CONCERTS IN MINNESOTA THIS MONTH
October 13 marks the beginning of our "When There's Good to Be Done" tour!!
We kick off this tour featuring songs of Minnesota unsung heroes, in Willmar, Minnesota on Saturday, Oct 13. Willmar was the site of a historic bank strike by 8 women in 1977. They came to be known as the Willmar 8. I wrote a song about them and their fight against gender discrimination. We are honored to be singing their song this Saturday at The Barn Theatre in Willmar, along with many other songs of Minnesota unsung heroes. They're all songs from our latest CD, "When There's Good to Be Done."
We are very happy to say that several of the Willmar 8 women will be onstage that evening to answer questions from the audience! This concert tour is funded in part by the Arts Tour Minnesota Grant we received in 2018. On October 23 we continue the tour for another 2 1/2 weeks, at 19 Arrowhead Library locations in northeastern Minnesota.
On Oct 14, we're doing a benefit for St. Anne's Mission Group in Browerville, and Oct 19 we're part of "Living Tradition: A Twin Cities Folk Showcase." It's a triple bill with Curtis & Loretta, old-time country duo The Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, and folklorist Ellen Stekert, at The Warming House in south Minneapolis (these two concerts are not part of the Arts Tour MN Grant.)
Click here for all the details!
Curtis & Loretta are an acclaimed folk singer/songwriter duo featuring extraordinary harmonies and an array of stringed instruments.
Curtis Teague:
vocals, guitar, mandolin, mandocello, clawhammer banjo, steel ukulele, harmonica
Loretta Simonet:
vocals, folk harp, guitar, mandolin, kazoo, shakers
November, 2017 News - WE GOT THE GRANT!
Back in July, 2017, Loretta applied for the Arts Tour Minnesota Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. We just found out we were awarded the grant!!
Curtis & Loretta will do concerts at 22 locations across greater Minnesota, singing original songs of unsung Minnesota heroes from our CD, "When There's Good to Be Done." Thank you to the Arts Board, and the voters of the State of Minnesota, who voted to create the Legacy Fund for projects such as this, back in 2008.
Sunday, Oct 29, 2017 - We're doing a benefit concert for the Zephyr Theatre in Stillwater, Minnesota at 2 pm. This committed group of folks is raising money to buy the Zephyr Train Depot in Stillwater, and transform it into a 330 seat professional theatre. Come help them to reach their goal! $20 at the door. More info at http://www.stillwaterzephyrtheatre.org.
A big thank you to the Stillwater Gazette for helping us get the word out!!
We had a great time playing at "Hotdish For Homelessness," a fundraiser for Family Promise, September 21, 2017, in Ramsey, MN. We played before the show, which featured Garrison Keillor!
ACOUSTIC GUITAR PROJECT
We did it! We're part of "Acoustic Guitar Project," going on across the U.S.
Here's info from their website, about how it works!
- Each participating city has its own guitar. Every season, we choose five new local musicians to write an original song on their city's guitar. Each musician has one week to write their original song and record it live. Musicians can only use the guitar and handheld recorder we provide. No editing is allowed.
Loretta wrote a song titled "Smiles Said it All," and we recorded it in our living room.
You can take a listen, and hear the story behind it here.
Newest CD, "When There's Good to Be Done"
(Nov, 2015)
This CD features 12 original songs Loretta wrote about real people who overcame great challenges in their lives. It's the culmination of a year long project through an Artist Initiative grant that Loretta was awarded, from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
Click here to find out how to get one, what's on it, and to listen to sound samples!
Loretta wrote each of the 12 songs on "When There's Good to Be Done" about real-life people who have gone through great challenges in their lives and come out stronger for the journey. She interviewed each person, crafted their story into a song, and then got back together with with them to polish the edges. These are ordinary people with extraordinary qualities. There's a woman who donated a kidney to a little girl she'd never met, a WWII POW who survived the German Death March, a woman who grew up in a small primitive village in Somalia and is now a nurse at Mayo Clinic, one of the worst injured of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and many more!
