BY LARRY NAGER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Linford Detweiler wields his razor blade preparing for tonight’s Over The Rhine 10th anniversary concert at Bogart’s. It’s not a bizarre scarification ritual; he’s cutting covers for CDs he has prepared for the occasion.

Until a few weeks ago, Linford, one of the original members of the band, didn’t realize it has been 10 years since the four musicians got together. One was his future wife, Karin Bergquist.

The instant, 10-song CD, Amateur Shortwave Radio, reflects those 10 years. In its gentle, probing manner, Over The Rhine managed to push musical boundaries just as hard as louder, more obviously ‘‘alternative’’ ensembles.

Linford describes the current state of the band ‘‘as a space that Karin and I create for some wonderful musical interaction, and it’s increasingly going to take different shapes.’’

IF YOU GO What: Over The Rhine. When: 8:30 p.m. Friday (May 1). Where: Bogart’s. Tickets: $13.75 at Bogart’s box office and Ticketmaster outlets or call 562-4949. The new CD will be available tonight at Bogart’s and at area record stores featuring local music. It can also be ordered from 241-7311; by mail: Over The Rhine, Box 2572, Cincinnati 45201; on the Internet: www.overthe rhine.com. Amateur Shortwave Radio is $14, plus $3 shipping. Membership forms for the Rhinelander club come with the purchase of their last CD, Besides.

Some of those shapes can be heard on Amateur Shortwave Radio, a rich, fluid portrait of one of the area’s busiest and most popular groups. Most of the songs were recorded live.

As Over The Rhine looks to the future, let’s look at the past 10 years.

‘‘Blackbird’’

The Beatles song is the CD’s oldest recording, the original quartet in November 1990 on WVXU’s Nightwaves.

Linford, Karin, guitarist Ric Hordinski and drummer Brian Kelley formed OTR in 1989 after moving here from Canton, Ohio, where all but Brian had attended Malone College.

The men arrived in early 1989, joining a Christian rock band called Servant for a tour of Australia. That band’s leaders were Owen and Sandy Brock. Owen, a graphic designer, does the covers and booklets for OTR’s CDs.

Back in Cincinnati, the trio enlisted Karin for their own band. ‘‘I was ready,’’ she recalls. ‘‘I was teaching voice and piano, just spinning my wheels in this small town.’’

They immediately recorded ‘‘what became the first half of Till We Have Faces,’’ Linford says. ‘‘She came down and pretty much nailed the vocals that first weekend.’’

In a few months OTR had an MCA publishing deal. Tours with Adrian Belew and Bob Dylan followed. But Linford wasn’t satisfied.

‘‘I immediately wanted to make another record, and everybody thought I was out of my mind. But I had the sense that we just had to keep moving. So we put out Patience and that got us the I.R.S. deal.’’

‘‘My Love is a Fever’’

A collaboration by Linford and Ric, the song features the quartet in concert in Portland, Maine, in September, 1994. The band was at a high point, touring with major-label support and two albums on I.R.S. (the re-released Patience and Eve). Their manager was Peter Asher, whose clients included Linda Ronstadt.

‘‘Like a Radio’’

Another Detweiler/Hordinski collaboration, this one was from OTR’s 1995 Emery Theatre Christmas concert.

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist’s studio, Grey Ghost, takes up the top floor of their Victorian home in Norwood. The Cincinnati Enquirer/Michael E. Keating

All was not well. Though I.R.S. had been a top label in ’80s rock (R.E.M., the Go-Gos), by OTR’s tenure, it was in decline. I.R.S. re-released Till We Have Faces, the first OTR album, in 1995, but never knew how to promote the band. The label closed in 1996, an early casualty of record industry consolidation.

Linford and Karin were married in the fall. Brian and Ric quit the band. The quartet’s final show was OTR’s 1996 Christmas concert, which brought bassist Chris Dahlgren to the lineup.

Not long into 1997, Brian returned on drums. Mr. Dahlgren went back to jazz and now plays in the Jazz Mandolin Project. He was replaced by Mike Georgin (Plow On Boy).

To some, OTR without Ric, a master of tone and ambience, was like the Beatles without George Harrison.

But as good as that quartet was, the artistic freedom after its breakup has been inspiring, Linford says.

‘‘I personally feel that those four people took it as far as we possibly could, musically,’’ he says. ‘‘For me now, it’s less about a specific lineup and more about growing as a writer and just really experimenting.’’

’’Jack’s Valentine’’

Recorded in July 1997, this jazzy, spoken-word piece (recorded for WVXU’s Audiosyncrasies) is a good example of that experimentation.

‘‘Mary’s Waltz’’

More stretching, as Karin and Linford team with the Northern Kentucky Symphony for this September 1997 performance. It was a time of reinvention and reassessment, Linford recalls.

‘‘Part of us wanted to pack it in and start fresh,’’ he says. ‘‘But by then we had six records under the name. So we decided that Karin and I would go forward. It’s just kind of evolved into something that’s about Karin’s voice, and I’m sort of the mad scientist behind the curtain.’’

‘‘Moth’’

‘‘Anyway’’

“I Will Remember’’

Recorded in May 1998 at a concert at Mount Echo Park, these feature the new OTR songwriting team. Karin wrote ‘‘Anyway,’’ a song inspired by meeting her half-sister Rose Bergquist for the first time, but the others are husband/wife collaborations.

It was a rebuilding year for OTR. A spring Bogart’s concert landed them the opening slot on the Cowboy Junkies summer tour, and they signed with Junkies manager Peter Leak.

Karin and Linford were added to the Junkies’ band, giving them their widest exposure ever. They played David Letterman’s show, Lilith Fair dates and a triumphant homecoming at the Taft Theatre.

Late last year, Capitol Records funded new demos. They upgraded their home recording studio, Grey Ghost, from 16 to 24 tracks and took December off to record.

‘‘Circle of Quiet’’

Recorded in March in Dayton, Ohio, this remake of a song from Patience features a trio OTR — Karin, Linford and G. Jack Henderson on guitar.

In 1999, OTR has no set format. The band tonight will be roughly the same as it was at the Taft in September — Linford and Karin, Brian on drums, G. Jack on guitars, Terri Templeton on backing vocals and session bassist David LaBruyere, of Atlanta.

‘‘Ruby Tuesday’’

Newly recorded, this Rolling Stone song brings OTR full circle. The original quartet put this version together for a 1990 homeless benefit at Bogart’s. This isn’t exactly a reunion. Karin and Linford recorded vocal and bass tracks at Grey Ghost; Ric did the rest in his Mersey Beat studio.

What's ahead for OTR --