Over the Rhine has come a long way since its first show in 1990 at a “rock ‘n’ roll Laundromat” for college students in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Now, the group is touring with songwriter and feminist icon Ani DiFranco and hitting the 40 Watt Club Friday night.

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist are the main songwriting duo of Over the Rhine, as it started as a quartet and is opening for DiFranco as a trio (with Jake Bradley on upright bass guitar).

“I didn’t really get interested in songwriting until I was about 17 years old,” Detweiler said. “As a kid, I was always really drawn to music and my dad’s record collecting, and our upright piano was where I went to process things I didn’t have words to describe.” –

Detweiler said his father’s eclectic music collection helped his own musical knowledge grow and develop in his early years.

He met Bergquist at a small Quaker college, Malone College, in Ohio, and the two began playing around with music for fun.

“There was a chemical reaction, the room changed, people felt something,” said Detweiler, describing the music they made. “We didn’t really plan [for] it to happen, but I think some musicians with good chemistry – - people sort of feel something on their skin.”

Playing gigs at small joints such as the Laundromat and recording a demo on a 4-track began Over the Rhine’s music career.

The band’s name was borrowed from an old downtown neighborhood in Cincinnati originally settled by Germans.

“[The name] had a kind of weird sound and whimsical feel like ‘Over the Rainbow,’” he said.

Still an unsigned group, tours with Adrian Belew and Bob Dylan opened doors with record labels and demo recordings.

Listening to R.E.M. and The Pretenders in the early ’90s, Detweiler said Over the Rhine began as an indie-rock group but has since evolved to focus more on the songwriter, and after a couple of records and a growing fan base, the group became a duo with only Detweiler and Bergquist.

The two also married in the fall of 1997 with a little hesitation as to the possible effects on their work.

“We wondered a little bit if we would lose our objectivity as creative partners — if we set up and started playing house together and all that,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve lost it. We both work really hard at what we do, and Karin doesn’t have any problems saying a song isn’t my best work, and I can be pushed further.”

In 2007, they released a new CD, “The Trumpet Child,” devoted to celebrating American music and were named among the top 100 living songwriters by Paste Magazine.

“I think [our songs] just come from wanting to live a good life, wanting to take care of relationships that are important, wanting to do work that means something – maybe can inspire people,” Detweiler said. “Music is a great way to invite people to wake up and not go through life numb and going through the motions.”

Detweiler said he saw the same thing in DiFranco and her music and is looking forward to the extensive tour.

“The first thing that struck me about her was the whole package. She’s a great guitar player, how much fun she has with the words, language and all that,” he said. “At the end of the day, she is inspiring, and that’s the bottom line – people feel something when she does what she does.”

In his search for inspiration, Detweiler said he loves the touring and performing aspect of a music career.

“[It] makes it worthwhile – if you don’t love it, I think you just kind of fade away,” he said. “And what can happen with performers and an audience – that connection. It’s one of the last great communal enterprises in America.”