The Vital Verch

If fiddler, singer and songwriter April Verch hasn’t garnered all the attention she deserves, chalk it up to the fact that as a traditional musician, she lacks some of the flash and frenzy of those more concerned with contemporary conceits. Over the past 20 years or so, she’s generally eschewed any attempt to negate her affection for traditional folk music, even at the risk of sounding somewhat dated by comparison. Still, there’s nothing staid about her fiddle-fueled delivery, and if anything, The April Verch Anthology, an 18 song summation of her prolific career, reinforces the fact that her music is not only charming but also undeniably diverse. While Verch often opts for instrumentals, a talented cast of supporting players — Mac Wiseman, Bobby Hicks, Sam Bush, Dirk Powell, and the Infamous Stringdusters’ Travis Book, among them — flesh out the melodies with skill and savvy. Verch covers a lot of ground here, from lively step-dancing tunes (the sprightly “Canadian Reel Medley,” “Eldon and Ethel,” “The Newpart”) and a country caress (a syrupy yet sentimental “If I Can Stay Away Long Enough” and “It Makes No Difference To Me”) to a series of reels and polkas (the jaunty “Eclipse: The Eclipse/Grants Reel/ The Peacock’s Feather,” “Partie de Quadrille des Verret” and “Marche des Ouvriers”), doing so with an obvious finesse that all but ensures authenticity.  Homespun and heartfelt, Verch’s music is both quaint and captivating.