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 career includes winning a Grammy and two IBMA Awards, receiving a Lifetime Membership from the California Bluegrass Association, co-founding the internationally-acclaimed Good Ol’ Persons, and collaborating with the country’s top acoustic musicians – including her mighty band: Annie Staninec (fiddle), Greg Booth (dobro, banjo), Tom Bekeny (mandolin), and Cary Black (acoustic bass), all of whom are also wonderful singers.

"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!