Over The Rhine comes to Buskirk-Chumley on Friday

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, the musicians of the Ohio duo Over The Rhine, are no strangers to Bloomington. They’ve performed and recorded here in the past, and they’re back to perform Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The couple will also be celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary in Bloomington that day.\nThe pair melds musical stories with folk, jazz, pop/rock and gospel elements. One such story can be found within the name of the couple’s new album, “The Trumpet Child.”\n“It came from a couple different places,” Detweiler said. “By coincidence, one time me and a couple of my friends really worked hard to try to figure out what our earliest memories were, and mine is the sound of a trumpet. We were trying to decide if our first memories gave us clues about what we ended up doing with our lives.”\nBoth Detweiler and Bergquist grew up around old church music and heard many hymns. Detweiler said a lot of hymns reference trumpets and the idea of the world being reborn with the sound of this instrument. This idea also influenced the title.\n“We were just sort of thinking out loud about that as it related to people like Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, like what would that trumpet actually sound like if it was real and it wasn’t a metaphor or whatever,” he said.\n“The Trumpet Child” features a thick instrumentation at times, and the duo utilizes horns, woodwinds and strings throughout the album. Detweiler said they wanted their sound on this album to reference the “pre-rock ‘n’ roll era of American music,” and to also pay respect to New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz.\n“When New Orleans ... was sort of neglected during (Hurricane Katrina), it just really made us wonder if the powers that be and people at large really think about what a treasure this is – American music,” he said. “ ... We wanted some of that New Orleans flavor to come through as well.”\nThe couple takes as much care with their songwriting as they do with their sound. Detweiler said that songwriting is a constant learning process and teaches the duo what they care about in life. He said lyrics and music can help people enjoy life.\n“I think what we all battle is going through life half-awake,” Detweiler said. “There are so many numbing factors in society that just sort of dull us. And music and language is one way of just living life more fully awake.” \nThe group pulls its name from Over-The-Rhine, a neighborhood in Cincinnati that is the largest national historic district in the nation. \n“When we started the band, we lived out there for about 10 years, and it was gritty and ragged and kind of scary and beautiful,” Detweiler said. “It was just a really stimulating environment for a couple of young artists.”\n The band became a local hit and gained success. \n“The first time we performed together it felt like the room changed, and people felt a little something on their skin – we weren’t quite sure what happened,” Detweiler said. “And we never forgot that feeling.”\nOver The Rhine will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave. Griffin House will open the show. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 the day of the show.