The Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club will open their 2011-2012 concert season at the Fair Lawn Community Center on Saturday September 10 at 8:00pm when they present The April Verch Band. Opening the evening will be singer-songwriter Arlon Bennett.

April Verch, the internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer, has a passion for performing and her goal is to touch the lives of those who are listening at any given moment. "The world is this amazing puzzle that we can't fully understand and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it," says Verch.

Verch was born to traditional music, in Canada's hard-working, hard-dancing Ottawa Valley. She was a local star at four, step dancing with her sister and winning awards at contests. She became the first woman in history to win both of Canada's most prestigious fiddle championships, the Grand Masters and Canadian Open; and when Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was asked to represent her country's music at the opening ceremonies.

Ottawa Valley music is a foot-stomping, open-minded fusion of Irish, Scottish, French, German, and Polish influences, sprinkled with tangy spices of American country music. The twang of the banjo and the driving Franco-Celtic pulse of the fiddle are as ingrained in Verch as snowbound winters and Saturday dances.

"What makes the Ottawa Valley unique," she says, "is that it's melting-pot music. People there work hard, and when it was time to let loose, you went out and had fun together; you danced and played music. Growing up around that, being able to perform and see how happy it made people feel, I'm sure that's what drew me into music."

That desire to share music is why she's among the most in-demand performers in roots music today, both with her own crack three-piece band and Bowfire, with whom she occasionally tours. The April Verch Band consists of Verch at the helm and world-class musicians Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Walters on upright-electric bass and banjo. They have toured across Canada, the United States, the U.K., Europe, Australia and China. Together they have established a reputation as consummate performers with boundless energy on stage that inevitably brings audiences to their feet.

Opening the evening will be Arlon Bennett. While accumulating songwriting awards throughout North America, Bennett was twice selected by Noel 'Paul' Stookey to perform in his Music2Life showcase featuring America's best songs of social consciousness. Lyrics to his song "The Ace in Grace" (from his 1999 debut, Fountain of Dreams) were used in the official statue dedication of late tennis champion, humanitarian and personal hero, Arthur Ashe.

Bennett's music also reached another playing field when the New York Mets chose the title track of 'Summer's Voice' to be featured in a tribute video to Hall of Fame sportscaster Bob Murphy before a packed house at Shea Stadium.
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The Fair Lawn Community Center is located at 10-10 20th Street in Fair Lawn, NJ. Tickets for this concert are $25 ($22 for Hurdy Gurdy members) and can be purchased online at www.hurdygurdyfolk.org or at the box office at the Fair Lawn Community Center on the night of the concert. Additional information can be received at the website or by calling the Hurdy Gurdy Hotline at (201) 384-1325.