On December 9, 2021, the now 13th season of Acoustic Nights in Solothurn came to an end. The last real (non-existent) curtain belonged to Beth Wimmer...

The US singer/songwriter Beth Wimmer "with a new C (permanent residence) Permit in the canton of Fribourg", where she has recently been based at 1,050 meters above sea level since moving to Schwarzsee, is no longer an unknown quantity in this country for insiders in the field of country and Americana. Whoever's path of life has taken them from rural Massachusetts to the warm Pacific beaches of Santa Monica and later, via St. Moritz, from the Rhine Valley of St. Gallen to the foothills of the Alps in Fribourg, has something to tell. Her previous music albums (six LPs, one EP) are closer in content to CEWE photo books than to art auction catalogs. In her songs, she deals with life as it comes her way, and she doesn't shy away from naming the price that one sometimes has to pay. In the process, sometimes reflections on chemical reactions come out. She kicked off her set with these, which also serve as the title song of her new album, "Chemical Reaction." The love song 'Better Than You Think' followed, extroverted, before she listened to herself for a moment and resolutely took on her bad side - 'My Bad Side'. Both selections from her latest production, from which more followed. She proved what an exceedingly good singer she is with a perfect 'Ode To Billy Joe'. Bobbie Gentry's enigmatic, dramatic classic including a chamber play from deepest Mississippi is no easy cover. Not least because Bobbie Gentry set the bar very high in the original. The art of this song is to not only hit the notes, but also the tone - to be able to create the atmosphere, especially that around that Southern family dinner table. Beth Wimmer accomplished that masterfully. Even between songs, her performance was a pleasure, especially when, before one song, she abruptly asked Mike Bischof, who accompanied her exquisitely on guitar, in the tone and accent of a U.S. hockey coach working here, "Bisch parat?” (Swiss-German for, “Are you ready?”). He was, of course, as he had been before and after, until the end of the encore after 'Pretty Good', the last of the twelve songs in their set. An assessment that this performance easily surpassed. (Photo by Peter Frei)