The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: COURTESY OVER THE RHINE Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist are the main songwriting duo for Over The Rhine, opening for Ani DiFranco Friday night at 40 Watt. [Click to enlarge]

Over the Rhine has come a long way since its first show in 1990 at a "rock 'n' roll Laundromat" for college students in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Now, the group is touring with songwriter and feminist icon Ani DiFranco and hitting the 40 Watt Club Friday night.

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist are the main songwriting duo of Over the Rhine, as it started as a quartet and is opening for DiFranco as a trio (with Jake Bradley on upright bass guitar).

"I didn't really get interested in songwriting until I was about 17 years old," Detweiler said. "As a kid, I was always really drawn to music and my dad's record collecting, and our upright piano was where I went to process things I didn't have words to describe." ­­

Detweiler said his father's eclectic music collection helped his own musical knowledge grow and develop in his early years.

He met Bergquist at a small Quaker college, Malone College, in Ohio, and the two began playing around with music for fun.

"There was a chemical reaction, the room changed, people felt something," said Detweiler, describing the music they made. "We didn't really plan [for] it to happen, but I think some musicians with good chemistry - ­ people sort of feel something on their skin."

Playing gigs at small joints such as the Laundromat and recording a demo on a 4-track began Over the Rhine's music career.

The band's name was borrowed from an old downtown neighborhood in Cincinnati originally settled by Germans.

"[The name] had a kind of weird sound and whimsical feel like 'Over the Rainbow,'" he said.

Still an unsigned group, tours with Adrian Belew and Bob Dylan opened doors with record labels and demo recordings.

Continued...

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