4 hats out of 5

I remember Canadian April Verch from Mac Wiseman’s final album. This is her twelfth (!) album, and she’s so much more than just a talented musician on her fiddle. Verch is actually one of six fiddlers that got to perform at the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. This CD consists of 15 songs (and a few are instrumental ones) and the theme for the album is that April is saluting the classic country from the 1950’s and 1960’s. So we get covers from artists such as Connie Smith, Loretta Lynn, Cal Smith, Hank Snow and Canadian Bob King among others. To get the right sound producer Doug Cox hired a bunch of veteran musicians like Al Perkins on steel, guitarist Redd Volkaert and Kenny Sears on fiddle. I especially like “Laurel Lee” the Louvin Brothers-gospel “I Feel Better Now”, title track “Once a Day”, “The French Song” and “You Must Unload” which is a lot older than 1950’s (but oh so good). A very nice album with traditional country in a nice mix. I lift my hat to April, a job well done.