Quesnel Live Arts presents the April Verch Band, March 9, 7:30 p.m., Northstar Baptist Church auditorium.
“April Verch’s lively fiddle playing, vocals and step dancing should appeal to everyone,” QLA president Michael von Hahn said.
“Her two band members are also incredibly gifted and impressive.
“The warm and lively performance should lift everyone’s spirits as this snowy winter seems to go on and on.”
Verch was born, raised and is now living in the Ottawa Valley, where her family has lived for generations.
It’s an area with a rich, distinctive musical and step dancing tradition shaped by the diverse roots of the immigrants drawn to the region’s lumber camps.
With her band, Verch plays traditional and original songs which draw from all over the world, but are clearly filtered through her immersion in the style she grew up with in the Ottawa Valley.
It was Verch’s time spent studying music at Berklee College of Music in Boston that first led her to blend together different forms of traditional music to form her own distinct sound.
She then launched her professional career by winning the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion and the Canadian Open Fiddle Champion titles (the first and only woman to win both.)
In addition to her vigorous touring schedule, she is in great demand for her teaching skills at workshops, master classes and music.
The April Verch Band consists of world-class musicians Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Walters on upright-electric bass and banjo.
Verch leads the band with her own simultaneous fiddling and dancing.
They have toured Canada, the United States, the U.K., Europe and last year made a six-week tour in Australia for the first time. This year, they are slated for their debut tour in China.
With seven recordings to her credit, Verch’s latest recording Steal the Blue, is both a compelling collection of vocal and instrumental selections and the best portrait yet of her as a performing artist, while testifying to the esteem in which she’s held by Nashville’s bluegrass and roots musicians.
Tickets are $23 (adults) and $19 (seniors and students) at Quesnel Music, Bo Peep Boutique, Save-on Foods or at the door.