Wild edges : reviews

CVNC (an online arts journal in North  Carolina) has a review on the first night :

read it here.

according to this review, an album is pretty certain : 
".....This concert and the repeat are being recorded for a live album release, and we can only hope that the endeavor will inspire future collaborations....."

some quotes from the interview :
"If Greenwald was the night's Diaghilev, Joe Henry was Stravinsky, who claimed that the show was something "like a play."

"From the program's opening, "Los Lunas," (inspired by Johnny Cash's macabre "Delia's Gone"), the magic of the musical combination was obvious. Bolstered by Jay Bellerose on drums, Jen Condos on bass, and Levon Henry (son of Joe Henry), reeds, the music came alive, evoking at once nostalgia for a musical America that never really existed, and delighting in the sound of contemporary, original music. Every aspect of orchestration was perfect: the choice of singers, the varying instrumentation, the variety of styles, tempos, keys, modes. "Los Lunas," for example, featured three guitars plus pedal steel, plus bass, drums, reeds, and mandolin/piano. I don't think that exact combination occurred during the rest of the night, making for a sort of folksy Pierrot Lunaire grouping."

"Are they songs or are they prayers?" That question drove the entire evening.  "

indyweek.com :
".......The microphones on stage were perfectly balanced. The musicians switched instruments in silence and traded lead roles with humility and reverence......"

".......Each song was like a treacherous tight walk for the voice. The more precarious that balance, the louder the enraptured crowd burst into applause. Backing players Levon Henry, Jen Condos and Jay Bellerose kept careful cool behind it all, but Over the Rhine’s Karin Bergquist proved to be the most valuable vocal asset, layering harmonies and taking lead with utmost ease. " 

".....The encore allowed a moment to celebrate each act’s individual projects. They started with a devastating version of Milk Carton Kids’ “Michigan.” Joe Henry sang of “Odetta.” Over the Rhine closed with Bergquist, Henry and Joey Ryan gathered around the microphone: “All my favorite people are broken/Believe me, my heart should know,” they sang. “Some prayers are better left unspoken/I just want to hold you and let the rest go.” It was a transcendent close for an already-gripping night."

God is in the details 
" Almost every song had something unique to offer.  Henry’s “The Glorious Dead” certainly sounded like something lifted directly from his own songbook, but, as Linford Detweiler pointed out, sounded like “an unearthed hymn.”  “Dangerous Love” was a swinging tune on its own merits, but Levon Henry’s wicked saxophone solo that capped off the performance wrenched it off its foundations..."

"Followers of these acts are most likely the type of music fans who hold dear the notion that music is more than mere entertainment and can occasionally achieve transcendence.  My guess is that all who bore witness to these miraculous two nights of music walked away with that assumption both intact and fortified....."