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Kelly's Koffee: The Soft Rock cafe
There’s something up lately at Kelly’s Koffee other than coffee and food: Owner Kelly LaRock has lately embraced the tradition of café culture and opened her doors to musicians.
Laurie Lewis, a Pipestone classical guitarist and vocalist and Holly Vanden Berg, a Pipestone pianist, are becoming regulars at the Eighth Ave. NE coffee shop and in the future, LaRock has plans to add more musicians to the musical repertoire, she said.
LaRock has been at her current location with Kelly’s Koffee for almost three years and she said business is good and she’s trying different things.
At first, the entertainment got mixed reviews. Some people loved it; others didn’t, LaRock said.
“But now it’s grown on them; it’s good background music,” she said. “Most of the customers know they can keep talking and do their thing. And some just listen.”
It all began a couple months ago when Lewis approached her and LaRock decided to go for it.
“I’ve had a ton of people ask,” she said. “So I decided (after Lewis asked), no one else offers it; let’s just try it and see.”
Lewis plays on intermittent Sundays with a mellow sound, a natural volume and music she describes as a “non-traditional presentation of songs, hymns and spiritual songs.
“I endeavor to sing in the spirit and with my understanding and to interpret the Psalms through my own individual style,” she said. “By traditional, I mean how people have always heard it in church out of hymn book, piano, or organ in church.”
She said she loves playing at Kelly’s.
“I’m singing out to no one person in particular and I’m able to just simply express what’s in my own heart,” she said. “People can enjoy one another with this soft music in the background or they can tune in and hear what is to me a very important message, which is the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Her musical style has evolved and matured over the 40 years she’s been playing. Folk artists like Joan Baez influenced her earliest compositions, as did her New Age experiences and her search for God.
“For the last 20 years, since I became what you might call a devout Christian, everything secular has been weeded out of my repertoire and everything I sing about is Jesus because of what he’s done to my life,” she said.
It’s been decades since she’s played out at a venue like a coffee shop, but she played steel-string folk guitar in nursing homes for years. Then, not too long ago, her return to classical guitar prompted her return to playing in a public venue.
“It was like picking up an old friend and singing with someone I’d been singing with for a long time,” she said. “It was so good to get back to the classical feel: the smaller body, mellower sound — and the sound I most used to sing with and love.”
Vanden Berg sets up a Yamaha stage piano to play at Kelly’s her wide variety of selections, including those from her three albums. Her debut album, “Holly from the Heart” and her second release, “The Sweet Escape” consist of her own songs and arrangements. Her third, “Christmas with Holly,” is basically, “traditional Christmas songs with a contemporary flair,” she said.
For example, “My Jolly Old St. Nick” and “Up on the House Top” she combined and turned into a melancholy melody. “I did some cool stuff with that album,” she said, and obviously it shows: the album climbed to the number-one spot in its Christmas Music category on her distributor’s site, CDBaby.
Vanden Berg, 24, has been playing piano professionally since she was eight years old. She graduated last year from Minnesota State in Mankato, where she majored in music education and public speaking, but her focus ever since as been her music career.
“That what I’m good at and that’s what I want to do,” she said.
Her mother had her in lessons by the time she was five years old.
“My piano teacher said I had perfect pitch,” she said. She continued lessons for 15 years and began composing music when she was 16. “That’s where it’s at,” she said.
Kelly’s reminds her of her college days, she said.
“They have a lot of coffee shops in Mankato that have live music.” At Kelly’s, “it’s kind of a chill atmosphere; nice and cozy and homey.”
Vanden Berg lost her sight when her retinas detached with she was eight months old, but it’s hardly an impediment.
“I don’t remember seeing so it’s no big deal to me,” she said. “I’m having a great life and I enjoy it; I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Vanden Berg will next play at Kelly’s Koffee on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 7-to-9. Lewis will play on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kelly’s Koffee is located at 101 Eighth Ave. NE.
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