Canadian fiddler April Verch, doesn’t just perform music, she exudes it. Her ability to play any kind of roots music as though it was her native tongue is awe-inspiring. Whether singing or playing her own songs, exploring Appalachian traditional tunes, playing Ottawa Valley music, or stepdancing the rhythms of these traditions, April is always being April. Dirk Powell, a multi-instrumentalist, who’s worked with Jack White, Joan Baez, and Riverdance, is awed by April’s ability to play any kind of roots music as though it was her native tongue. Powell says. “She’s so fluent in the language of music that she never needs to imitate. She hears the heart of it and lets that become part of her core. April’s just got that, man; she’s always speaking the language for real.”
On her eighth CD, That’s How We Run, April explores the Southern mountain traditions known as old time music, but always brings her Northern roots with her. Plucky, straight-backed Canadian tunes fit so snugly beside ancient Southern airs that you’d think they’d been neighbors for centuries.
Verch is not only a world-class fiddler in many styles, but also sings rich melodies and is a wickedly fast step dancer, achieving speeds approaching undanceable. She explained that the Ottawa Valley style of dance was born in logging camps inhabited by Irish, Scots, French, Germans, and Poles, “so it’s a mixture. A little bit of tap dancing, a little bit of clogging, some Irish hard shoe, some French Canadian, all rolled into one.”
Tickets for April Verch plus Abby and Harrison Adams at the Iron Horse on Wednesday, September 14th are $12.5o at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com
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