April Verch & Joe Newberry — On This Christmas Day
Originally published in the No Depression annual holiday music roundup, titled “The 2021 No Depression Guide to Holiday Music that Doesn’t Suck” in November 2021. This short feature helped to drive awareness and excitement ahead of the full album release on December 3, 2021.
Photo credit: Thomas Beck
If you are looking for excellent acoustic music celebrating traditional sounds and themes of the season, look no further. April Verch and Joe Newberry cut to the core of the holidays in their new album, On This Christmas Day. In their classic, stripped-back duo — featuring Verch’s virtuosic fiddling and honeyed soprano singing alongside Newberry’s clawhammer banjo strumming, Piedmont-style fingerpicking guitar, and flannel-warm tenor — we are treated to a reverent and joyous celebration of Christmas, centering traditional messages of family and faith. This album runs the gamut from the old-time instrumental fiddle-banjo duet Christmas Eve to a jaunty country yodel in A Yodel for Christmas to Uncle John and the Christmas Miracle, a truly classic fireside story recitation by Newberry.
After 2020’s dark and lonely holiday season, marred by a deadly pandemic and travel restrictions, On This Christmas Day revives the spirit of the holiday seasons of your youth, evoking memories of sitting near illuminated trees, drinking homemade cocoa, and snuggling under knit blankets with doting grandparents. May we all be so merry and bright once more.