The Express-Times

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Husband-and-wife team sings of life's realities

by Todd Dawson

April 7, 2000

Though they write of the common perils and heartaches of life, there is nothing common about the extraordinary traditional folk duo of Curtis & Loretta.

The husband-and-wife duo have been performing together ever since they first met on a beach in Santa Cruz, Calif., back in the '70s.

Well-known throughout the Midwest, the duo is making its first concentrated push into the Mid-Atlantic with a tour that begins today in Philadelphia and includes two local appearances.

In a conference telephone call from their home in Minneapolis, the two harmonize in conversation, as they do musically on their latest record "Gone Forever."

"This will be our first time playing in Pennsylvania," says Loretta Simonet, "This will be a short tour, only 3 1/2 weeks, but we like to build a following and we're looking to develop new fans."

The pair is in a position where they can focus primarily on their music, says Curtis Teague, who has earned a national reputation for repairing stringed instruments.

When it comes to talent, both Teague and Simonet are blessed. Simonet's vocals have the warmth and clarity of gentle summer waves. Teague is the master of a host of instruments, including guitar, mandocello, ukulele, clawhammer banjo and kazoo.

Their shared talents come together on the 14 tracks of "Gone Forever," which was named one of the top five finalists of Crossroads Music Magazine's 2000 Awards - an honor they share with such folk legends as Stan Rogers, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie.

The 14 tracks of "Gone Forever" contain some timeless gems from the past which get a distinctively Celtic flourish to them, such as "Carrickfergus" and "Banish Misfortune."

The duo does a rollicking cover of the Merle Travis and Tex Williams country classic, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)." The two twine their way through the traditional "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" with unleashed fervor.

Yet the couple shines brightly when it comes the the six original songs on the recently released album.

No song is more poignant than the title track which recounts Simonet losing her father forever to the dark chasm of Alzheimer's disease.

"'Gone Forever'," says Simonet, is "a true story, autobiographical about my father who had the disease for 10-11 years. I would go over to care for him for a day, to give my mom a break for a day, then go home in tears.

"Then one day I realized that we were having a good time when we were together no matter what skills he lost. I began to see that I was lucky to be with him no matter what.

"The song," says Simonet, "celebrates the good times we had as father and daughter before and after the Alzheimer's.

"I wrote it before he died, but I never sang it for him, ... he never would have understood it," says Simonet.