April Verch is a fiddling singer from Ontario who started young by self releasing two albums before she even finished high school.
Her standing in her home country is such that she went on to represent Canada's fiddle music tradition by performing at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Bright Like Gold is her ninth album and features Cody Walters on bass and clawhammer banjo, Hayes Griffin on guitar and guest spots from fellow-fiddler Bruce Molsky and "banjo icon" Sammy Shelor.
Walters also sings lead vocals on two tracks (Before I Met You and Big Eyed Rabbit) while Griffin gives voice to his own swing song Foolish Heart.
Veteran singer, Mac Wiseman, brings a touch of class to The Only One and My Home In The Sky
The remaining seventeen tracks are covers, including Loretta Lynn's Don't Come Home A Drinkin', or jig-friendly renditions of traditional instrumentals.
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Big Eared Mule and the Appalachian hoedown melody Edward In The Treetop, Yellow Jacket, Quit That Tickling Me are among the best examples of their lively playing style.
Only three songs are actually written by Verch and she also includes No Other Would Do, the only song her dad Ralph Verch ever wrote.
There are plenty of toe-tapping tunes for those in a Bluegrass state of mind but others (myself included) will find it relentlessly 'nice' and conclude that there’s only so much of Verch’s bright, high-pitched and faintly insipid voice they can bear.
April Verch's website
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