My wife Lisa and I haven't made it to Anthology yet, so we were excited to check out this show and this relatively new venue downtown on India and A. Nice venue, but probably too pricy and fancy to really make us feel at home. We got stuck on the second floor standing room only area, with an obstructed view of the stage. Drink prices were hefty ($11 dollars a glass for the cheapest red wine), but the waitstaff was attentive. The sound was flawless, but when you can't see the stage, the experience is like listening to a live CD with an awesome stereo. Over the Rhine are extremely talented and they put on a great show, equally at home with the traditional American songbook and classic country sounds. Detweiler told stories and Berquist was radiant and spot-on with her vocals. At Anthology, it's either pony up for the good seats or stay at home.
Here's the preview which ran on Thursday in the Union-Tribune:
Over the Rhine: Songs shaped by memory
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
September 20, 2007
A conversation with Linford Detweiler feels like story time with a reclusive artsy uncle: filled with equal helpings of childlike wonder and hard-earned wisdom.
And the musician's stories lately revolve around his childhood. Specifically, he's been contemplating how our earliest memories can influence the work we chose to do.
“A couple of my friends who are also artists and I have talked about how our earliest memories have foreshadowed what we ended up doing with our lives,” Linford said in an interview from his home outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, an old farmhouse on a sprawling plot of land called Nowhere Farm.
“My friend, Michael Wilson, who is a black-and-white photographer and photographs a lot of musicians, his earliest memory is lying in his bedroom as a boy. When the headlights would go past his bedroom window, these black-and-white shadows would go around the top of his room. He would watch those black-and-white shadows and imagine a circus train going by. He ended up making black-and-white photographs for a living.
DETAILS
Over the Rhine
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., Little Italy
Tickets: $20-$30
Phone: (619) 595-0300
Online: www.anthologysd.com
“My earliest memory that I can really put my finger on is the sound of a trumpet. So, my earliest memory ended up being reflected in the title of this project.”
Detweiler is telling the story behind the 2007 album “The Trumpet Child,” his 11th studio work in collaboration with his wife, vocalist Karin Berquist. Together, they form Over the Rhine, named for a formerly tough neighborhood (now gentrified) in Cincinnati where the duo lived during the late-1980s: “It was considered a bad part of town and there were a lot of empty buildings. I was really drawn to it because there was a scary beauty down there.”
Since the early beginnings in the 'hood bearing its name, Over the Rhine's career has flown just below the radar of popular consciousness. Despite 18 years and 23 albums (including live recordings, compilations and Detweiler's three solo discs), the couple's brand of quiet coffeehouse country and dark Southern Gothic acoustic balladry never found a foothold on radio stations. Much like the Cowboy Junkies (with whom Detweiler and Berquist have toured), there isn't a radio format suited for well-crafted acoustic music.
But good music usually finds a home. In Over the Rhine's case, home comes in the form of a devout fan base and critical acclaim.
On “The Trumpet Child” – the latest OTR album to garner good reviews – Detweiler and Berquist choose lush horn parts along with bittersweet string arrangements to bring a classic, timeless feel to the entire album.
“We wanted to gather really interesting musicians in a room and really invite people to something that felt like an evening of music unfolding,” said the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Detweiler. “We wanted to open the American songbook a little wider in terms of our influences on this record and reference a pre-rock 'n' roll era in the music: Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart, where the language was kind of playful and interesting melodies with horns and strings.”
No matter if hit singles come or not, Detweiler and Berquist will continue writing and singing songs. Not because they need the trappings of pop stars, but because it makes them better people.
“Writing is something that if I stay engaged in, I live my life with my eyes more fully open,” said Detweiler, who performs two shows at the new jazz dinner club Anthology on India Street Saturday. “I think that's what we all battle, this sense of going through life half awake. So, songwriting is something that we've built into our lives that we hope enriches us and helps us to live more soulfully. It helps us to live more intentionally and just to be aware of the stories that we're writing with our lives.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
