The pleasure that comes when one stands over the valley and traces the river below is both pure and fulfilling. The river can lead you from the majesty of the Swiss Alps and the quiet German countryside of the Rhine, or it can bring you across the bridge of a canal into Cincinnati, Ohio. There you will find a historic neighborhood on the banks of the Miami and Erie, and there you will also find Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, the two artists that make up the musical duo Over the Rhine. Today’s musical landscape offers more than enough of what pleases the masses. The musical expression of this husband and wife act however, reminds us that all of us are following after the beautiful sound of the river. A friend recently said, “When our ears tire of that same old song, we always seem to find that new voice, and that new sound.”
Over the Rhine is not a new act at all. Detweiler and Bergquist have been playing together since 1989 producing a collection of folk and country guitars, to the blues and jazz sounds of the piano, and the brilliance of Bergquist’s voice. After releasing their first album
Till We Have Faces, which is entitled after C.S. Lewis’ book, Over the Rhine has released almost ten albums including the 2003’s acclaimed release
Ohio, 2006’s
Drunkard’s Prayer, and last year’s
The Trumpet Child.
Though much of their sound since the beginning has blended the marriage of acoustic vibes and the soulful voice of Berdquist,
The Trumpet Child breaks free into perhaps the duo’s fullest and most daring expression yet. Sounds of oboes, clarinets, horns, and other things you could find in a high school band room or on a Tom Waits album, each track brings something entirely different than the previous. The opening track of
Trumpet Child, “I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time”, promises their desire to do anything but:
I hope this night puts down deep roots / I hope we plant a seed /
‘Cause I don’t wanna waste your time / With music you don’t need.
Berdquist’s vocals alone convince you that never has anyone felt like time was wasted after listening to her carry you into the concert hall or jazz bar. Over the Rhine brings a desire to put forth music that says something more than what lies on the surface, and reaches to the spiritual crevasses deep within us. There are some things about the world that only the seductive melodies and changes of a jazz dive piano can communicate. Things like our longing for something more, our turning the other way from truth, and our deep and desperate need for love.
Are you feelin’ a little desperate/ Get on your knees and confess it Honey please don’t second guess it/ You’re desperate for love(from the song “Desperate for Love”)
The timely gift from this duo, however, is their artistic interpretation of what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. Faith intertwined with beauty produces the type of art and music that we all should celebrate. For Over the Rhine it’s just what they do, how they write, and how they perform.
Paste Magazine recently included them in their list of the 100 Greatest Living Songwriters, trying to tell the world that what is good and beautiful about music can still be found. Over the Rhine proves Dick Staub’s words to be true, “In the broader culture, thoughtful creatives labor in obscurity while those with minimal talent who are merely ‘known for being known’ crank out insipid stuff meant to entertain the masses without engaging their brains.” In this world, there are still the small springs in the valley of consumption offering to us that which will stimulate our minds, stir our hearts, and carry us to where we haven’t yet been.
This certainly is the case for the centerpiece of
The Trumpet Child. The song for which the album is titled, introduces a sound never before teamed with lyrics like these. These ears at least have never heard such a combination. It’s that sweet place where words and sound make you proud to believe what you believe about the world, and what we as pilgrims are capable of saying about it. The song, “The Trumpet Child” looks to the day when all the true, the good, and the beautiful, will come in full, to put an end to all that strives for other means. With a piano, a sax, and the painful yet comforting flare of a Harmon-muted trumpet, Berdquist’s vocals sing a melody that should move us all.
These are the moments of creation deserving promotion and cheer. This is what we need to hear. The collection of hope and joy, love and evil, bound at the hip with the sound of a street corner in New Orleans, or a small district of Cincinnati.
“The Trumpet Child”
Music lyrics by Detweiler/Berdquist
The trumpet child will blow his horn
Will blast the sky till it’s reborn
With Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s grace
He will surprise the human race
The trumpet he will use to blow
Is being fashioned out of fire
The mouthpiece is a glowing coal
The bell a burst of wild desire
The trumpet child will riff on love
Thelonious notes from up above
He’ll improvise a kingdom come
Accompanied by a different drum
The trumpet child will banquet here
Until the lost are truly found
A thousand days, a thousand years
Nobody knows for sure how long
The rich forget about their gold
The meek and mild are strangely bold
A lion lies beside a lamb
And licks a murderer’s outstretched hand
The trumpet child will lift a glass
His bride now leaning in at last
His final aim to fill with joy
The earth that man all but destroyed
