Our Next Events
Come on in,
friends!
it’s been our privilege to be family owned and operated in the village of Lovingston since opening in 2001. Thank you for supporting independent venues and local businesses!
November Open Mic Night
Friday, November 14th 2025 - Open Mic Night at Rapunzel's
Seating and to signup with our host starts at 7:30, and the show takes off at 8 PM
• free for performers, and kids 14 & under or 80 & better •
$3 donation at the door for audience members
Blue Ridge WYRD storytelling open mic
Our fifth Blue Ridge WYRD oral storytelling open mic happens on Saturday, November 15th! The show starts at 7pm.
Jazz Night with Stephanie Nakasian and Dwight Spencer
Jazz at Rapunzel’s is back again - October 25, 2025 - featuring Stephanie Nakasian and Dwight Spencer
& Poetry workshop: Whyse Words: Performance and Spoken Word
This October, Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books will be the host to a free series of Poetry themed workshops open to all community members ages 14yrs and up. Our space has always been dedicated to promoting the appreciation, performance, and writing of poetry. The & Poetry series are workshops for expansive avenues of expression. They will be held inside our space in Lovingston, VA from 4-6pm. Please register so that the organizers are able to prepare and provide enough materials.
& Poetry workshop: DIY Culture & Zine Making
This October, Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books will be the host to a free series of Poetry themed workshops open to all community members ages 14yrs and up. Our space has always been dedicated to promoting the appreciation, performance, and writing of poetry. The & Poetry series are workshops for expansive avenues of expression. They will be held inside our space in Lovingston, VA from 4-6pm. Please register so that the organizers are able to prepare and provide enough materials.
& Poetry workshop: Haiku Practice to See the World Around You
This October, Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books will be the host to a free series of Poetry themed workshops open to all community members ages 14yrs and up. Our space has always been dedicated to promoting the appreciation, performance, and writing of poetry. The & Poetry series are workshops for expansive avenues of expression. They will be held inside our space in Lovingston, VA from 4-6pm. Please register so that the organizers are able to prepare and provide enough materials.
& Poetry workshop: Oragami Cootie Catcher Poems
This October, Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books will be the host to a free series of Poetry themed workshops open to all community members ages 14yrs and up. Our space has always been dedicated to promoting the appreciation, performance, and writing of poetry. The & Poetry series are workshops for expansive avenues of expression. They will be held inside our space in Lovingston, VA from 4-6pm. Please register so that the organizers are able to prepare and provide enough materials.
September Spirit Ball ~*~ with Charming Disaster + Please Don't Tell ~*~ FLAG Fundraiser and dinner by Om Taco!
Friday - September 26, 2025
Please join us for our September Spirit Ball with Charming Disaster + Please Don’t Tell who will be bringing us an evening of playfully dark music and mystery to usher in spooky season. This event will also be a fundraiser for fellow non-profit, Fight Like A Grrrl Club and we’ll have dinner options available from our friends, Om Taco.
~*~
Jazz Night - The Greg Moody Quartet
Back for jazz? We’ve got you.
Join us on Saturday, August 23rd in Lovingston for the Rapunzel’s Jazz Night - our featured guests this month are The Greg Moody Quartet
The Greg Moody Quartet. The quartet presents jazz standards, original compositions, and fresh arrangements of familiar songs, while also exploring funk, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms in a jazz context.
opening set from The Quintessential Quartet
seating 7:30, show starts at 8pm
this is a free community event with collected donations going back into the Jazz Night program
The LaDaDas
We eagerly welcome back The LaDaDas — Blair Jones, Mary Gordon Hall, and Betty Jo Taylor — to bring us beautiful harmonies and heart-warming songs with an Appalachian vibe.
Special guest appearances by Holly Renee Allen and Blue O’Connell
Potluck dinner at 6:00
Music at 7:00
$10 cover
follow The LaDaDas on social media to see all their next events and support their music!
Gene and Gayla and The Fireflies
Gene and Gayla embody the folk tradition, weaving together strands of bluegrass, country, and folk with original songs of love, contemplation, and protest--many based on real events and people from Virginia. Multi-instrumentalist Kent Ippolito has performed and recorded with numerous artists since the 1980s and plays dobro and clawhammer banjo with the Fireflies. Mandolinist Jack Cowardin was a fixture in the Williamsburg music scene and a member of three seminal Charlottesville bluegrass bands: The Mindless Wonders, Coup de Grass, and Cloud Valley. The Fireflies have been having a damned good time playing together and would love to share that musical feeling with you.
seating open at 7:30, show 8pm
$10 cover
all of our shows are kid friendly and we encourage youngsters to see this kind of music! Kids 14&under or and 80&better get in free
join us for some new songs under the twinkly lights~
Poetry and Literature Night
Poetry and Literature Night is hosted by Marian Pearce and is open mic style event where authors and poets can showcase their work. Free community event, 7pm show.
June Jazz Night with The Willie Edmonds Quartet
Join us for our June Jazz Night, Saturday 6/28 - it's a hot week but we're staying cool like the jazz cats we are!
This month we welcome back Willie Edmonds (guitar/vocals), who along with Daniel Barrale (drums/vocals), Liz Barnes (keys), and Tom Harbeck (bass) will present a sweet summer concert for us. Short opening set from our house band, The Quintessential Quartet.
Seating 7:30, show 8pm
free community event, all ages are welcome
June Open Mic Night
Friday, June 13th 2025 - Open Mic Night at Rapunzel's
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-three 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 or 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”
May Jazz Night with Johnny's Blue Locomotive and The Quintessential Quartet
We love Jazz Night at Rapunzel's and we've got a good one this month!
***Please note*** we are moving Jazz to the fifth Saturday of the month do the holiday weekend for the fourth.
On Saturday, May 31st 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!
~*~
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, Grace Mattix, Paula Green and their special guests take the stage they want you to get on out to the dance floor and boogie!
~*~
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.
Songbird Showcase Volume II - Femmes & Thems
Songbird Showcase Volume II
Femmes & Thems
Sally Rose
The Great Before Times
Kat Somers
Leah Ruth
Erika Blatnik
Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books
Saturday: May 24th, 2025
doors at 2pm
show at 3pm
$15 cover at the door
Sally Rose
”With their first solo album [Tread Light] in a decade, Sally Rose is getting back to their Americana roots. But don’t worry, they’re still a rock n’ roll riot grrrl at heart — and they're bringing some much needed queer femme representation to the world of country music.” - RVA MAG. Sally Rose (they/them) is a songwriter, performer, and activist native to Nelson County, Virginia. SR has spent the last 10 years sharpening their teeth touring with psych rock band Shagwüf. The stillness of the pandemic however, led SR to rediscovering their love of just vocals and a guitar.
The Great Beforetimes
The Great Beforetimes is a project by Shenandoah Valley-born, settler descendant Ærn Stapel (she/they) and a rotating cast of friends. Self-described as mid-apocalyptic emo-trad, and often deemed "folk punk," TGBT is a mask through which Ærn explores her past of growing up queer in a closed evangelical community, becoming further disabled during the ongoing pandemic(s), and the still spreading necrosis of the colonial apocalypse brought to this land by her ancestors.
Kat Somers
Kat Somers is a singer-songwriter from Nelson County, Virginia. The last 4 years have been a deep period of healing for Kat as they found their way back to writing and to their most authentic self. That journey is reflected in their lyrics around mental and emotional health and healing, finding a path through the thorns, and the gratitude and joy for the people who surround them today.
Leah Ruth
Leah Malyn Ruth was raised by the earthworms, spicebush, robins, and waters of the verdant Monacan homelands. They are currently inspired by old time musicians and workers' anthems past. They can usually be found humming through the woods or halls of the hospital working as a nurse...and wishing they were sharing songs in community. Leah is honored to be back at Rapunzels as a little prayer to keep this special gathering spot going.
Erika Blatnik
Erika Blatnik grew up in Bedford, Virginia and has been writing, recording and performing songs since she was fourteen years old. These days, she still plays the occasional solo show, but is more often found fronting her twangy indie rock band Rikki Rakki. Accompanying her jaunty guitar, Erika's sweet-tart voice and lilting melodies deliver lyrics hell-bent on finding hope in a void-gazing reality.
Songbird Showcase Volume I - Nelson
4/29/2023 at Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books
Songs and Stories + Bonus Open Mic & Potluck!
Songs and Stories
Open Mic 3pm
Show & Potluck 5pm
Eli Cook
“Artists often talk about the blues as a living and growing thing and not just a style of music fit for museums. Cook puts that theory into practice and moves things forward.”- Slant Magazine
visit www.elicook.com to learn more
Blue Ridge WYRD
Blue Ridge WYRD
(Weaving Yarns, Realizing Destiny)
an oral story telling open mic celebrating community and living folklore
Join us at 7pm on Saturday, May 10th for our third installment of the Blue Ridge WYRD
May Open Mic Night
Friday, May 9th 2025 - Open Mic Night at Rapunzel's
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-three 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 or 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”
April Jazz Night - The Queen City Porch Swingers
The Further Ado Foundation presents: Jazz Night at Rapunzel's
with
• The Queen City Porch Swingers •
and The Quintessential Quartet
on Saturday, April 26th, 2025
~*~ Seating open at 7:30PM, and the show starts at 8PM ~*~
All ages are welcome and this is a free community event, open for all to join us! 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!
The Gin Rickies with dinner from Honey Bee Fed
Dinner from Honey Bee Fed plus a show from The Gin Rickies = a delightful evening together!
Jacob Paul Allen
Rapunzel’s Further Ado Foundation presents:
~*~ Jacob Paul Allen ~*~
on Saturday, March 1st 2025
doors at 6pm/show starts at 7pm
Join us in Lovingston for a solo acoustic show from Nelson County's very own, Jacob Paul Allen! You'll get to hear all original songs and the stories behind them.
This is a kick off event before Jacob heads out across the country on his 'Tie One On' tour so come on down and help us wish him a bon voyage.
Visit https://jacobpaulallen.com to learn more about where he's going and be sure to like/subscribe/follow/and share to help a local artist out a lot!
TICKETS
- pre-sales -: $10 online
- raffle entry: $15 online/or at the door
- at the door: $10 cash, $12 card
Kids 14-and-under or 80-and-better get in free
