From otrannounce at overtherhine.com Sat Nov 10 11:19:01 2012 From: otrannounce at overtherhine.com (Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine) Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2012 11:19:01 -0500 (EST) Subject: [OTR Announce] Over the Rhine: BIG NEWS Message-ID: Dear extended musical family, Might want to pour a glass of something good and settle in.You know me. Karin and I have been writing songs together for over 20years now and recently celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Youwould think that after so long there would not be many ?firsts? left toexperience. And yet we are finding that is not necessarily so. In early 2010, for the first time, we approached all of you withthe idea of making a record together. Rather than borrowing money from a label,we all placed our bets on the muse, so to speak, and pitched in sight-unseen tohopefully offer the world the gift of something beautiful, textured, real ? andwith wild edges. Over 2000 of you responded, and the record we all made wascalled, The Long Surrender. Karin and I gathered for five days on the WestCoast with producer Joe Henry, and a group of world-class musicians. We leanedinto the songs and let them reveal themselves with few preconceived notions. Itfelt like all of you had bestowed a blessing on us in advance, and we hopedeveryone who heard the songs would feel that. We all wanted to be surprised. We caught and releasedsomething together and sure enough, doors started opening. We were encouraged when USA Today, The LA Times and NPR?sAll Things Considered (to name a few) ran strong reviews or features of TheLong Surrender on the day it was released. Many more followed. Apparently ourgroup effort could pack a punch. We began performing the songs around the country, and forthe first time, Karin and I received an invitation to perform in Japan. Wearrived shortly after the devastating tsunami, and offered songs like ?All MyFavorite People? and ?Undamned? to people who had no words for the immensity ofthe tragedy that had breached their shores. Songs feel different in thosesituations. Suddenly, music feels strangely valuable and vibrates with acurrency all its own. Songs can help us take a few steps toward healing. Songsare safe containers for the best and worst that life has to offer. It was animportant trip for us. (As we write this, we view the images from the massivestorm that recently hit the East Coast of the USA. We all want to do what wecan to help.) For the first time, we got to perform with a full balletcompany. Not knowing what to expect, our 6-piece band set up and began playing.We watched the thirty-plus dancers in the Cincinnati Ballet explode, embraceand embody our songs in front of our eyes. We couldn?t quite believe what wewere seeing and feeling. And the audiences that poured into the 2700 seat hallfor three performances seemed to agree that they hadn?t experienced anythingquite like it before either. (We?ll be doing this again in 2014 to celebratethe 50th anniversary of this fine company.) For the first time, we got to tour with one of ourinfluences and American songwriting heroes, Lucinda Williams, who also recordeda duet with Karin on The Long Surrender. And for the first time we had the opportunity to play anoutdoor summer concert in our old namesake neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine atthe newly renovated Washington Park. It was the first performance in a greenspace that sprawls in front of Music Hall, where our hometown orchestra andopera performs. We had no way of counting, but we were told that approximately7000 people streamed into the park and put down blankets and listened to anevening of music in what is still widely thought of as the ?bad part of town.? The life of a traveling musician can be exhausting. RobbieRobertson called it ?a goddam impossible way of life.? And like many writers weare sometimes tormented by thoughts that what we have done is worthless, thatwe have somehow failed. Failed to achieve wider recognition. Failed to live upto our full potential. We are not immune to moments of self-pity. On a good day, we silence those voices and get back to work.We lift a glass to the good moments along the way, and we lean forward onceagain into what we love, come what may. We try to tell the truth and make itrhyme. Yes. The time has arrived for Over the Rhine to get back tothe real work of recording our new songs. And once again we are going to inviteyou to come along for the ride, to bet on the muse, to be surprised. We aregoing to believe that there are still ?firsts? out there to be found. We aregoing to continue the idea of together, offering something beautiful, subversiveand soulful to the world. And we are going to up the ante this time. Why make a record together when we can make two? We have two projects that we?ve been writing toward for thelast few years. The first is tentatively titled ?The Farm.? It?s a group ofsongs that revolve around the last seven years that we?ve spent in the rollingfields of Highland County, Ohio, in an old pre-Civil War farmhouse that we?vecome to think of as home. We?re learning to call things by name out here. Andwhen the time is right, we look forward to gathering you together on the farmand offering these songs to you on the very patch of earth that they grew outof. That, my friends, will certainly be a first. The second project is a Christmas/Wintertime/New Year?scollection called, ?Blood Oranges in the Snow.? It continues what we startedwith The Darkest Night of the Year and Snow Angels ? records that we hopecapture some of the reality of a beautiful, but often conflicted and evenheartbreaking ? time of year. Hopefully, we?ll make winter a little moresoulful for those with ears to hear. We are planning to release these projects in the second halfof 2013. We are hoping to take these two significant creative stepsforward with you. We are hoping to create records that we are all willing tosign our names to. Call it a burgeoning, collaborative, musical legacy. Or maybe it?s just an acknowledgment of what Karin has beensaying for years: Without you, we?d be homeless. We?ve come up with donation levels for each project that canfit any budget. We?ve tried to have fun with it, but also make sure you?regetting a good value for your money. But I guess at the end of the day thatcomes down to the songs. Someone said that we need pastors and priests to remind usthat one day we are going to die. But we need poets, writers and singers toremind us that we?re not dead yet. Anybody still up for betting on the muse? We hope you?lljoin us. LET?S MAKE A RECORD. Or two? Check out the brand new overtherhine.com for all thedetails. Peace like a river, love like an (Ohio) ocean, Linford and Karin P.S. Here?s some of what was written about our last attemptat communal art making. Special thanks to all of you who have been asking, Whencan we do it again? Rave on. +++ THE LONG SURRENDER ?Twenty years after their recording debut, ruralOhio-based singer/songwriters Linford Detweiler and wife Karin Bergquist andtheir associates have delivered a set of mature, graceful and sad songs that ina just world will win them wider recognition. Working with producer Joe Henry,they use intimate, soulful arrangements to showcase Bergquist?s achinglybeautiful voice.? ?USA Today ?There may be no more soothing voice in music than KarinBergquist?s. She could be interpreting jazz standards, but fortunately sheapplies that balm to her and husband Linford Detweiler?s beautifully languidoriginals, which invoke hard times and celebrate the survival of the least fit. . . when a Lucinda Williams duet isn?t even The Long Surrender?s high point, things have gone very right.? ?EntertainmentWeekly ?amarvelously evocative effort, one that recalls the torch song epiphanies ofBillie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald . . . Sparse, sultry and yetundeniably mesmerizing, The LongSurrender is a clear victory for all concerned.? ?Blurt ?the mostemotionally raw and musically nuanced [album] of the band?s fine career . . . Over the Rhine have pieced together a lovely,heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting musical mosaic.? ?Paste * * * * (out of four) ?a work as exquisitely beautiful as Van Morrison?s mostgraceful efforts.? ?Los Angeles Times ?Over the Rhine is one of the best husband/wife duos since Richard and LindaThompson, and The Long Surrenderproves it.? ?Ink19.com ?Over the Rhine is your introspective village preacher,lonely and open, melancholy and rejoicing, bitter and thankful.? ?ChristianScience Monitor ?aggressively beautiful, like those ?60sprotesters who confronted soldiers with flowers . . . it becomes useless to resist The Long Surrender.? ?Newsday -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From otrannounce at overtherhine.com Sun Nov 18 10:49:11 2012 From: otrannounce at overtherhine.com (Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine) Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2012 10:49:11 -0500 (EST) Subject: [OTR Announce] Over the Rhine Christmas Tour Dates/Thank You Message-ID: Hello friends, First of all, immense thanks to all of you who have steppedforward, so far, in support of our next two recording projects. If you?d liketo see the names of those who have contributed (as of 11/15) check out the liston our new website! http://overtherhine.com/news/ Here?s to the next chapter, and we hope you?ll join us forthe ride. Second, our Fall Tour just came to a close last night herein Seattle. And a wonderful weekend it was. (Thanks Seattle for two memorablesold out shows. We?ll be back for a full tour of the West Coast in 2013 afterthe release of our next record.) Which means, believe it or not, it?s now time to officiallyannounce our annual Christmas/Wintertime/year-winding-down December dates. Perhaps we are odd, but when the evenings get cold and dark,and the scarves and hats and Irish wool sweaters come out of hiding, we lovenothing more than joining a room full of boisterous kindred spirits in searchof a soulful evening before the year gets away for good. This year we?ll be airing out some new songs that we plan toinclude on our next Christmas CD, Blood Oranges in the Snow, as well as songs fromour next studio album, The Farm. And we?ll be mixing in plenty oftunes that have arrived on the scene over the past few decades. We?ve got some amazing venues lined up, in which to welcomeyou all out of the cold. And we sure hope to see you. Peace like a river, love like an (Ohio) ocean, Linford and Karin +++ BLOOD ORANGES IN THE SNOW ? OVER THE RHINE CHRISTMAS TOUR2012 Saturday, December 1, CINCINNATI, Ohio, The Taft Theatre:We?re launching the tour this year in our hometown once again at the beautiful,historic, recently refurbished, 2500 seat Taft Theatre. If it?s been awhilesince you?ve seen downtown Cincinnati during the holiday season, it?s worth thetrip: ice skaters in fountain square, horse drawn carriages, a massive bedeckedNorway Spruce etc etc. Come find us. Sunday, December 2, NORWOOD (Cincinnati), Ohio, St.Elizabeth?s, Sunday Soiree. Join us at 3pm as we bask in the afterglow of TheTaft, and share some acoustic music and conversation in this ragged oldcathedral with century-old Bavarian stained glass. La Terza coffee will beserving award-winning espresso and lattes, Taste of Belgium will be makingmouth-watering waffles on site, and other festive food and beverages willabound. We?ll also be happy to sign any gifts for family, friends etc.Basically, it?s a party and you?re invited. Friday, December 7, MADISON, Wisconsin, The MajesticTheatre, We LOVE Madison during the holiday season and adore this reclaimed,angular theatre. Guarantee you will be making ghosts with your breath in thepost show night air after this one. Saturday, December 8, CHICAGO, Illinois, Old Town School ofFolk Music: TWO SHOWS, 7pm and 10pm. This has become a favorite of the year ?one of America?s great music cities at Christmastime, and not a bad seat in thehouse! Thursday, December 13, ANN ARBOR, Michigan, The Ark, Anotherfavorite bustling college town well worth a visit during the holidays, and oneof the country?s most respected listening rooms. With very special guest, BenSollee. Friday, December 14, COLUMBUS, Ohio, The Lincoln Theatre, Agem of a restored theatre we discovered a few years ago in our state?s capitol.They will roll out the grand piano and we will settle in. With very specialguest, Ben Sollee. Saturday, December 15, KENT, Ohio, The Kent Stage, Another historic,saved theatre with red velvet seats and a piano with a broken heart. Sincewe?re ending our touring year in this storied Ohio college town, we are goingto throw a little parking lot party afterwards: Wieners and wine with Over theRhine. That?s how we roll. We can almost guarantee it will be snowing. Andagain, we will be joined by very special guest, Ben Sollee. Hope you can joinus! More info and ticket links at the new http://overtherhine.com/ Please share this info freely with family, friends,compatriots and love interests. Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers, you?rewelcome. You can stay right here. You don?t have to go? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: