A letter from Linford and Karin…
“It’s like an angel starts singing
An old gospel song
In that part of town where
No angel belongs
But what is this music
That falls on my ear
It’s the very first snowfall
Of a very long year”
Hello,
It’s snowing in Ohio.
In spite of everything, there is still a little leap in the heart, when you peer out a kitchen window in the morning and see snow start to fall.
Rain and leaves and snow and tears and stars.
And yet speaking personally from the heart, it feels all wrong to be sheltered at home on this eve of December. This is always the time of year when music is afoot! The time of year when Karin and I pack our suitcases full of songs and come looking for you. Dark, chilly, post-fall-back evenings meant for bustling in out of the cold. A jumble of hats, scarves, knitted mittens entering a room. A glowing stage, an upright piano, a garland of rusty stars strung above the merch table. The welcome chatter and anticipation of folks gathering to receive songs — songs inextricably tangled up in our shared stories.
For at least the last 25 years, these darkest nights of the year have been drenched in musical conversation, laughter and maybe even a few healing tears. It’s what we do for a living.
This year, instead, here we are at home. On a small farm in Ohio, we sit and watch the snow fall.
It was difficult to postpone Nowhere Else Festival this past May. It was difficult to realize we wouldn’t be traveling to Seattle to perform with a string quartet in a cathedral as fall arrived in the PNW. It was difficult to postpone our European tour this past November. It would have been our first trip to Switzerland, and other firsts awaited. (I’ll never forget our first trip to Italy, some out of the way village, an exuberant earthy gentleman pulling out a bottle of red from his family vineyard and saying, I have a little something I think you’re going to like.)
So many roads left untraveled this year. (Admittedly, it was also an unexpected gift on many occasions to receive “permission to hold still.”)
But nothing has felt as wrong as knowing we won’t be rolling out on an after dark stretch of highway this evening with a few prized companions for our annual Christmas tour, surrounded by all of you, our extended musical family.
Earlier this summer we had a secret dream: even if we couldn’t travel, certainly we could offer a handful of intimate December concerts in the barn here at Nowhere Else? Maybe we could keep it to 60 people? 50 People? 24 people?
It was not meant to be.
And so here we are. What now?
How about this:
A week from today a small film crew and our sound engineer are coming to Nowhere Else. (There will be safety protocols well in place.) Karin and I are going to gather around the piano and pick up the guitars and do what we always do. Except this year it will be right here at home.
And then on day two, we’ll go on tour: we will walk across the driveway with our instruments to the barn and sing some songs in the music loft as well. After all, Jesus was born in a stable surrounded by animals. Maybe our neighbors across the field will loan us a docile holstein. (We gotta get that mule named Honky Tonk one day.)
Whatever we capture, we’ll sew it all together into a warm, musical quilt. Something you can wrap yourself in.
If you would like to invite some of our music into your home this Christmas, we will provide you with a private link to this special concert made right here in the rooms we wake up in everyday. You can push play and watch and hear this music anytime, as often as you like between December 12 and 26. We will do our best to fill your season and the rooms you wake up in everyday with music from The Darkest Night of the Year, Snow Angels, Blood Oranges In The Snow, and more. See how Reality Christmas songs feel as 2020 winds down.
Something to look forward to, and a way of being together after all, as we look forward to good things ahead.
Karin and I lost all of our touring and performing income this year. Like a lot of Mom and Pop businesses, December is often the month where our year-end income covers a multitude of needs. No artist or arts organization will survive this surreal, challenging season without some help. And we are asking for your help.
In lieu of buying a fistful of Christmas concert tickets for your family or some sweet companions, would you consider making a donation in exchange for our special Christmas concert this year, filmed and recorded right here in our home and in the barn?
If so, we have some good news.
Amazingly, thanks to a generous friend and supporter, all donations will be matched with a 0% interest loan to the barn project!
One immense silver lining of being sheltered at home all year was that it allowed us to turn our attention once again to the vision we have for this property we lovingly refer to as Nowhere Else, and to our unfinished barn venue. (The barn is the longest song we’ve ever written.)
Thanks to some generous friends and family members, we were able to roll up our sleeves and make some tremendous progress in 2020. The heat is now on (it’s cozy), all the drywall is in (finished and painted), the flooring and fire doors are being installed, the south deck and porches are under construction — we can’t wait to show you all that’s happened this past summer and fall.
Our dream is to come through the other side of the pandemic, and be ready to open our doors for small gatherings as soon as it is safe to do so. Lord knows we are all starved for music, real conversation and some much needed healing.
They are saying that as many as 90% of the music venues on our circuit could close in the next few years. We sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that. But with your help, wouldn’t it be amazing if instead of closing, we could actually be ready open our doors — for concerts, workshops? A warm, glowing, safe space where we could begin to gather once again?
To help us get there: please reserve your private link below for Over the Rhine’s 2020 Christmas Concert now, and anytime between December 12th and 26th, as often as you would like, you can press play and enjoy this special performance captured live at Nowhere Else.
We’ll be together in spirit. We’ll keep raising a barn full of dreams. And one day, we’ll gather again.
It’s going to be good.
Wishing you much love and revelation,
Linford and Karin
Reserve your private link for Over the Rhine’s 2020 Christmas Concert.
https://stores.portmerch.com/.../otr-christmas-concert...
Other ways you can help:
If you would like to make a gift to the project, it will be 100% matched.
PayPal.Me/overtherhinethankyou
Venmo: @overtherhinethankyou
Or email or message us for more info.
Please note and mark your calendars: Over the Rhine’s 2020 Christmas Concert will also be streamed one time on facebook and youtube. When, you ask? On the darkest night of the year, of course: Sunday, December 20, at 3pm Eastern.
Finally, consider sharing some of our music this December. Maybe you know someone who could use some Reality Christmas love. Thanks for sharing. All of our music is currently on sale for December. Visit our website shop for more.