(Conqueroo) Over the Rhine announce a new release and spring tour dates that will take them to theaters throughout the Midwest and the East Coast. The Long Surrender, the new studio album from the southern Ohio-based husband-and-wife team of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Karin Bergquist, is something rare and wondrous — an intimate epic.
The record, to be released February 8, 2011 on OtR's own Great Speckled Dog label (named for the couple's Great Dane, Elroy), marks 20 years since their 1991 debut. It's the bountiful result of a collaboration between the couple and producer Joe Henry, whose songs they've long admired.
"Joe has been quietly making records (well not that quietly, he has won at least two Grammys) that don't sound like other records bring made," says Detweiler. "They are a little bit dark and cinematic and funky and unpredictable. It seems like he loves to help performers who have already covered a lot of miles — Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, Solomon Burke, Loudon Wainwright III, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Mose Allison, Allen Toussaint — rediscover the soul of what they do in a new light." The Long Surrender was recorded at Henry's Garfield House studio in South Pasadena, Calif.
The band recently previewed The Long Surrender over a series of tour dates last fall, culminating in a weekend long December trifecta of hometown shows in Cincinnati. Performances included the Holiday Homecoming Show, their annual (15 years and counting) Christmas show at the 2,400 seat Taft Theatre; The Christmas Soiree, an intimate Sunday afternoon gathering featuring an acoustic performance, poetry reading, and Q&A with Karin and Linford; and The Long Surrender Premiere, a very special live start-to-finish performance of the album for the donors who made the fan funded record possible.
Earlier that month in Los Angeles, the band was joined onstage at the Troubadour by Joe Henry and Lucinda Williams (and supporting artist Lucy Wainwright Roche, whose special guest was her father, Loudon Wainwright III).
Over the Rhine promises to bring their smoldering live performances to every corner of the globe in 2011 . . . and here is the first round dates:
Sun., Feb. 20 NASHVILLE, TN 3rd & Lindsley
Mon., Feb. 21 LEXINGTON, KY WoodSongs
Fri., March 25 BOSTON, MA The Red Room @ Café 939 (Berklee)
Sat., March 26 NEW YORK, N.Y. Highline Ballroom
Sun., March 27 ALEXANDRIA, VA Birchmere
Tues., March 29 PHILADELPHIA, PA World Café Live
Fri., April 1 PITTSBURGH, PA Mr. Small's
Sat., April 2 AKRON, OH Musica
Tues., April 5 ANN ARBOR, MI The Ark
Thurs., April 7 MILWAUKEE, WI Turner Hall
Fri., April 8 CHICAGO, IL Lincoln Hall
Sat., April 9 MADISON, WI Majestic Theater
Sun., April 10 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Cedar Cultural Center
Over the Rhine will also perform at the Folk Alliance in Memphis on Wednesday, February 16.
