April Verch is a Canadian fiddle and stepdancing champion and singer. Though her musical roots lie deep in the fiddling of her native Ottawa Valley, her repertoire also features traditional and contemporary tunes ranging in source and inspiration from Quebecois to the Appalachians, from Bluegrass to Brazilian. She has toured with the group Bowfire but also has her own April Verch Band.
http://aprilverch.com/site/press/.
With a "Bible in one hand, broken bottle in the other" (Spin June '09) Ha Ha Tonka return with their sophomore effort on Bloodshot Records, Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South. The album takes listeners on a complex tour of the South—through lynchings and mob violence, sacrifice and reconciliation. It’s dense subject matter for any artist, but delivered beautifully on this record by these native sons of the Ozarks from Springfield, Missouri.
Stephen Schwartz was born in New York City on March 6, 1948. He studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School of Music while in high school and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968 with a B.F.A. in Drama. Upon coming back to live in New York City, he went to work as a producer for RCA Records, but shortly thereafter began to work in the Broadway theatre. His first major credit was the title song for the play Butterflies Are Free; the song was eventually used in the movie version as well.