What more can be said? Over the Rhine came to Wooster, and we had church. Over the Rhine started as a four-member, alternative, indie music group in Cincinnati, and over the past 25 years it has become the husband-and wife duo of Linford Detweiler and Karin Berquist and whoever is touring with them. When they played Wooster United Methodist Church April 20, it was Bradley Meinerding making OtR a trio.
This was the first time OtR has been back here since playing The College of Wooster around 1990. Linford said of their return, “It was a lovely evening. Beautiful historic space, great acoustics, packed house, very special. I told the story from stage, but one of our very first concerts was at The College of Wooster. We had only written 11 songs. They wanted three sets. We had to play our first 11 songs three times. We’ve got more songs now after 25 years!”
For me, waiting to see Over the Rhine has been a long, arduous journey. I first heard of them in 1993 when I transferred to Cincinnati BIble College. While OtR is not a Christian band, Christian themes run through their songs. I have tried to see the band since 1993, and it was not until April 20, 2016, that I finally got to see the band. And, they did not disappoint.
Perhaps my favorite Over the Rhine song is “If I’m Drowning,” and I hoped I would get a chance to hear it. Sadly, I did not. Or, at least I think sadly. The truth is, the concert, if you can call it that, it was more of an experience, was incredible. It testified to how Karin and Linford have matured over the years; the songs were richer and deeper and evoked a more emotional response.
At one point during the evening, Linford recalled the first time he was aware of music. He was just a small boy. His mother had taken him to a tent revival, and he saw strings of bare lightbulbs, a band playing on a little stage and a trumpet player. “I think I formed my very first thought,” Linford said. “I was in the audience, and I wanted to be on the stage where the sound was coming from.” He also shared a some stories of his mother, Ruth, and his childhood, like how he could get out of washing the dishes if he played hymns out of his mother’s hymnal. He always tried to find an old one his mom didn’t know, but he never did.
Karin talked about how there was a time in the couple’s life when many of their friends were going through struggles, or as she said, “All my favorite people are broken.” This led to the song, “All My Favorite People.” Linford, who played guitar most of the night, played piano on this song. During an instrumental part, Linford weaved in one of those old hymns, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” ever-so-subtly. “It was a tip of the hat to the old hymn …,” Linford said. “This just happened organically one time on stage, and we often include it now. It was especially meaningful to me to play it in Wooster, because my 86-year-old mother was in attendance. I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without the influence of my mother’s hymnal. (Not to put myself in their company, but there could have been no Elvis, no Johnny Cash, without their mother’s hymnbooks, and those old songs they grew up with.)”
Having his family in the audience was “nerve-wracking!,” Linford said. “I guess we still care, and there is no harder audience than family! It meant alot to me that (my mom) was there.”
At the end of their set, the packed house at Wooster United Methodist Church gave Over the Rhine a standing ovation. They came back and performed “Drunkard’s Prayer” for an encore. With the concert over, Linford and Karin spent time with members of Linford’s family before heading out to meet with anyone who wanted to talk or get an autograph. Among those at the concert were old friends, Sean and Heather Allen (with some of their children). Sean and Heather managed a very unique venue in Cincinnati where Over the Rhine played some of their earliest concerts. They had a chance to reconnect.
While the Wooster concert provided an intimate setting in which to see Over the Rhine, fans can get even more intimate with the band in their first-ever music and arts festival at their farm in Clinton County, Ohio (near Wilmington). For more about the Nowhere Else Festival on the Nowhere Else Farm at the end of May, check out Over the Rhine’s website here.
For the setlist from the show (and to see previously recorded videos of every song they performed), go here.
