The April Verch Trio Shares their Ottawa Valley Bluegrass at the Turnage | Eastern North Carolina Now

    April Verch brought her fiddle, the balance of her trio, and the Ottawa Valley Stepdancing to the Turnage Theater, and most everybody had a high ole time. The Turnage Theater usually does a fine job of locating and bringing them to Washington, NC and Beaufort County. On this occasion, with the April Verch Trio, the Turnage Theater had some help from the Beaufort County Arts Council in association with the Beaufort County Traditional Music Association.

    On January 14, 2011, the culmination of their combined efforts brought Fiddler April Verch and the balance of her accompanying trio: Guitarist Clay Ross and Bassist Cody Walters, to the Turnage Theater. The Trio's two hour show, featured Bluegrass, Newgrass (progressive bluegrass), Traditional County, Celtic Folk and Ottawa Valley Stepdancing.
    The April Verch Trio, from left to right: Cody Walters - bass, banjo; April Verch - fiddle, lead vocals, stepdancer; Clay Ross - guitar: Above and below.


    April proved in her two sets, plus an encore at the Turnage that she was a virtuoso at the fiddle, and when it comes to stepdaning- April is one dancing fool. Her dancing feet not only provided percussion to the Trio's cacophony of raucous strings, but also made an excellent argument for a new most rhythmic work-out craze. April began learning stepdancing at the ripe old age of two years old, so she has had plenty of time to perfect the process. Whenever April's stepdancing bursts found their conclusion, she certainly received a well-deserved thunderous applause from the audience.

    When April pulled down her reflexive bow to sing, she projected a sweet, clear Traditional Country voice eerily reminiscent of an Iris Dement, not overpowering, but sincere, and sufficient to tell her native tale of love, pain or promise. Also, notice the 3/4 inch, 4' x 8', AC grade plyboard on the stage where April stands to intone her lyrics. This plyboard, dented and marked black from the souls of her shoes, was the recipient of the fervent stepdancing that gave her melodies much of their percussive sound. I do wish that I could have gotten a few decent pictures of the Ottawa Valley Stepdancing, which resembles a cross between North Carolina Clogging and Riverdancing, but April's feet moved too fast for the low light in the Turnage Theater, and my camera does have its limitations. It was truly something to behold: Below.

    The other only percussive sound this night, outside of a little guitar slapping, was these knocking balls wielded by Clay Ross, which he rhythmically challenged to his percussive will. Here he gets into to a swinging, knocking balls jam session will the Fiddling Maiestro, April Verch: Above. And then the knocking balls are stopped in the firm intense grasp of Clay Ross's fists: Below.

    Cody Walters kept a good baseline as April and Clay found their groove playing an eclectic mix of old time Bluegrass diddies, some Newgrass progressions, Celtic influenced folk melodies, and possibly my favorites, a couple of waltzes. April's intricate bowing of her fiddle allows her quite a range, and one can surely tell that she has taken her craft seriously, since she took it up since the age of six: Above and below.

    The next day, Saturday, April held a Fiddle Workshop sponsored by the Beaufort County Arts Council, in association with the BCTMA. I hope it went well, and would appreciate any comments from those that attended. For me, the show the night before was most entertaining, and personally, I was impressed by the pure joy that April brought to the Turnage's stage that Friday night. It made for a most rewarding evening.