Over the Rhine: Going on 20

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist made this year's holiday concert a three-day affair. (Credit: Submitted)

The Dec. 19-20 holiday concerts by the widely praised Cincinnati-based folk-rock band Over the Rhine holds special meaning for its founding members, Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler, and for the group’s fans.

In 2009, Bergquist and Detweiler will be in their 20th year of recording and performing together. To mark that milestone, the couple will reunite with the two other original members of the band, guitarist Ric Hordinski and drummer Brian Kelley on Friday, Dec. 19, for the first of two concerts at the Taft Theatre, downtown.

The four original band members will play music from the group’s first decade together, including tunes from “Till We Have Faces,” “Patience Eve” and “Good Dog Bad Dog.”

On the next night, the band’s current lineup will play songs from the group’s second decade, including the albums “Films for Radio,” “Ohio,” “Drunkard’s Prayer,” the current release “The Trumpet Child,” voted No. 1 album of 2007 by WNKU’s listeners, and the more recent Christmas album, “Snow Angels.”

The group will also perform an acoustic show Sunday, Dec. 21, at St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral in Norwood.

Bergquist and Detweiler sat down recently, before they headed out on a far-flung U.S. tour that took them first south, then north, then west then back east. Upcoming shows include Los Angeles on Saturday, Louisville Dec. 12 and Chicago Dec. 13.

The keyboard player (Detweiler) and the singer (Bergquist) talked about the special holiday shows at the Taft and their long-running careers.

Looking back on it, what does 20 years together as performers mean to you now?
Linford Detweiler: It’s amazing, it’s miraculous. We’re a little stunned that we’ve been able to do this.
Karin Bergquist: It makes me a little nervous to think about it.

Whose idea was it to get the original group together for the Taft show?
LD: It was our idea as we thought about the 20 years we’ve had together. We approached Ric and Brian. It seemed like a no-brainer.

How long has it been since you’ve played with Hordinski and Kelley?
LD: It’s been 12 years since we played with Ric, eight years since we played with Brian.

Why do you think that original group broke up? Was it artistic differences, personal differences?
LD: A little of both. We’d taken it about as far as we could.
KB: Things come to a close. It’s what happens in a lot of relationships.

Since you’re looking back almost 20 years, how did the group get started?
LD: I started out  playing complex art rock, think Genesis covers. But I was getting more interested in songwriting and in the music of the Pretenders, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, people like that. After college Ric, Brian and I were playing and living in Cincinnati, and we went back to Malone College (Detweiler’s alma mater in Canton, Ohio) and heard Karin singing classical and spiritual music. (She was a student there.) I asked her if she’d like to join our effort to make original music.
KB: I don’t think he was able to finish the question before I said yes.
LD: And she’s been finishing my phrases ever since.

Karin, your voice has been described in glowing terms by all kinds of fans and writers. How would you describe it?
I hope it’s like a red wine, aging well, developing character.

How do you write your songs? Which one of you writes them?
LD: We both write them. It’s a true collaboration. It’s great to have a writing partner.

Why do you live in the Cincinnati area? Why not Nashville, the West Coast?
KB: We could work anywhere. But when it comes to living, this is it for us.
LD: We have a great network of friends here, and (the photographer) Michael Wilson is here. He’s a collaborator, really, and his work is a musical inspiration.

Is there a new album on the horizon?
LD: Yes, we’re not sure when we will start recording it.
KB: We have more than enough new material.

What do the next 20 years hold?
LD: We’re going to keep this going. We might not be out on the road as much. But we need to tour. You can’t take performing out of the equation.