[OTR Announce] Happy 2012 From Over the Rhine

[Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine]

Hello again,

Well, 2012 has fully arrived; a new year circled the earth and found 
each of us, and here we are again, well on our way, ready or not, 
moving into what lies ahead. The turning of the year has always felt 
like a sacred moment to me. Before I was married, I would often borrow 
my parents’ little vintage camper, parked by a creek off the beaten 
path in Northeast Ohio. I would spend New Year’s eve walking alone 
after dark along a quiet road, and for some reason it often snowed, and 
it was like walking between the lines of a Robert Frost poem.

And I would sit at the little table in the camper and scribble down 
notes by the light of a small lamp, intuitively giving myself little 
spiritual exercises in which I would try to re-dream the past and 
remember the future.

After our Christmas tour wound down this past December (thank you, for 
so many memorable nights of shared music, and for the many little notes 
and gifts and encouraging words) Karin and I made our way back to 
Nowhere Farm for some much needed recovery time. In my post-tour haze 
the next morning, I picked out a lovely Norway spruce at a neighbor’s 
farm that, once upright in our pre-Civil War farm house, proved to be 
about two feet too tall. So it required some creative sawing and 
trimming in the dining room, but we mostly managed to laugh and keep 
the Chrismas cussin’ to a mininum. And decked out with many homemade 
ornaments made by young nephews and nieces, not to mention trivets that 
Karin and I have collected in our years of traveling together, it was 
indeed a festive tree in spite of the shave and haircut.

A big tree for a big year.

The holidays came and went and last week Karin and I started our 
working year by walking in our bare feet along the gulf coast of 
Florida at the 30a Songwriter’s festival. It was chilly in the shade 
but bright and warm in the sun, and while it was snowing back at the 
farm, Karin found herself eating Apalachicola Bay oysters outdoors for 
breakfast, and WOW were they tasty, and salty, and briny, and full of 
the infinite wonder of the sea. And we were reminded that the vocation 
of songwriting is a long and winding road, a road that often winds 
uphill, but it’s a vocation that nonetheless affords occasional 
unforgettable views and surprises.

And this week (big news) another Great Speckled Dog (in miniature) 
arrived at Nowhere Farm: we have taken on a blue merle Great Dane puppy 
called Miss Minnie Pearl – our Pearl Merle Girl. Shakey and Porter are 
a little unsure of whether she’s just visiting or staying, but sooner 
or later it will sink in that she is indeed their little sis. And then 
she will gradually become their BIG sis. So we’re trying not to die 
 from all the cuteness, and I’m sure we’ll post some pictures from time 
to time.

Well Karin and I have been thinking about recording more music this 
year, so much more on that soon. (Feel like making another record or 
two?) But in the meanwhile, we need to try out a few of the new songs 
at a few of our favorite venues that we were unable to visit in 2011. 
We need to break the songs down to their simplest fundamentals and see 
how they fly. And revisit a few old friends as well. So without further 
ado, we thought we’d ask you out on a date or two. Care to dance?

Peace like a river, love like an ocean,

Linford and Karin

OVER THE RHINE FEBRUARY 2012 TOUR DATES

Wednesday, February 1, Annapolis, MD, Ram’s Head Tavern: An acoustic 
evening with Over the Rhine

Thursday, February 2, Frederick, MD, Weinberg Center For The Arts: An 
acoustic evening with Over the Rhine

Saturday, February.  18, Dallas, TX, The Granada Theatre
Sunday, February 19,  Austin, TX, The Cactus Café

Saturday, February 25, St. Joseph, MN, College of St. Benedict

More dates will be announced soon – stay tuned at overtherhine.com for 
all the latest.

Follow us on twitter, and chk the Over the Rhine Facebook page for 
daily updates.

As for your tender heart, this world’s gonna break it wide open; it 
ain’t gonna be pretty, but you’re not alone.