Événement

APRIL VERCH BAND AT SANDYWOODS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2013 - APRIL VERCH BAND

7 pm, doors open 6:30 pm
BYOB & BYOF
$18 advance, $20 at the door

Sandywoods is thrilled to announce that internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter, and step dancer April Verch and her band will be returning to Sandywoods on Sunday, September 29, 2013.

April Verch doesn't just perform music, she exudes it. The internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer has a passion for performing and her goal is to touch the lives of those who are listening at any given moment. "The world is this amazing puzzle that we can't fully understand, and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it," says Verch, with a dynamic excitement and confidence that makes you believe her in a heartbeat.

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 Appalachian airs that you'd think they'd been neighbors for centuries. When she sings her own songs, you feel sultry Southern air blowing through every wet, bluesy slide of "That's How We Run," just as you feel the tight-shouldered Northern chill in her heartbroken "Still Trying."

Verch was born to traditional music, in Canada's hard-working, hard-dancing Ottawa Valley. She was a local star at four, step dancing with her sister and winning awards at contests. The fact that they were for "Youngest Competitor" didn't dampen her child-eyed enthusiasm. She became the first woman in history to win both of Canada's most prestigious fiddle championships, the Grand Masters and Canadian Open. When Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was asked to represent her country's music at the opening ceremonies. Ottawa Valley music is a foot-stomping, open-minded fusion of Irish, Scottish, French, German, and Polish influences, sprinkled with tangy spices of American country music. The twang of the banjo and the driving Franco-Celtic pulse of the fiddle are as ingrained in April as snowbound winters and Saturday dances.