*clicking on the picture above will take you to OtR’s online ticket page, in many cases ordering directly from them will save you the TicketBastard ™ fees.
Over The Rhine Turns Twenty
Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 6:11AM
If fans bump into husband and wife Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler shopping for china, its not to mark their wedding anniversary.
The pair is actually preparing to celebrate their twentieth year together as Over The Rhine.
The duo will mark the occasion with a five part tour, the first leg of which kicks off November 7 at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., and will hit Athens, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Madison, Wis.
The second run of shows covers the West Coast, launching with a pair of shows November 29-30 at The Triple Door in Seattle and moving on to Portland, Ore., Klamath Falls, Ore.; San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Part three of the anniversary trek will see Over The Rhine playing shows in Louisville, KY. on December 11 and Chicago on December 12.
The journey will culminate with a trio of shows in Cincinnati. A December 19 show at the Taft Theatre will cover music from the band’s first decade, with a December 20 show at the same venue featuring tunes from the second.
Finally, Bergquist and Detweiler will throw an afternoon soiree at the city’s St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral December 21, featuring wine, festive food, conversation and a special acoustic performance.
And how does the couple feel about two decades as Over The Rhine? A little overwhelmed.
“Almost 20 years, it’s just sort of hard to take in,” Detweiler said on the band’s web site. “There are days when we feel utterly blessed and charmed.”
“That this labor of love could continue for 20 years, that our audiences still continue to grow, that this music continues to get spread around by people who are often in the process of becoming life-long friends – it all smacks of the miraculous.”
and,
over the rhine has completed a very cool animated video for “desperate for love” from their lastest studio release, “the trumpet child.” click on the link above and give it a peek.
beautiful show on a beautiful night night in a beautiful venue full of beautiful people.
last night, once again, OtR delivered bigtime. a killer show at the fraze pavilion in kettering, oh (south of dayton). it was a beautiful night for an outdoor show, not too hot or humid, nice breeze, the only negative was that as the sun set it was very bright and directly in the eyes of the band (but they all looked pretty hip in their shades). this show was a part of a summer series of free wednesday night shows sponsored by the venue, the city and several local businesses. personally, i’m always leary of these types of shows, since they are free the crowd has no “investment” in the show, many times they are filled with people that are not really fans of the artists or of music in general and they tend to be a place to just hang out for the evening. thankfully, that was not the case last night. great crowd.
the venue holds around 4,000 with a variety of seating; comfortable fixed “stadium type” seating up front, a nice casual lawn in the middle and aluminum bleacher seating in the rear. my guess is that there was well north of 3,000+ people there. the audience was great, quiet, attentive, respectful and appreciative. since OtR has played in dayton pretty much since their beginning and had many a sold-out night @ the canal street tavern, there also was a nice awareness of them and the music. the fraze is a nice, small outdoor “shed” or ampihtheatre in the middle of a large park/green space with much better acoustics than most. maybe it’s the size and/ot it’s being surrounded by trees rather than a sea of asphalt and parking lots. and as usual “juicy” had it dialed in perfectly.
the band was in great sprits and having a lot of fun playing and enjoying the crowd. while introducing “trouble” and playfully (and “suggestively”) dedicating it to those out “on a date,” karin spotted a young married arriving a little late, just spreading out their blanket on the lawn and had a little fun with them. soon the whole crowd was turning back and looking at them.
they played two sets, mostly from “ohio” and “the trumpet child” with a couple of covers thrown in;
set one
i don’t wanna waste your time
born
trouble
i’m on a roll
miss ohio (gillian welch cover)
cruel & pretty
the trumpet child
who’m i kiddin’
changes come
set two
ohio
professional daydreamer
show me
drunkard’s prayer
if a song could be president
don’t wait for tom
b.p.d.
my city was gone (pretender’s cover) encore
orphan girl (gillian welch cover)
latter days (K&L Only) *not originally on setlist
everything was great, but they really rocked it on “miss ohio” & “my city was gone” and you could have heard a pin drop during “latter days.” kenny is a nice addition to the usual foursome and as i joked with karin after the show, the lynyrd skynyrd dual lead guitar thing works well for them.
apparently everyone liked what they heard too. i jumped in and helped @ the merch table both during the break and after the show and we were slammed. i’ve never seen it that busy, they sold out of a couple of cd’s and tees and still had people buying as security was hustling everyone out of the venue.
as i said; beautiful show on a beautiful night night in a beautiful venue full of beautiful people.
the line-up was: karin bergquist (vocals. acoustic guitar, piano, cookie sheet) | linford detweiler (piano, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) | jake bradley (upright bass, electric bass, electric guitar) | mickey grimm (drumkits) | kenny hutson (electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, electric mandolin)
kudos to karin for her “this cookie sheet kills fascism” note on the bottom of her cookie sheet. the spirit of woodie guthrie lives on in these trouble times, he would be proud. =)
over the rhine is a paradox of sorts, beautiful words and music from people that were inspired by and named themselves after a tired, worn and violent inner city neighborhood. they have a large, intensely loyal following, yet until recently, it wasn’t out of the norm to see them play to a well attended but less than capacity audience in their own hometown of cincinnati. their home audience may have taken for granted or been slow to recognize what they had, but many others weren’t. they may not be a household name, but it is not uncommon to attend a sold-out show in new york, atlanta, massachusetts or new zealand. and at those shows, in casual conversation it is commonplace to strike a chat with someone who may be attending far from their home, like; hawaii, colorado, california, texas, new york, florida, toronto, belfast or even katmandu (yes, katmandu). while their cd’s can be hard to find through chain & “big box” stores and “traditional” channels people make the effort to seek & find their music at independent retailers and via the internet and they have sold well over a quarter of a million albums, with one of them selling more copies in paris (france, not kentucky) than in the state of ohio. they are known for introspective and inspiring songs sung by their beautifully voiced co-founder and singer, karin bergquist, yet two of their more recognizable and popular songs in concert are light-hearted songs with their keyboardist and other co-founder, linford detweiler taking the lead on vocals. i could go on…
OtR has gone through many changes and line-ups since the original foursome of mostly college acquaintances; karin bergquist, linford detweiler, ric hordenski, and brian kelly formed the band over 20 years ago. at the end of 1996 the band went through major changes, ric and brian moved on and karin and linford emerged as over the rhine, and carried on with the name. since that time they have performed as a duo, trio and with several varying configurations and styles of music. during these years there have been many great players (jack henderson, matt slocum, byron house, devon ashley, brad jones to name a few) joining and supporting karin and linford on stage and on record. the current line-up is primarily a four piece band consisting of karin (vocals, guitar, keyboard), linford (keyboards, guitar, bass, backing vocals), jake bradley (bass, guitar) and <strongkenny hutson (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel).
over the rhine: linford detweiler, karin bergquist, mickey grimm, jake bradley
karin and linford were recognized by paste magazine as part of a very exclusive group that they considered “america’s 100 greatest living songwriters,” an acknowledgement they richly deserve and earned. over the years they have shared the stage with artists the likes of; bob dylan, john prine, cowboy junkies, ani difranco, buddy miller and have played in smokey dive bars, the ryman auditorium and pretty much everything in between, and in couple of weeks they have been invited to play at the legendary “newport folk festival.”
they write music from their own lives and life experiences, the results are deeply personal and come from a place of both joy and fear; “the saddest songs are the happiest, the hardest truths are the easiest.”(long lost brother-ohio). their songs are ripe with both spirituality and doubt and they comfort and assure those that are dealing with personal doubts and fears with affirmation, joy and love. “yeah, we’re gonna be alright/you can close your eyes tonight/‘cause we’re gonna be alright” (etcetera whatever-good dog bad dog). their style continues to evolve, they consistently seem to reinvent themselves and remain relevant, fresh yet familiar to their fans.
in order to remain true to their music, their vision and most importantly, themselves… they recently left their label to form their own imprint, “great speckled dog” (named after their great dane, elroy), to ensure that they can make and release music that they want to make, on their own terms. the first release on the label was the well received, “the trumpet child” and their second, the limited edition, “live from nowhere volume 3” will be shipping shortly. a couple of years ago, they were challenged by david foreman, their sound engineer to “go deep…go deep or don’t go at all.” in my opinion, and that of many others, not only have they met and exceeded dave’s challenge, they have left it in the dust.
i feel blessed to have stumbled on a used copy of their first record, “till we have faces” many years ago and again to have wandered into “the wild beet” in bloomington, indiana years ago on a cold winter night just as their set was starting to hear them live for the first time. in the years since, they have become the soundtrack for my life. they have given me peace, joy, laughter and brought more than a tear or two to my eyes also. their music has helped introduce me to people that have become great, lifelong friends that i have shared bread, wine and my home with on many occasions in the past and look forward to doing so again in the future. i have seen them over 150 times, in cities near and far (new york, northampton, dallas, atlanta) since that first night in bloomington, to steal another line from one of their songs, “i need thousands more, at least.”
and more importantly than everything said above, they are damn fine people that i am proud to call my friends.
i hope you’ll give them a listen and maybe find some of what i’ve found…
what we need is music 