A performer since early childhood, April Verch launched her professional career by winning the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship and Canadian Open Fiddle Championship (the first and only female to win both). She has since applied her formidable technique to encompass a wide range of styles. Her previous Rounder albums Verchuosity (2001) and From Where I Stand (2003) were marked by convincing forays into old-time string band music, Brazilian rhythms, and contemporary instrumentals and originals. Take Me Back boasts a similarly eclectic range – including the rollicking bluegrass of “Tennessee Wagoner,” the jazz-influenced “Monarch,” and the original old-time tribute “Tom, Brad & Alice.” Producer Dirk Powell (whose previous work includes the Cold Mountain soundtrack, the Tim O’Brien Band, Balfa Toujours, and Uncle Earl’s acclaimed Rounder debut She Waits for Night) melds Verch’s extensive interests and abilities into a coherent, compelling album. “Unlike many in her position,” Powell explains, referring to Verch’s superior technical skill as a fiddler, “she has arrived at a place where the technique she strived so hard to attain no longer has meaning on its own. It is now a means to an end, and the end in question is the realm of true personal expression.”