Aurora Cultural Centre presents Newberry & Verch (FOLK)

March 1, 2025 – 7:30PM
Missouri Ozarks banjo legend Joe Newberry sums it up best when describing his collaboration with Ottawa Valley fiddle sensation April Verch: “We may be from a couple of hollers over, but the heart pulse rhythms, her love of tradition mirrors my family's love of tradition. My family in Central Missouri listened to Canadian broadcasts.” You won’t want to miss a magical evening of folk traditions and new discoveries.

Joe Newberry comes from a family of singers and dancers. A clawhammer banjo and guitarist since he was a boy, he also learned the violin from some of Missouri’s finest fiddlers. Later in his career, Garrison Keillor (A Prairie Home Companion radio hour) chanced to hear Joe’s music. Within the month, he was invited as a regular on the beloved nationally syndicated radio show. April Verch grew up in the Ottawa Valley, listening to her Dad’s country music band. She was step dancing by age 3, and had a fiddle in hand by age 6. A Canadian Grand Master and Canadian Opening Fiddling Champion, she has 14 recordings to date, and a passport filled with international touring through 18 countries.

Their show celebrates their musical roots, their love of performing and strong musical connection. Original songs join timeless classics, with stories to warm the heart, lively fiddle and banjo numbers to get the toes tapping and traditional dance steps that celebrate hearth and home. While they’re on the road much of the time, they’re rarely homesick because their music means they always have a bit of home wherever they go.

• Folk
• $38.50
• March 1, 2025
• 120 minutes
• 19:30
• Davide De Simone Performance Hall
• All Ages