Review: Canadian Fiddler April Verch Counts Her Blessings

By Greg Cahill | From the May/June 2026 issue of Strings

“I’m really inspired by the timeless nature of the tunes and songs I love most,” says Canadian fiddler April Verch, 37, when asked about Blessing on the Wing, her third album with duo partner Joe Newberry, 66, a Missouri-born veteran of Prairie Home Companion. “The community of people who play and appreciate this music is really special. Thinking about the musicians who wrote or played this music before us—where they lived, what life was like for them, and the fact that this same music still resonates deeply for me today—is extremely inspiring. I try to channel that in my playing and in my writing. Oftentimes, the music takes me back to when I am playing it to the person I learned it from, or where I was when I first heard it, or the local fiddler who used to play that tune. It fills my heart to be part of that tradition and to help carry it and pass it along.”

Verch is the real deal—she has deep roots in folk and country music, and the scent of authenticity permeates her music. Her credentials are impressive: She grew up in a remote town in Ottawa Valley in northeastern Ontario, traveling to weekend music festivals, listening to her father’s country band, step-dancing at age three, fiddling at age six, and absorbing all the stories. It wasn’t long before she was performing at local fairs and festivals and on TV shows. As a teen, she won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship and Canadian Open Old-Time Fiddlers’ Contest. Eventually, she landed in Boston, where she studied at Berklee College of Music with fiddle masters Matt Glaser and Darol Anger. 

Three years ago, Verch and Newberry—a seasoned songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and clawhammer banjo player—began planning the ten songs that became Blessing on the Wing. Last November, the duo entered Good Luck Studio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to lay down the album’s tunes. The music ranges from the easy comfort of the title track and the jaunty reel “Robin on the Wagon Wheel” to the country ballad “Thankful for You” and spirited Hank Williams–inspired “Honky Tonk Heaven.” 

Strings asked Verch about the new album.

How long have you worked with Joe?

Joe and I performed our first tour together in the fall of 2016. We have a mutual friend, Janet Kenworthy, who at the time was presenting music in Aberdeen, North Carolina, at a venue called the Rooster’s Wife. Janet often told me that I should meet and play with Joe, that we’d make a great duo. She was telling Joe the same thing about me. We had heard of each other but never met. Joe contacted me when he had an unexpected hole in his touring schedule to see if I wanted to try some shows together, and I was available, so we decided to book some shows. And then a couple of months later, we met for the first time! Thankfully we liked each other and had a good blend. We got pretty lucky, and we are super thankful to Janet for planting that early seed.

How would you describe your working relationship?

Joe and I have a mutual respect for each other on and off the stage. We’ve built a trust that is really important. There is never a moment when we don’t have each other’s backs, and to know that and lean into it is extremely freeing. We also value each other’s feedback and are constantly learning from each other. 

What were your goals going into this project?

Joe and I released our first album together back in 2017, when our duo was only a few months old. Naturally, our music has evolved on many levels since those early days, and we wanted to capture where we are now, as musicians and writers and as musical partners. We focused on presenting our music like we do in our live shows, with just the two of us, no other musicians coming in to overdub other instruments or parts. One of the beautiful things about a duo format can be that extra space, the vulnerability that comes from it. This album captures that, I think, and lets the music breathe. We also featured mostly original tunes and songs that represent our current writing and tastes.

What obstacles or challenges did you encounter?

One of the most difficult things for touring musicians is finding the actual time to write, arrange, prepare, and even record. It’s a challenge to do that while on tour, even on travel days or off days, and Joe and I don’t live near each other.

How did you overcome those?

Like most things, it requires extra planning and being intentional. We set goals and deadlines—we are a good team in doing that. We help each other to be accountable, and we encourage and support each other. Technology is also helpful in this case. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken without Zoom cowriting dates and passing voice memos back and forth by text and organizing everything in the cloud. 

In the studio, you reunited with recording and mixing engineer FJ Ventre.

Yes, we recorded our first album with him as well. It was interesting to be back in the same place almost ten years later. It provided an unexpected perspective on all the ways we had grown and developed.

What did he bring to the project?

We really love working with FJ. He’s efficient, never defensive, and has quick skills and amazing ears. It’s nice never to be waiting when you’re really “in the moment” and hitting your stride, and FJ never once held us up. Joe and I coproduced the recording, but of course there were times that we were both playing or singing and were really close to the music. We completely trusted FJ’s more objective opinion on various takes when we needed that feedback. He felt like a valued and professional member of our team.

Tell me about the song selection process.

Some of the tunes and songs were things we had learned or written and were already performing live and getting a great response to that we knew we really wanted to include. Other selections were things we both had in mind or had written but hadn’t had time to work on together yet. We started by making a list of both of those groups of songs and tunes and providing each other with reference recordings to listen to. We narrowed that list down, and then looked at what we felt might be missing to balance things out in a way that fit our overall vision for the recording. We had more material than we needed, and I think the paring down is the most difficult part of the process.

There are some beautiful songs on the album. Tell me about the origin of “Heaven’s in My View/Cardinal” and that haunting fiddle coda.

Joe and Jim Lauderdale wrote a song called “Heaven’s in My View” that is hauntingly beautiful and modal. When Joe sent it to me as one of the considerations for the album, I could hear it with a dark fiddle drone, so I tuned my fiddle to ADAD to play along with it a few times. When I turned off the demo, I started playing a chromatic phrase that I felt was a natural progression from their song. I was inspired by the lyrics and the melody they had written and felt like it was leading to something else. “Cardinal” was born as a result of those first listenings and was finished in about ten minutes.

What about some of your other cowrites?

We both have selections that we wrote by ourselves or with other writers, but we also composed together and enjoyed the process a lot. “Turtle Dove” is an old-time fiddle tune that also has lyrics. We both love those tunes in the traditional repertoire and wanted to contribute to that legacy, so I wrote the tune and Joe wrote the lyrics. “Thankful for You” has a classic country vibe, and we wrote the melody and lyrics together. We often remark to each other as we travel the world how grateful we are for so many things in our lives. We make a practice of not taking them for granted, and this song captures a few of those things.

Where does this album fit in with the arc of your recording career?

I find that a difficult question to answer. I never listen to my previous releases, and when I am working on a project, I am not really comparing it to my other work. I always aim for a recording to be a reflection of my current tastes, passions, and skills. In addition to that, a solo recording, versus a band recording or a duo recording, very much changes the approach. So, I’m not sure there is an overall arc to my recordings, and I think I’m OK with that. I’m also OK if someone enjoys my music and chooses to do a deep dive and finds an arc in the series of projects that makes sense to them. Music should be personal, and I offer it in that spirit. I always hope that it lands upon hearts and ears who need it and receive it in a way that is meaningful to them.