Newberry & Verch
- Sebastopol, CA
- 02/17/2023

About
Through their strong musical traditions of the Ozarks and Canada’s Ottawa Valley, Joe Newberry and April Verch take a little bit of home with them wherever they go.
Verch, best known for two decades of international touring with The April Verch Band and a 2020 JUNO Award Nominee, and Newberry, well-known for his work with mandolin icon Mike Compton, as well as The Transatlantic Sessions and A Prairie Home Companion, say that this collaboration holds a special place in their hearts. They have enjoyed developing it alongside their other projects, which will continue.
“Joe and I had known of each other’s music for years, but had never met,” Verch said. “We had talked on the phone a few times and felt so confident that we would love playing together, that when some time opened up in each of our schedules, we decided to go ahead and book some shows. In our first face to face meeting, and that first rehearsal in August, 2016, we knew that we were right. This was going to be special!”
In October, 2016, the pair performed their first concerts, among which were multiple appearances at the Celtic Colours International Festival across Cape Breton, NS. “By the end of that run, we knew that we wanted to record an album,” Newberry said. “The music that we make inspires us and we wanted to capture some of that feeling that we were sharing on stage in the studio.”
The result was their debut album Going Home released in 2017. It's an album that sounds like two old friends who have been playing together for years. In the words of Barry Poss, founder of Sugar Hill Records “Oh, but this is a good one! Going Home is a simply gorgeous and intimate expression of musical multiculturalism. Joe and April each bring superb musicianship from their respective Ozark/Appalachian and Canadian Ottawa Valley roots and while they never lose sight of their own unique traditions, their work together also serves to craft an entirely new musical aesthetic, one with its own melting pot integrity.”
Since those first encounters in 2016, Newberry & Verch have carved out time in their schedules for regular tours together, resulting in not only North American appearances but also in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. In December 2021 they'll release their second album, a collection of holiday songs and tunes titled On This Christmas Day.
Americana/Roots | Holiday | World Music/Traditional
Links
- 'Going Home' - Full Album Soundcloud Stream
- Newberry & Verch Online
- Joe Newberry Official Site
- April Verch Official Site
Source
Special Concert Event! Double Bill with Kathy Kallick Band and Newberry & Verch at at Sebastopol Community Cultural Center on February 17
Growing up, Joe Newberry and April Verch absorbed traditions of home and hearth – in his Missouri Ozarks and her Ottawa Valley of Canada. Although they are on the road much of the year, the two musicians are fond of saying that they are rarely homesick, because their music means they always have a bit of home with them wherever they go.
"In their classic, stripped-back duo — featuring Verch’s virtuosic fiddling and honeyed soprano singing alongside Newberry’s clawhammer banjo strumming, Piedmont-style fingerpicking guitar, and flannel-warm tenor — the album runs the gamut from old-time instrumental fiddle-banjo duets to a jaunty country yodel to a classic fireside story recitation.” (No Depression)
Known for his clawhammer banjo playing, Joe Newberry is also a powerful guitarist and singer, an award-winning songwriter, and renown teacher. He continues to play in an acclaimed duo with Mike Compton, and the two join Kathy Kallick on her latest recording. Fiddler and step dancer April Verch was the first woman to win both the Canadian Grand Masters and Canadian Open Fiddling Championships. She’s released a dozen albums, as well as an instructional step dance DVD and a Canadian Fiddle tune teaching method for Mel Bay. Whether it is the power of their voices lifted in harmony, or the sound of traditional tunes calling people to get up and move, these two masters of tradition put on an unforgettable show. And when their feet kick up the dust in perfect rhythm and those two voices become one, Joe Newberry and April Verch make folks remember why this music existed in the first place.
The Kathy Kallick Band is, indeed, based along the west coast, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Anchorage, but their powerful mixture of original and classic music, mirroring their distinctive combination of traditional and contemporary sensibilities, has great appeal everywhere. Kathy Kallick’s exceptional
"As a founding member of Good Ol’ Persons, Kathy Kallick pioneered a place for women in bluegrass. Some 22 albums and several major awards later, the singer-songwriter-guitarist approaches her music with the same irrepressible enthusiasm. You’ll marvel at the individual virtuosity, the group cohesiveness, and several beautifully-sung Kallick originals that express both timely pessimism and tireless hope.” - Derk Richardson, Oakland magazine
Their show includes powerful and diverse material from a half-dozen chart-topping Kathy Kallick Band releases, along with interpretations of lesser-known songs and tunes, and plenty of new material – from both the next band album and Kathy's recent tribute to her folksinger mother, Dodi Kallick, which has garnered radio airplay on more than 250 programs and stations around the world.
Led by one of the music’s extraordinary composers and vocalists, the Kathy Kallick Band has nearly as much fun as the audience when performing. The material is compelling, the songs have lots to say, the tone ranges from humorous to bittersweet to soulful, the instrumental playing is dazzling, the vocals luminous, the presentation inclusive.
Each duo will perform one 50 minute set, and a grand finale is most likely!
Dispatch Details
Ticket URL: | Click here |
Ticket Price(s): | $30 General Admission, $25 for members of the Sonoma County Folk Society and the California Bluegrass Association |
Venue Link: | Click here |
Venue City, State: | Sebastopol, CA |
Venue St. Address: | Sebastopol Community Center Youth Annex, 425 Morris St |
Venue: | Sebastopol Community Cultural Center |
Concert Start Time: | 7:30 PM |
Doors Open: | 7:00 PM |
