Over the Rhine - Jeffrey Overstreet

Meet Me at the Edge of the World: the 2025 Nowhere Else Festival keynote address

Here is a revised, expanded version of the keynote address I delivered at the 2025 Nowhere Else Festival in Martinsville, Ohio on Labor Day Weekend.

Concerts

Overstreet’s Concert Calendar: Robert Deeble, Jeffrey Martin, Anna Tivel, Over the Rhine, The Mountain Goats, Wednesday

Want to join me and Anne for a night of inspiration, enchantment, and soul-searching live music?

Journal

Looking Back: Overstreet online in 2000–2001

After 25 years of writing about the arts, I revisit discoveries that have been most memorable and meaningful. Here’s Part 1 of many.

On Songs & Albums

Songlights: Join me & Anne for Over the Rhine's 3-day music festival with Amy Helm, Jeffrey Martin, & more. Also: David Byrne laughs. Annahstasia shines. Laura Stevenson returns. Elbow shares extras.

I'll keep updating this post with new music that moves me between June 28 and July 4. So, check back! Share a song that's deeply moving you right now—I'll add a link to it at the end of the post.

Journal

Cinemarginalia: Justin Chang & Ins Choi at The Glen Workshop; Criterion sale; Scorsese in Seattle

You can spend a week in Santa Fe with Justin Chang, Ins Choi, Over the Rhine, and more. Also: The new Scorsese film is getting the best possible projection in Seattle. Read about these things and more here...

Music Reviews

Love & Revelation: a 'magic hour' with Over the Rhine

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist return with songs of ruin, loss, and hard-won hope.

On Songs & Albums

Mother's Day prep: U2, Over the Rhine, Sufjan, St. Vincent, & more

In 2006, when U2’s Bono guest-edited an issue of The Independent, he interviewed comedian Eddie Izzard, and they explored questions about the influences of their mothers over their own desire for the affections of their audiences. Bono has, of course, sung about this. In “Mofo,” rock’n’roll

On Songs & Albums

Over the Rhine's Christmas Playlist

Here now, is what Over the Rhine would play for you if you asked to hear something besides their own extraordinary Christmas recordings...

Interviews

Coyote Hunting at Christmas with Linford Detweiler

In this, my fourth Looking Closer conversation with Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine, we talked about the stories behind the songs on the band's third "Reality Christmas" album, Blood Oranges in the Snow.

On Songs & Albums

Sara Zarr's Christmas Playlist

2014 marked the tenth anniversary of my friendship with YA novelist Sara Zarr. In the decade since we happened to sit down at the same table for a fiction workshop led by author Erin McGraw, Sara has written five of the best-reviewed new YA novels. (She became a National

On Songs & Albums

Looking Elsewhere: Dec. 4, 2014

Here are a few recent distractions and discoveries from elsewhere on the web that gave me fleeting moments of relief from the storms of a Bad News Week.

Tania Runyan

Looking Closer's Last-Minute Christmas Gift Recommendations

Many of you are scrambling to pick up gifts for friends and family, and I feel compelled to bring some possibilities to your attention... gifts that would enrich the lives of those who care about excellence, beauty, truth, and the arts.

Guest Review

The Sound of a Place: Guest Writer Brian Volck on Over the Rhine's New Album

I posted my own review of Over the Rhine's new album earlier this week. I could have left it that but, well, the doctor is in! And I want you to hear his own diagnosis!

Music Reviews

Meet Me At the Edge Of the World: Over the Rhine Arrives at a Place Called Home

I've been writing this review for months. I could go on writing it for months to come. But no, the time has come to tell you about the new double album from Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler. It's clear that changes have come. Over the Rhine's world has been turned around.

Inside Llewyn Davis

A Coen Brothers Concert and a Line-Up of Must-Play New Releases: Are You Listening?

If I ask "What's on your iPod?", what comes to mind? I doubt that you'll say "The Coen Brothers." But that might be the case, come December. You do have the music from O Brother, Where Art Thou? on your iPod, don&

On Movies & Media

Looking Elsewhere: November 21, 2012

Look! These links caught my attention today, for one reason or another. Check back later. I may add more look-worthy links as the day goes on.

Pete Horner

“All of It was Music”—Pete Horner’s World of Sound, Part 2

Here is Part Two of my interview with Pete Horner. (Don't read it without first reading Part One.)

Pete Horner

“All of It Was Music”—Pete Horner’s World of Sound, Part 1

Congratulations to Pete Horner, who is here with me at The Glen Workshop this week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pete has been nominated for two Emmys for his work on HBO's new movie Hemingway and Gellhorn. To celebrate, I'm reposting my interview with Pete...

On Books & Writing

Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine interviews Joe Henry in Image

The new issue of Image is out! Order yours today. In the meantime, you can get a preview online... Read Gregory Wolfe's new piece, "Breath," and an excerpt of Linford Detweiler's in-depth interview with Joe Henry here.

Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine, The Long Surrender: Track 2, "The Sharpest Blade"

Here is the second part in my review of Over the Rhine's The Long Surrender. (Part One, "The Laugh of Recognition," is here.) Thanks for your patience. I told you I was going to take my time and do this right. Here goes... • Track Two, "

Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine, The Long Surrender: Track 1, "The Laugh of Recognition"

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to post thoughts on Over the Rhine’s The Long Surrender... my favorite album of 2010… and 2011 (so far). The band's website calls The Long Surrender a 2011 release, but since almost all of their fans had the album

Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine will orchestrate the sunset in Seattle on Monday

To celebrate Over the Rhine's upcoming outdoor concert at Bumbershoot in Seattle (It's supposed to be an 80-degree day!), I've brought back three different conversations I've had with Linford Detweiler over the last 11 years. These interviews have been offline for

Over the Rhine

OTR on NPR

Over the Rhine is enjoying an excellent 2011 so far. Their fan-funded album The Long Surrender, my personal favorite from their entire 20-year catalog, is enjoying rave reviews all over the place. One of the highlights of their current success came last week, when they were interviewed on

Over the Rhine

Fingertips: December 2010 #2 - Memorable 2010 Film Lists; Scott Cairns; Joel Hartse; Over the Rhine; Thomas Kinkade; Jaws: The Christian Version

Here are a few of the most intriguing links I visited over the past week: * The Top Ten Movies of the Year: Everybody seems to have their list already. Me? I still have to catch up with several of the films that have inspired the most discussion this year. In

They Might Be Giants

Fingertips: December 2010 #1 - Spider-man on Broadway; God With Us; Real Heroes; Over the Rhine Backstage;

I'm going to try and recharge my blogging routine by bringing back "The Browser" with a different name - "Fingertips." TMBG outdid themselves on their album Apollo 18 by including a blast of fleeting songs called "Fingertips"... five-to-ten-second hooks that