Hope this season finds you all fine as frog hair, and enjoying every bit of Bay Area summer as it swings from hot to frigid. Keeps both the t-shirt and fleece industries grinning from ear to ear.

We've been busy as bees, working on new songs, tending to gardens, eating blackberries, buying houses (Ok – just one), engineering that tech support and even watching US weapons labs. Amidst the activity, we were saddened to hear that our friend and veteran troubadour Jimmy Sweetwater is leaving San Francisco to head to New Orleans. The Loretta Lynch trio (Val, Ari and Heather) is pleased as all get-out, however, to join a host of fine performers to thank him and send him on his way in style at the Great American Music Hall Thursday, July 22nd at 8:00 PM. Amongst those joining us will be: Penelope Houston and Pat Johnson, Patrick Winningham, Toshio Hirano, Los Machos Borrachos, The Mission Three, Jimbo Trout & the Fishpeople, Tom Drohan & Gayle Lynn. Closing the evening will be swampy folk-rockers Vandela .

We hope you can take a break from your own summers and join us! Dress in layers.

Love,

After a month or so of attention other projects, we're happier than clams at high tide ... heck, maybe even happier than goats in a briar patch to announce that we'll be playing once again at Berkeley's Starry Plough  Saturday, May 22nd. We have the good luck to be playing with the inimitable Joe Rut  (fresh off his Various Living Rooms and Great American Music Hall 2010 Spring Tour) as well as Danny Allen's High Diving Horses. Both of these acts can charm the dew off the honeysuckle, so get yourselves down to the Plough, quaff a couple cold ones with us and celebrate music at its finest.  Show starts at 9:00 with the equestrian water-acrobats, Loretta in the middle and Sñr. Rut crowning the evening.

Spend yours with us!

Love,

Hooray for Spring! Hooray for music! Hooray for showers and flowers and bees and fuzzy little animals* and ... people getting' hitched!

We are happy to announce that our dear friends Dana and Amy are tying the knot this upcoming Thursday, April 1st. Yes, this is April Fool’s Day, and the two will be marrying and parading through Berkeley and ending at an early, welcome-to-all reception at the Starry Plough (3101 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley - http://www.starryploughpub.com ) beginning at 8:00 PM sharp. We’ll be playing first, followed by the lovely and talented ladies of Yard Sale and then a very special guest (who we know you will love).

Come eat, drink and be merry with us!

Love,

Loretta

... and you are cordially invited to join Loretta Lynch at the Actual Café (corner of Alcatraz and San Pablo in Berkeley) http://www.actualcafe.com/ this Friday night March 5th as part of Oakland’s First Friday Art Murmur. We’ll be going on a little after 7:00, and plan to make the café shake. In addition to a variety of drinks derived from that fine dark-roasted bean that will fuel your evening, snacks and supper are available. Though this will be a kid-friendly event, rumor is that there will be beer and wine for the grown-ups! Vinyl by DJs Oze and Kid Frostbite, and rare, gorgeous black and white photos of 1960’s-80’s Chicago, NJ and New York by Eva Silverman of Pushcart Design, to boot. Any East Coast transplants out there?

Come one, come all.

Love,

It was a whirlwhind of a holiday season with recording, mixing, KPFA and West Coast Live, and we are grateful to have had a bit of time off. Now we're enjoying the rain (hey - in addition to filling the reservoirs and making things green, you know what it washes off the streets), our collective good health and gearing up again for the Spring!

Come to the Make-Out Room  (3225 22nd St., San Francisco) this Friday, January 29th where we'll be playing with the fabulous Misisipi Rider. We're pleased as punch to be playing with this fine outfit, which includes former LL guitar player Misisipi Mike Wolf amongst the talented crew. Loretta will be playing last ... but guess what? It's an EARLY SHOW! Hooray! The show starts off at 7:30 with Misisipi Rider, and we'll be playing at the still-tender hour of 8:30.  You can come, enjoy the show and still have your choice between donning your jammies and crawling into bed with a glass of warm milk and the latest teen vampire novel or mixing up a thermos of Red Bull and vodka and hitting the clubs.

We do hope you'll join us.

Love,