Folk Duo Over the Rhine to Play at Homecoming Nov. 7

The Cincinnati-based Americana/folk band Over the Rhine will perform in concert Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in Dana Auditorium as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend festivities. The event is part of the Eastern Music Festival Fringe series this fall.

At the core of Over the Rhine is husband-and-wife duo Karin Bergquist (vocals/guitar) and Linford Detweiler (bass/piano/guitar), with other musicians and vocalists joining for tours. The band takes its name from the downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, neighborhood where it formed in 1989. They’ve described their music as “post-nuclear, pseudo-alternative, folk-tinged art-pop.”

“We love a good song, period,” Detweiler says on the band’s Web site. “It could be an old country tune Patsy Cline is singing on an old jukebox in one of our favorite Kentucky dives; it could be Lightnin’ Hopkins grumbling over a timeless blues riff; it could be Sachmo, the dignity of his voice and the joy in his horn; it could be Tom Waits kicking up the dust on the hardwood floor of a grange hall at some imaginary revival meeting—it can be all over the map musically—but what ultimately keeps us interested is the mystery of the song itself.”

Paste, the independent music and entertainment magazine, gave Over the Rhine’s 2003 double album “Ohio” one of its first five-star ratings, and named Detweiler and Bergquist among its 100 Best Living Songwriters. Their latest album, “The Trumpet Child” (2007), was released independently on both CD and vinyl, as were several earlier recordings.

The concert's opening act will be singer/songwriter Julia Easterlin, a jazz vocalist who studied at Berklee College of Music and now attends Guilford. She has recorded two albums, "Calling Out," a compilation of original songs and "Why Can't You Behave," a jazz cd with pianist, Yuma Sung.

Tickets are $25 (reserved) and $15 (general admission) and will be on sale beginning Oct. 1 at the Greensboro Coliseum Advance Box Office, online at Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 336-852-1100.  Guilford students and employees will have an opportunity to buy tickets on campus in October.

Learn more about the band and hear samples of songs at www.overtherhine.com or www.myspace.com/overtherhine.

Eastern Music Festival, which has been based at Guilford the past 47 years, presents classical programming in July and alternative programming throughout the year, featuring everything from Americana to alt country, blues, jazz and gospel. For more information, visit http://www.easternmusicfestival.org.

For more information about Homecoming click here and for Family Weekend click here.

Sept. 30 , 2008