Joe Newberry & April Verch – Masters of the Tradition Bring Holiday Cheer and Music of the Season from Canada to the Ozarks

Joe Newberry and April Verch return with a holiday concert filled with music, stories, and traditions that span the Missouri Ozarks and Canada's Ottawa Valley. Their annual seasonal tour combines original songs with timeless hymns, lively fiddle and banjo tunes, rich vocal harmonies, and April's celebrated step dancing to create an evening that captures the warmth and joy of the holidays.

Rooted in generations of traditional music, Newberry and Verch share more than remarkable musicianship—they create the kind of connection that has always been at the heart of folk traditions. Experience this festive celebration in the intimate setting of Godfrey Daniels, the Lehigh Valley's original Live Music Listening Room, where every performance feels like Your Backstage Pass.

Newberry & Verch
aprilverch.com/newberry-verch

Growing up, musicians Joe Newberry and April Verch absorbed traditions of home and hearth - in his Missouri Ozarks and her Ottawa Valley of Canada.  The holidays have always been a special time of year for both, with the lure of family and friends, festive decorations, gifts under the tree, and always…. music.  So now, each year the duo sets out in a modern day sleigh (with four-wheel drive) to perform their eagerly anticipated holiday tour.  Original songs join timeless hymns.  Stories warm the heart and give a twinkle to the eye.  Lively fiddle and banjo numbers combine with traditional dance steps to illustrate happy times when people made their own fun at the holidays, and all year long.  Make your holiday concert list, and check it twice… Newberry and Verch are coming to town!

Joe Newberry grew up in a family full of singers and dancers. He took up the guitar and banjo as a teenager and learned fiddle tunes from great Missouri fiddlers. April Verch grew up listening to her Dad’s country band play for dances in the Ottawa Valley. She started step dancing at age three and fiddling at age six. Both Newberry & Verch became masters of their traditions and tour the world with their respective bands and projects. Yet they never forget the roots of their music, that connection to the people in the audience, on the dance floor, to the community sparked by a good song.

For these veteran performers who come from distinct traditions and parts of the world, their collaboration is fueled by their kindred passion for bringing people together to celebrate traditional music. Blues and ballads stem into Canadian regional styles and originals. Their voices blend in harmony, their tasteful instrumentals prove that these masters have nothing left to prove, and then their feet kick up the dust in perfect rhythm…and together, they make you remember why this music existed in the first place.