Passages and Partings

For their first offering as a married duo, Verch & Walters have assembled a garland of gorgeous tunes which showcase their instrumental virtuosity — she's a fiddler, he's a banjoist, guitarist and bassist — as well as their roots, hers in Canada's Ottawa Valley and his in the heartland of Kansas. Their taste in acquired repertoire, much of it bluegrass, is practically flawless, including rare finds like ‘Jawbone’ (from Missouri), ‘Cauliflower’ (from Ohio), and the delectable ‘Hobb Dye’, by Kenny Hall, a blind old-timey musician from San Jose, California. Verch, who commands a variety of bowing techniques and a canny articulation of timing, is also a sweet singer, with a Dolly Parton-like high soprano. Walters vocalises in an ingenuous plain tenor, soloing on Hank Williams’ ‘Mansion on the Hill’. Guesting on several songs are a couple of other talented couples, British Columbian Pharis & Jason Romero, and Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt from Kansas City. There are several fine originals by Verch, some of them as co-writer. She's paired by Ellis in the creation and performance (on second fiddle) of the timelessly lovely ‘Sojourn’. Throughout, the sequenced changeups of pace, mode and lyrical subject matter are unusually gratifying.