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CANCELLED - PLEASE CONTACT BROWN PAPER TICKETS FOR REFUND April Verch Band
The story of how Verch came to be a brilliant interpreter of tradition is just as striking as the results. Practically from birth she was immersed in folk music and dance from her native Ottawa Valley, a melting pot of Franco-Celtic flavors brought by the hard-working loggers who settled the area. Ferried to dance-filled old-time gatherings and country & western jamborees by her music-loving parents, she followed her older sister into step dancing at age 3, and picked up the fiddle at age 6. She was lucky to have the chance to start studying, performing and competing in both so early, but there's no question that she also made the most of it.
Says Verch, "I was fortunate to have an opportunity to grow up performing with a lot of people that didn't make their living playing music, but were the local country music stars. And I remember my parents asking them questions and having them talk to me and tell me how hard it was to have a career in music. I think the reason I did some of the things I did so early on, such as recording my first album at thirteen, was because I thought, 'I know this is hard, but I'm still going to do this. So I'd better get going.' In a sense, their way of trying to warn me just made me push all the harder."
By the time Verch graduated high school, she'd won the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship and released a pair of albums, followed by a year at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and a win at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition, which made her the first woman ever to take both of her country's two top contests. From there she dove into a full-time music career, signing with Rounder Records for a trio of albums and starting to put her delicate soprano to use and experimenting with a more contemporary palette.
Verch looks back on that earlier era with clear-eyed perspective. "I was always true to myself in performing stuff that I liked," she reflects, "but I think I was also trying to please a lot of people. I mean, we were playing bluegrass festivals, Celtic festivals, folk festivals. And I was just really trying to do everything I could to make sure that this was a career that was going to last. Now I've been doing this long enough that I've realized I'm the one playing the music every night - I'd better love it. And if I'm loving what I'm playing, it's going to get across no matter what. I think it's just a part of growing up and realizing that I don't need to try so hard to please everyone. We are the April Verch Band, and this is what we do. That's what people love about us."
There's a lot to love. The April Verch Band - rounded out by bassist and clawhammer banjo player Cody Walters and guitarist Hayes Griffin, who has a Masters in jazz improv from the New England Conservatory - is an energetic, virtuosic, tradition-celebrating outfit, not to mention one that's not soon forgotten when they depart the stage. It doesn't hurt that the thrilling grand finale involves Verch fiddling and step dancing - and often executing two entirely different intricate rhythmic patterns - at once.
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LocationStudio 55 Marin (View)
1455-A East Francisco Blvd.
San Rafael, CA 94901
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 3 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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