Sweet Spring Songwriter Showcase

with The Annie Stokes Band, Rebecca Porter, and Kat Somers
Saturday, May 4th - seating 7pm, show 8pm

Tickets: $12 advance found here
At the door: $12/cash & $15/card
kids 14under or 80&better get in free

Annie and Rebecca have been traveling around together with their guitars this spring - on The Coming Up Roses Tour - and are swinging through Nelson County with local hometown hero Kat Somers joining for our show in Lovingston! This is also Katherine Turner’s (conductor of Rapunzel’s) birthday weekend so come on out and help us celebrate with some great music and great friends. Honey Bee Fed catering company will be dropping off some very delicious desserts that will be available too.

The Annie Stokes Band: Annie's music is the result of surrendering your garden to weeds and wildflowers. And after a decade of honing her creative crafts, she's learned a thing or two about cultivation and surrender. 
Raised on the seam of urban and rural living in the foothills of the eastern Blue Ridge Mountains, Annie grew up performing for others. It wasn't until she taught herself guitar at age 21 that she finally blended her loves of storytelling and singing. From there, her budding notion that she was born to share her art with others led her on a meandering journey through the Shenandoah Valley, the evangelical towns of central Virginia, the labyrinth of damp green rooms in DC, sunbaked music festivals, and dozens of rental cars and hotels on the state highways that vein from the Carolinas to Boston. After spending her twenties trying to fit into various boxes and please certain gatekeepers, the experience of motherhood taught her how to surrender to the songs that had been inside of her all along.

Her mesmerizing lyrics and crystalline voice (described by one fan as  "Alison Krauss meets Nick Cave") eventually culminated in an EP (2014) and three albums (2015, 2017, and 2021). Her most recent LP, "The One That Gets Away", was awarded "Best Americana/Country Album" at the 2022 Wammies, Washington DC's prestigious music awards ceremony. Annie's music combines traditional country and folk song structure with modern lyrical sensibilities, and her live shows invite audiences into a front-porch conversation about life with biting commentaries about parenthood, heartbreak, and hope. 

Her fifth studio project, "Wild Rose EP" -- cowritten and produced with Grammy member Austin Bello -- was released in March 2023. It has been highlighted in numerous publications (see press highlights) and will be featured on season six of The Martha Bassett Show.

She co-writes with her husband, bass player Will Berger. When they aren't making music, they are raising two girls and lots of hell in Virginia.  

You can find more from The Annie Stokes Band from her website and on social media:
HERE & HERE

Rebecca Porter embodies the soulful, lonesome sound of the Shenandoah Valley. After a decade of honing her craft as the frontwoman of local cover bands, she taught herself guitar and transformed pandemic loneliness into two EPs - “Prime Rainbow Conditions” and “Queen of the Local”, the latter of which was successfully crowdfunded in March 2023. Porter tours extensively around her home state of Virginia, spotlighting other overlooked voices in the state, as well as curating a monthly Americana showcase at The Golden Pony in Harrisonburg, Virginia called "Honky Tonk Nights." With completely independent legwork, Porter's music is making rounds nationally and internationally. Audiences react wonderfully to Porter's fusion of honky tonk and singer-songwriter sounds. Porter tours with a tight, professional band, The Rhinestone Roses, but can command an audience solo if necessary. Most recently, Porter was inducted into Rissi Palmer's Color Me Country Class of 2024 and added to Good Country's editor Ed Helm's playlist - Ed's Picks.

Find more from Rebecca on her website and follow on the social media,
HERE and HERE

Kat Somers is a dreamy, acoustic, indie-pop, singer-songwriter, Nelson County native who lives and breathes through her lyrics that are fueled by her desire to connect with others in hopes that listeners will feel less alone.  

“In 2023, after a very hard few years where I completely stopped creating, I came back to music where it all started; the Rapunzel’s stage. It feels so special to continue creating and growing in the space that fed and sheltered my dreams from a young age. This place is magic and I just want to keep bringing people together under this roof.”

Find more from Kat here and here

We tried a new thing a few months ago and it went so well we are eager to gather us all together again!
Please join on Saturday, April 20th for dinner from Honey Bee Fed and a show with The Gin Rickies! We are also welcoming Around The Bend Tie Dyes!!!

The Gin Rickies are a group of musicians who have played together, in various configurations, for decades, but have lately been gathering around a kitchen table near the Rockfish River to eat dinner, drink cocktails, and make a joyous noise. In fact, the noise is so joyous, and the fellowship so fabulous, that they want to invite you to come and enjoy it with them!!
So Tom Proutt, David Matthews, Emily Gary and Mitch Russell invite you to come on down to Rapunzel’s and partake in a fabulous dinner provided by Emily Proutt of Honey Bee Fed, enjoy a beverage or two, and engage in musical communion. This won’t be a highly rehearsed stage show, but rather four friends sitting around a table harmonizing and entertaining themselves (and, hopefully, everyone else!)

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• 6:30pm - doors and seating open PLUS Around The Bend Tie Dyes will have a table set up with goodies for sale throughout the evening! See below to learn more about the raffle they are running at this event.

• 7pm - (optional) Dinner from Honey Bee Fed
$15/adults & $5/kid plates -
MENU:
Pulled Pork BBQ (vegetarian protein available upon request)
Homemade Challah Buns,
Mac'N'Cheese,
Grilled Veggies,
& Coleslaw

Go to the Honey Bee Fed table to get your dinners - please consider purchasing your food in advance so that Emily has a better idea on how much to prepare. Thank you! Get your plates reserved here: Dinner from Honey Bee Fed
Honey Bee Fed desserts will be available for sale at the Rapunzel's bar

• 8pm - the show starts! There is a $10 cover for our wonderful musicians - The Gin Rickies
kids 14&under or 80&better get into Rapunzel’s free

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About our chef:
Meet Emily Proutt, the culinary talent behind Honey Bee Fed in Albemarle County, Virginia. A seasoned catering professional, Emily crafts local, seasonal Southern cuisine from scratch, celebrating simplicity and creativity in every dish. Her kitchen, abuzz with beekeeping projects, infuses raw honey into her delectable menu, offering a unique taste of the South. From intimate gatherings to grand celebrations, Emily delivers unforgettable culinary experiences, showcasing the essence of the region in every bite.

Please join us on Saturday, April 6th for a show with The Hot Mamas and Please Don’t Tell - both performing here for the first time!

Seating is open at 7pm, and the show will start at 8.
$10 cover

The Hot Mamas are an all-female singer-songwriter collective that is rapidly gaining interest around the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. With instrumentation ranging from toy piano, clarinet, banjo, accordion, ukulele, washboard, dueling kazoos to amazing harmonies, The Hot Mamas not only entertain and know how to have a good time but they also captivate audiences with their depth. Their writing styles range from jazzy to pop, from sea chanties to murder ballads, soulful blues to drinkin’-when-you’re-sad country tunes. The Hot Mamas are quirky and fun, profound and sincere and not to be missed!

Please Don't Tell is a dark chamber cabaret trio with haunting vocals and Christina Flemming on piano, Nicole Remel on cello, and Anna Hennessy on violin. They share pissed off and delightfully self aware songs that have been said to both charm and provoke existential dread. With a new EP released this March you can check out their music, which is described by fans as lush, vulnerable, humorous, and a little salty.

The Further Ado Foundation presents: Jazz Night at Rapunzel's -
• The William Edmunds Trio and The Quintessential Quartet •
on Saturday, March 23rd, 2024
Seating open at 7:30PM, and the show starts at 8PM

All ages welcome and this is a free community event. Collected donations go entirely towards funding our jazz program to pay our guest musicians. Thank you for helping us to keep Jazz happening in central Virginia!

Our special guests this month are the William Edmunds Trio

Our house band, The Quintessential Quartet plays every month, for free, and hosts the evening. Featuring Anne Krieger on vocals, Carolyn Stone on bass and vocals, Harry Powell on lead guitar, and Bob Taylor on rhythm guitar - the Quartet plays favorites from The Great American Songbook and you probably know every one of them.

Friday, March 8th 2024 - Open Mic Night at Rapunzel's
This month hosted by the awesome Mitch Russell!!

Join us for another one of our intergalactically famous Open Mic Nights! Bring us your talent and start on the road to stardom!

We have been running our Open Mic Nights on the second Friday of each month for over twenty-two years!!! Thank you to all of our volunteers, audience members, and performers that have joined us and to all the folks that help us keep it going. This event is known for such a variety of performances that the phrase “You never know what you’re going to see at Rapunzel’s” quickly became its slogan. While it is often musicians that take the stage, this Open Mic welcomes and supports all the arts - poets, authors, dancers, comedians, and all y’all other creatives are welcome too.

Seating and to signup with our host starts at 7:30, and the show takes off at 8 PM
it's usually up to two songs shared/the equivalent for non-musicians -- chat with our emcee and we'll figure it out together!

• free for performers, and kids 14&under or 80&better •
$3 donation at the door for audience members

***** Please note that our Open Mic Night is an acoustic event… only bass guitars and keyboards may be amped. Please come early to set that up. Thank you! *****

All performers are invited to be ready at 8ish to join the Rapunzel’s Orchestra on stage to kick off the event with “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”

We're starting off the spring season with you some fresh music for you all! Please help us welcome Mayday to Lovingston and as a special treat, the one and only fan favorite Alex Norman is coming to open the show!

Saturday, 3/2/24
Doors @7pm
Show @8pm
$10 cover
(kids 14&under + kids 80&better get in free)

Hailing from the central Virginia cities of Charlottesville and Richmond, Mayday is an exciting four-person band featuring drums, bass, keys, trumpet, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and soulful 4-part vocal arrangements. The powerful voice and engaging songwriting of frontman Theocles is backed by energetic jams and tightly constructed rhythmic grooves. Folk, soul, and rock-based melodies are imprinted over pop-style arrangements, with a focus on catchiness, entertainment, and originality.

Despite being only a couple years old, the band’s musicality and commitment to tight, exciting performances has led to a rapid growth of followers and some high-profile shows at venues such as The Southern, The Camel, and Charlottesville’s historic Friday’s After Five concert series. In November 2023, Mayday released its debut single “As a Boy”, a pop-rock song about welcoming the realities of growing up.

With a wide range of dynamics both within and between songs, Mayday’s music will work its way into both your heart and your dancing feet. Don’t be shocked if you find yourself walking home with one of their tunes stuck in your head!

This is also gonna be a one-of-kind Mayday show, because Graeme’s gonna be temporarily replaced by pianist, vocalist, and friend of the band @amybethanders

Find them on their website https://www.maydaysounds.com/
facebook,
instagram @mayday_the_band
or on youtube:

Alex Norman began playing at our open mics and songwriters contests over twelve years ago and has continued to develop her talents. She has a commanding voice that will bring the room to a hush as we all lean in closer to hear her. Poet, folk singer, and a determined young artist she is making strides in the Charlottesville area.
Listen to her first album here: https://alexnorman.bandcamp.com/releases and other tracks on: https://soundcloud.com/user441841900

We love Jazz Night at Rapunzel's and we've got a good one this month! On Saturday, February 24th we welcome back Johnny's Blue Locomotive. This hot Jump Swing/Rhythm and Blues combo will have you movin' to the groove. Our Very own Quintessential Quartet will warm you up with a few classic swing era tunes.

Seating opens at 7:30PM, the show starts at 8:00PM and, as always, our Jazz Nights are free to all! This is free community event and all ages are welcome.

Johnny's Blue Locomotive choo choos from the Shenandoah Valley. They play a selection of blues, rock, and jazz -- it's soul with horns! When Johnny Clark, Greg Moody, Lance Allen, and Grace Mattix take the stage they want you to get on out to the dance floor and boogie! This time they're also brining us a new singer as well - let's make Paula Green feel at home!

The Quintessential Quartet - our house jazz band - features Anne Krieger, Harry Powell, and Rapunzel’s very own Bob Taylor and Carolyn Stone - sharing the old standards and making you smile.

We are wrapping up TWENTY-ONE YEARS of shows at Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books, can you believe it?!

It brings us an immense amount of joy and pride to keep this space open for our community and local artists. Thank YOU for helping us do this.

Please join us on Saturday, December 16th for a festive evening together! We have our dear friend Zachary Bullock emceeing for us. Entertainment will be provided by:

• Eli Cook

• Gene and Gayla Mills

• The LaDaDas

• Grayson Harlow and The Kitchen Party

• Jamie Dyer

• Red Knierim

• Blue O’Connell & Mary Gordon Hall

• Rockfish Gap

• Bud Reeves & Worm Patterson and All Problems Solved

• John Eggleston

• Kat Somers, Greg Lomaka, and Gil Somers

• Bob and Carolyn with Bill Staton

• and more…!

The Rapunzel’s Christmas Party #21
Saturday - December 16th, 2023:
seating open at 7pm, and our show will start at 8pm

We are offering a limited number of tickets that may be purchased online in advance of the show for $17 each. The link is below and on our facebook event too.

Those bringing cash (or checks) at the door may contribute a $15 donation from each adult to our non-profit, Rapunzel’s Further Ado Foundation. Checks may be addressed to Rapunzel’s Further Ado Foundation. Thank you so very much!

Kids 14&under get in free.

Parking: There is street parking available along Front Street but please do not block the residential driveways to our neighbors’ homes! We recommend car pooling if possible and arriving early as this is usually a sold-out event.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to 21 years of amazingness here at Rapunzel’s! Let’s keep it up.
Happy holidays to you and yours!!

Rapunzel’s Further Ado Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is responsible for everything that happens at Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books. Our purpose is to help keep the arts robust and accessible in Nelson County, to provide a low cost cultural and social gathering space for our community, and to run a venue in which local, new, and young artists may develop their talents and connect with our audience. Coffee sales only cover a fraction of the expenses associated with keeping our doors open. If you see value in what we’re doing, and would like to help out, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Rapunzel’s Further Ado Foundation. Any amount –no matter how small– will make a huge difference! Please leave your name and address with your donation so that we may send you a thank you letter and tax receipt. If you have any questions, please ask! Visit https://www.rapunzelscoffeeandbooks.org/rapunzels-further-ado-foundation to learn more. On behalf of all us involved at Rapunzel’s - thank you very much.

If you cannot make it this evening - maybe you can join our community potluck party and show on New Year’s Eve with 7th Grade Girl Fight, Rough Shod, and The Harlow Twins of Kitchen Party!

We look forward to 2024 and more time together!
Cheers!

We're so pleased to announce that our rescheduled show with Hunter + Gatherers is happening!!! Joined by Rob Midnight & Best Buds - party with us this Saturday night, December 9th, after the Lovingston Christmas Parade* wraps up. If you were a fan of central Virginia's favorite 2000s band Trees On Fire then you have got to come see what the guys are up to now!!

Seating will be open as soon as the parade wraps up and Front Street reopens. In theory, our doors will be open at 7:30/show starts at 8pm and it's a $10 cover for these two amazing bands! Tickets are available online linked below or pay at the door (cash and card accepted).

Hunter + Gatherers are Blake Hunter, Brian Wahl, Paul Rosner, and Eric Knutson playing folk rock from the heart.

Rob Midnight & Best Buds brings Rob Mezzanote, Brian Wahl, Chris Celella, Justin Esposito, and Lawton Smith to jam together - passing melodies, swapping jokes, and sharing originals -
check https://robmidnight.com/ for their next shows.

*** Please see the Lovingston Christmas Parade's facebook event for full details about the parade: https://fb.me/e/1J4UGeAWP ***
Parking on Front Street will be prohibited starting at 5pm and they will shut down the road. The Parade begins at 6pm on the south side of town heading north towards Rapunzel's. It should probably be over around 7pm with the roads reopened usually by 7:30.
Please respect all those directing traffic and hosting this event for our town and be careful of pedestrians. When Front Street reopens - as always - please do not block driveway entrances to our neighbors' residences.

Friday, December 8th 2023 brings our last open mic night of the year...
Join us for another one of our intergalactically famous Open Mic Nights! Bring us your talent and start on the road to stardom!

Our 21+ years running Open Mic Night is held on the second Friday of each month. This event is known for such a variety of performances that the phrase “You never know what you’re going to see at Rapunzel’s” quickly became its slogan. While it is often musicians that take the stage, this Open Mic welcomes and supports all the arts - poets, dancers, comedians, and all y’all other creatives are welcome too.

Seating and signing up on the Performers list with our host begins at 7:30,
the show takes off at 8 PM

This community event is free for our performers as well as kids 14&under
We collect a $3 donation at the door from audience members to support our non-profit
Thank you ALL!

*** Please note that our Open Mic Night at Rapunzel’s is an acoustic event… only bass guitars and keyboards may be amped. Cheers! ***

Hosted this month by the wonderful one and only Bev Yaeger! All performers are invited to be ready at 8ish and join the Rapunzel’s Orchestra on stage to kick off the event with “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”