April Verch
Album: The Newpart
Label: Slab Town
Tracks: 14
Website: http://aprilverch.com/

April says that she is at a time in her life to take stock, she concluded that family, home and tradition were all very important to her and Whilst on some downtime from her hectic touring schedule she visited her parents home and ' the Newpart ', that is the part of her parents home that was and still is used for special occasions, musical events, family gatherings and which was an extension of the home built in the year April was born. It's where she composed one of her many original tunes and which she named ' The Newpart ' after the sanctuary and hub of so many fond memories. Although never intended to be for anything else other than another superb composition, the tune in time became the title track of her brand new album , her tenth to date, the first recorded when she was only thirteen years old.

There are some fantastic original compositions on the album superbly blended in with tunes and songs that were researched by April and her very talented band members, Cody Walters on stand up bass and Banjo and Hayes Griffin on guitar and mandolin. These tracks were carefully crafted to encompass the many varied styles that the band play in their live sets, and that showcase not only April's outstanding fiddle technique and arrangements, but also highlight what a superb step dancer and singer she is, a few qualities that give her an edge over other fine performers - her live act features her dancing and playing the fiddle at high speed and not missing a beat or tripling on either.

There are blends of Old-Time Country and Folk on the album with many traces of the Ottawa Valley style of playing and dancing, specific to the region of Ontario, Canada where she grew up that can claim descendents from Scotland, Ireland and France. An interesting if not courageous track recorded for this project is one that involves step dancing only, some steps for the dance did not work for the audio although when performed live they fitted well, Verch changed some movements to fit the audio and what emerges is a fantastic melody of toe tapping that contains a refrain throughout with intricate strong and weak movements and rhythms, and believe me, the more you listen the more intriguing it all becomes.

The CD is a great introduction to the April Verch Band if you have not already heard of them, a live show is highly recommended too as they can be quite the racontuers on stage.

Stevie Connor