[OTR Announce] Over the Rhine: Update Letter from Linford

[Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine]

Hello friends,
 
Do you believe in coincidences?
 
Here’s what. 
 
I was invited to contribute an essay to a journal calledIMAGE on the word “human.” 
(If you’re curious you can read the essay here:)
 
http://imagejournal.org/page/journal/articles/issue-75/human
 
(And a follow up interview with readers here:)
 
http://imagejournal.org/page/news/ask-linford-detweiler?comment=14691
 
I didn’t really know where to begin, so I just told thestory of Karin and I making our first tentative songs in the neighborhood ofOver-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, and then eventually moving East of the city to anold pre-Civil War brick farmhouse. We had found the house in the bend of a backroad one day as we were driving around trying to finish a song. There was a ForSale By Owner sign posted in the front yard, and we found ourselves sittingdown at a bank signing some papers not long after. 
 
The move was a big change for us, and has had a lot to dowith both Karin and I becoming more human I hope – growing more in tune withour past, getting our hands into the earth a bit and trying to learn the namesof the many birds, trees and weeds that surround us. We call the place NowhereFarm, and we mostly grow songs.
 
When my father first saw the new/old place, he encouraged usto “leave the edges wild.” And we have tried to do just that. (The songbirdshave repaid us by returning year after year to nest and raise young and praiseeach new day as only they can.)
 
Well, one woman who read the essay in Macon, Georgia, wascurious, because she had family roots in Highland County, Ohio, and wondered ifwe lived anywhere near there. Since she was very interested in genealogy andhistory, she did some research, consulted some public records and so forth andfelt all the breath leave her body when she learned that we were living in hergreat-great-grandparents’ house!
 
Now Karin and I have lived here for eight years, and fromday one we have been saying we need to do some research and learn more aboutthe history of this place we’ve come to call home. It’s something we’ve talkeda lot about, but our touring schedule keeps us coming and going, and ourwriting is an ongoing commitment, and by the time we take care of three bigdogs, and get a vegetable garden in, and keep up a house built in the 1830s –well, doing the research is just something we never got crossed off the list.
 
So imagine our surprise and disbelief when we opened apackage from someone named Judy in Georgia, and read Judy’s long letter andbegan going through the documents and photos that she had enclosed.
 
First was a certified copy of a land grant, signed byPresident John Quincy Adams, awarding the land we live on to the family of aRevolutionary War soldier who had died in the war. (The original document wasframed and passed down through the generations and would have hung on our wallsat one time.) The soldier’s only son, James, claimed the grant, and James’ son,Robert, built this house in 1833. He and his wife Emily had 9 children, andthey walked and played and cried and laughed in these rooms – this very room –where I am writing these words. (Judy’s grandmother used to come here to visitthe house as a child, and in fact she enclosed a picture of the front of ourhouse taken in the 1950s.)
 
When Karin and I pick up our guitars in these rooms, or sitat the piano and play our songs on these wide plank wood floors hammeredtogether with square nails, we often feel like the house is thirsty to soak upthe music. We’ve always wondered about the people that walked through theserooms 100 years ago, 150 years ago. Who were they? What happened? I wrote aboutthis curious sensation in the essay. 
 
Now I’m holding a 100+ year-old photograph in my hand, and Isee the faces of Robert’s son Joseph, his wife Mary, their daughter Della Jane,and so on and so forth…
 
Now I can sit in these rooms, and be quiet and listen, andlook at this photograph and write a song called Della Jane. Now we have faces.
 
I just had to let you know.
 
There’s one more layer. IMAGE journal has been good to Karinand I over the years, inviting us to Santa Fe to lead workshops, and invitingme from time to time to contribute pieces of writing for publication. Theeditor of IMAGE (Gregory Wolfe) has never been shy about the fact that theyconsider Flannery O’Connor to be the patron saint of the journal. Well, it justso happens, Judy’s husband (Judy mailed us the package, remember) works atAndalusia, Flannery O’Connor’s old farm near Milledgeville, Georgia, the placewhere she lived and wrote (now a historical site that welcomes visitors). 
 
(And Judy – not previously familiar with our music – alsomentioned that in the office at Andalusia, there hangs a framed poster fromVanderbilt University for an event that was called “The Enduring Chill:Remembering Flannery O’Connor”. It was a two-day affair that featuredperformances by Over the Rhine, Mary Gauthier, Julie Lee and others. Inaddition to the concert, we all had a moderated panel discussion at Vanderbiltabout Flannery’s writing that was quite lively...)
 
Well, my oh my. I don’t quite know what to make of all theseconnections. I don’t know if they feel as significant to you as they do toKarin and I, or not.
 
(And I won’t mention that the day after receiving Judy’spackage I turned on “This American Life” and the theme of the entire show was“coincidences…” Great btw, highly recommend looking up the podcast.)
 
I must admit there have been more than a few moments likethis in my life – my own story seems so very full of foreshadowing: I was oftengiven hints of things to come in such profoundly evocative ways. I’m not surewhether to see these “coincidences” as God-infused (that is my tendency andinstinct) or whether this infinite universe is just full of surprises, and howcould it be otherwise.
 
So what do you think? Just wanted to share this unexpectedgift of provenance. Maybe you’ve had some coincidences of your own? Let usknow: otrhine at aol.com
 
And, I guess before this all gets away from me, I betterpass along the news regarding all things Over the Rhine. There is a lot toreport. Hope to see you all soon.
 
Peace like a river, love like an ocean,
 
Linford (and Karin)
 
+++
 
Memorial Day Weekend Concerts at Nowhere Farm: May 25 &26
 
We are adding a second concert here at Nowhere Farm thisMemorial Day Weekend. (May 25 is sold out.) This is part of our ongoingfundraiser as Karin and I prepare to record and release not one, but two (!)new projects this year. 
 
Come on out and see the place that John Quincy Adams gave tothe family of a Revolutionary War soldier – this old house that we’ve calledhome for the last 8 years. Meet Minnie Pearl, our 130-pound Great Dane puppy,Shakey, our Weimaraner and Frisbee expert, and Porter, our stray cattle dog mixthat we took in on a cold night. We’ll play simple, back porch versions of ournew songs for you on the very soil that they grew out of. And, weather permittingwe’ll watch the (super) full moon rise out here on our little farm on the edgeof the world. 
 
If you’d like to read all about this collaboration with ourextended musical family, please visit overtherhine.com and click on Let’s MakeA Record. Your participation can be as simple as pre-ordering the CDs. Or assignificant as arranging for a private house concert: Karin and I will show upwith our guitars and perform for you and your friends in your living room. (Wehave space left for just a few more of these.) And if you’ve alreadycontributed, but would like to upgrade your contribution to be able to attendthe farm concert (Barn Dance) please email: 
 
Chip at portmerch.com
 
We must admit that hosting these concerts has really gottenus dreaming about what the next chapter (Third Act?) of Over the Rhine couldlook like. We may have the biggest announcement of our career regarding thissoon. Fasten your seatbelts.
 
APRIL Over the Rhine CONCERTS:
 
Later this month, Karin and I will be heading out to SouthPasadena to work with producer Joe Henry and a lovely cast of players onceagain to record the songs for – working title – The Farm. (!!!) Immediatelyfollowing the sessions, we are going to take a swing through the Southeast.Fresh out of the studio, I’m sure we’ll be more than a little anxious to sharemore of these new songs that have arrived on the scene as well as some oldfamiliars. Join us! We’ll try to help usher in a little springtime.
 
April 5 (Friday) FranklinTheater, Franklin, TN*
April 6 (Saturday) WorkplayTheater, Birmingham, AL*
April 8 (Monday) MeltingPoint, Athens, GA*
April 9 (Tuesday) The GreyEagle, Asheville, NC
April 10, (Wednesday)Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh, NC*
April 12, (Friday)Jefferson Theater, Charlottesville, VA*
April 13, (Saturday) RamsHead Onstage, Annapolis, MD*
April 14, (Sunday) EphrataMain Theater, Ephrata, PA*
*with very special guestBen Sollee

Check out overtherhine.com for more dates…
 
GOOD DOG BAD DOG – LIMITED EDITION HARDBOUND LYRIC BOOKILLUSTRATED BY AMERICAN ARTIST BARRY MOSER
 
Finally, our dear friend Barry Moser illustrated a hardboundbook (limited edition) of the lyrics from Good Dog Bad Dog. Barry is a NationalBook Award winning illustrator, who has illustrated Moby Dick, Alice inWonderland, the KJV Bible, and hundreds of other fine books. This labor of lovecontains engravings of some of the dogs we’ve loved over the years, andcelebrates not only our friendship with Barry, but the survival of these songsthat we recorded over 15 years ago. You can pick up a copy here:
 
http://overtherhine.portmerch.com/stores/product.php?productid=18614&cat=329&page=1
 
+++
 
Well, I think that’s enough to chew on for now folks. Fourpages is usually about where I leave it. Feel free to share this email withloved ones over coffee, pass it around during happy hour, slip it in the cerealbox for breakfast reading, or cut up a little fresh ginger and add it alongwith a spoonful of raw organic honey (or guava nectar) to a cup of late winterherbal tea, and perhaps these words can serve as a placemat.
 
xo,
 
L&K
 
 
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