over the rhine at the old town school

For the first time in over three years, I got to see Over the Rhine last night, live at the Old Town School of Folk Music (the "late show"). Their quiet brand of jazz-folk-blues-americana did what it always seems to - stared into our eyes and refused to let go. One wonders why they bother with reverb on Karin Bergquist's tender-strong voice - my friend Matt said that her smoke and ambiance seem built in, no effects needed.

They walked on stage with "I Don't Want to Waste Your Time" ("with music you don't need"), the self-assured opening track on their recent release The Trumpet Child. "All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue" followed, off Snow Angels (also this year!) Most of the set was pulled from the two albums, notable exceptions being Karin sneaking to the piano to sing and play the title track from Ohio (hello Ohio / the backroads / I know Ohio / like the the back of my hand), and their encore (2nd one!) song, where Linford and Karin returned to the stage to give us "Latter Days." An old-days song from indie released Good Dog Bad Dog (1996), it was probably single-handedly responsible for hooking me in the first place. I pretty much melted.

A nice highlight was the vocal-less piano stroll "Goodbye Charlie" that Linford wrote as a tribute to Vince Guaraldi. it's so perfect, I had thought I had selected the wrong album on when I first heard it last week.

phew.