Curtis & Loretta

Curtis & Loretta's music comes straight from the heart. They live and breathe folk music. It isn’t something they put away at the end of the day, and it’s something they can never imagine “retiring” from. Though it is how they make their living, it is infinitely more than a job! The husband and wife duo's extraordinary harmonies and proficiency on a parade of stringed instruments create an alluring frame for their poignant original songs, and carefully chosen traditional pieces from the British Isles and America. The current menagerie includes Celtic harp, mandocello, mandolin, guitars, clawhammer banjo, and National steel ukulele, plus a bit of kazoo, harmonica, shakers, and spoons. They were married (to each other!) 33 years ago, in Santiago, Mexico. Though Curtis grew up in Texas, and Loretta in Minnesota, they went all the way to California to meet each other 42 years ago, and ten years later to Mexico to get married. Scroll down for more details on how all that came about! They started playing music together the first day they met in 1977, and haven’t stopped since. They’ve racked up countless miles on a procession of mini-vans over the years, criss-crossing the country to present their unique brand of folk singer-songwriter music. From the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, to Fiddling Cricket Concerts in San Jose, from the Sarasota Folk Club in Florida to the Fox Valley Folk Festival in Chicago, and innumerable places in between, they have won dedicated fans across the country. An evening with Curtis & Loretta is a captivating experience. It runs the gamut of rolling with laughter, to holding back tears, with plenty of side trips in between. Their thought-provoking originals and timeless traditional songs are seamlessly woven together by their tight harmonies and their array of stringed instruments. And their years of performing and touring together have honed their comfortable stage presence to a delightful edge. Their poignant original songs have touched hearts everywhere. Loretta was awarded an Artist Initiative Grant in Music from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2015. She is writing 12 songs about real-life people who have overcome great odds in their lives. This stellar cast of characters includes a woman who donated a kidney to a toddler she didn’t know, a native American man who grew up at the state orphanage in Minnesota amid great discrimination and abuse, a woman who grew up in great hardship in the grasslands of Somalia and is now a nurse at Mayo Clinic, and many more. Each of these 12 people has such an inspiring story to tell, and Curtis & Loretta are so honored to have become a part of each of these people’s lives. Loretta interviewed each “subject,” as Curtis took pictures. This is the exact point where the part about living and breathing folk music comes in. It’s woven inextricably into their lives, and they like it that way! Curtis & Loretta will be recording a CD of the songs at the end of the summer, and it will be released in November 2015. Check the calendar here for times and places. Previously, their original songs have tackled such tough issues as Alzheimer’s, the holocaust, and the war in the Balkans. Can You Take Me Home? ("Just My Heart For You"), tells the story of Loretta’s mom taking care of her dad through 10 long years of Alzheimer’s. Angel of Bergen-Belsen (also on "Just My Heart") is the story of Luba Tryszynska-Frederick, a holocaust survivor who saved 54 children during WWII, while she herself was a prisoner in the death camps. After writing the song, Curtis & Loretta sought her out, finding she was living in Florida. The duo became good friends with her, visiting her four times, and staying in touch by phone till she passed away in 2009. Elza and Branko: The Siege of Sarajevo ("Where You Hang Your Hat") details the love and bravery of an elderly couple who somehow survived the siege of their city. Curtis & Loretta located Elza, who had since been widowed, and stayed in contact with her for many years. Lest you think everything this duo sings is serious, be aware there are also songs of lutefisk (if you’re a Minnesotan you know what they’re talking about), people who think they’re always right, bugs, and harp players trying to sneak into heaven. Rick Mason wrote in City Pages A-List “Curtis and Loretta are in many ways the quintessential folk duo: finely honed vocal harmonies of multidimensional intrigue, abundant talent on an array of stringed instruments, deep traditional roots, great originals, and equally strong strains of gravity and playful irreverence.” In 2010, they received an Arts Tour Minnesota Grant from the State Arts Board, and presented nineteen 1800s historical concerts across the state. In 2002, City Pages named them “Best Acoustic Performers of the Twin Cities.”