was invited to be part of “Fiddle Nation,” which showcased Canada’s fiddle tradition.
Verch, 34, who is also singer, songwriter and step dancer, gained musical inspiration from her father who had a country band.
The culture and tradition of her band’s music resonates with what she grew up with in Canada along with a mix of roots music—from Bluegrass and Celtic to World Music.
The April Verch Band also includes world-class musicians Hayes Griffin on guitar and Cody Walters on upright-electric bass and banjo.
Griffin began playing guitar at a young age and gained an appreciation of bluegrass and acoustic music by listening to the sounds of Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and Tony Rice.
Walters began playing the upright bass as a college student, and recently took up the claw hammer banjo as well.
Aside from bluegrass music he also has an interest in performing jazz, Latin, folk and country music.
“We’re all really passionate about performing, and we feel lucky to do what we do. It’s incredible to do something you love so much and have it mean so much to other people,” Verch said.
As a group, Verch said they like to get to know their audiences, so concert-goers at View can expect a fair bit of interaction during the performance.
The band’s ninth CD, “Bright Like Gold,” is scheduled to be released in April. They will be performing songs from the album at View, and hope to have advanced sale copies available at the performance.
The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $20/$18 for View members. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.viewarts.org or by calling (315) 369-6411.
