Get Out Loudoun for November 2022

Rowdy

Leesburg Artist Sabina Puppo uses an Italian technique called sgraffito to etch words into the Catoctin Mountain ridge that runs past Leesburg.

GET OUT LOUDOUN

Get Out Loudoun is distributed monthly to entertainment, tourism, and hospitality venues throughout Loudoun County. For the latest news on the music scene and other community events, go to getoutloudoun.com.

CONTRIBUTORS

Dana Armstrong Renss Greene

Jan Mercker

Norman K. Styer

ON THE COVER

Todd “Rowdy” Tolbert performs with his band at MacDowell’s Beach in Leesburg.

Photo by Renss Greene

TO ADVERTISE

Susan Styer at 703-770-9723 or sales@loudounnow.com

ART SCENE

Leesburg artist Sabina Puppo takes both bird’s-eye and below-ground views to explore Loudoun’s rolling landscapes.

HAPPENINGS

Tech wizards have converted the grounds of Morven Park into a Harry Potter wonderworld.

WINE

Where can you find this year’s best Loudoun

Add these bottles to your tasting wish list.

TUNES

Loudoun is well known for its country roads and the Rowdy Ace Band is ready to take you for a

BEST BETS

Out Loudoun’s top picks for November.

Sabina Puppo

Some of Loudoun’s top chefs offer options for a tasty, stress-free Thanksgiving Day meal.

Let Loudoun Chefs Help with Your Stress This Holiday Season

BY DOUGLAS ROGERS, VISIT LOUDOUN

An African transplant to the U.S., my first Thanksgiving was 20 years ago with my wife’s family in Bergen County, New Jersey. I loved it! Golden roast turkey, sausage and sage stuffing, cranberry sauce—even that weird marshmallow and sweet potato mash they wheeled out. What on earth is that about?

Over the years, I’ve learned other Thanksgiving traditions, too: the stressedout cook, the family fight, the hours of washing up...

Personally, I love a bit of social disfunction and argument, but we could all do with less stress and hard work over the holidays. Luckily, in Loudoun, there are alternatives. You can take the family out to a restaurant

for Thanksgiving—or at least order a fully cooked traditional turkey dinner to eat in. “It’s chaos – controlled chaos,” said Colin Malone of Leesburg’s iconic Tuscarora Mill, which will be doing its 25th Thanksgiving to-go dinner this November. The restaurant roasts an astonishing 200 birds customers pick up from 10 a.m. to noon on the big day. “It’s a whole turkey with sides that include whipped potatoes, sausage stuffing, green beans and carrots and it feeds six,” Malone said. Not bad for $275. While the restaurant is not officially open, it does a wine tasting at the bar while you await your order. Sister restaurant Magnolias in Purcellville offers the same deal.

Contributed

VISIT

In Brambleton Plaza the sublime AhSo restaurant is doing its fifth annual “Thanksgiving Dinner @ Home” deal for $65 per person—a wild success among east Loudoun foodies. Guests can pick up the meal on Thanksgiving morning or the day before, and all items can be re-heated. On top of mounds of white and dark turkey meat, the order includes cornbread, turkey-sausage stuffing, cranberry orange compote, sweet potato casserole and a pumpkin cheesecake dessert.

The most stressful part of the Thanksgiving meal is getting that bird just right. Why not do the sides yourself and get celebrity chef Rich Rosendale to cook turkey? Rosendale’s Roots 657 Local Market in Lucketts will be selling whole smoked birds weighing 20-24 pounds for $150—without sides or desserts. That frees you up to focus on the garlic mash and pumpkin pie.

As for eating out on the day, Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg goes all in

with an annual traditional Thanksgiving feast at fine dining restaurant Harrimans Virginia Piedmont Grill. The dinner is served for sharing with multiple courses and an option to pair with wines. While this year’s menu is not yet finalized, previous Thanksgiving feasts have included roasted foie gras, butter poached Maine lobster, organic turkey breast, Beef Wellington and signature desserts from Executive Pastry Chef Jason Reaves such as Pumpkin Pie Napoleon with whipped mascarpone and maple filo.

I wonder if he’ll be putting marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nature of Delight: Sabina Puppo Paints Loudoun’s Farmlands

BY DANA ARMSTRONG

Sabina Puppo is an artist who defies definition—both in her art and in her life.

Puppo paints portraits and landscapes, many of which depict romanticized, bird’seye views of the farmlands of Loudoun County. Although she consults photographs and old maps of Loudoun and Leesburg to inspire her work, she never creates exact copies of the landscapes.

Instead, the patchwork of textured fields, the farm animals, the moments of mundane life, the imagined underworld of tree roots and pockets of water and stone, and the rolling multi-hued mountains, make up her dramatic dreamscapes.

Her imagined landscapes reflect her present life in Leesburg and her recent past: a seven-year experience cultivating a farm with her husband in Pueblo Eden, Uruguay.

“Many people only know Uruguay for its beaches, or they only know Montevideo. We were in a rural area with hills the same age as Catoctin Mountain, and some of these really old, low hills were 500-560 million years old. It looks like this area. You don’t know if you’re in Ireland or rural Uruguay, or now I can say Loudoun County.”

Recently, Puppo featured her oil paintings of Loudoun County on her Peace in Our Time greeting cards. Proceeds from sales of the greeting cards are donated to the UN Refugee Agency in their efforts to protect refugees and displaced people during the war in Ukraine.

The greeting cards caught the attention of the board of directors of the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital in Washington,

Photo by Dana Armstrong

Sabina Puppo sits in the studio space of her new home in Leesburg.

ART SCENE

Above: "Bear in Mind" - An oil painting of Loudoun County. Puppo sees the outline of Loudoun County as a bear with Leesburg located at its heart.

Right: “Deep Embrace” - The painting was inspired by a story Puppo heard on NPR during the pandemic of a couple in their 80s who contracted COVID and had to stay apart after spending a whole life together. A tree of life grows over top of them.

ART SCENE FROM PAGE 6

DC. That led to Puppo’s exhibition of 24 oil paintings, “Nature of Delight,” on display in the Hill Center Galleries through Jan. 6.

All of her paintings in the gallery are available for purchase, with proceeds from the exhibit’s catalog supporting Ukrainian refugees.

“’Nature of Delight’ is a play on words because I find nature delightful, and I think nature delights me. There is a natural thing when you pay attention. You put your feet on the ground, down to earth, and you realize how delightful life is despite whatever problems and curveballs. If you live noticing the moment, it is a delight,” Puppo said.

But Puppo’s exhibition is only part of her story.

Born in Uruguay to Italian and French Basque parents, Puppo left Uruguay with her family at 18 months old and then moved 17 times to support her parents’ careers as architects. Since they specialized in remodeling centuries-old houses to fit

modern needs, her family moved wherever there was work, including Germany, Colorado, and Italy.

Puppo began playing the flute at six years old and studied at a classical music conservatory. But when she realized how much she hated playing in front of audiences, she accepted a scholarship to study music therapy at a college in Eau Claire, WI.

She spent many years practicing music therapy in surgical environments. She developed a method of using music to help patients in serious surgeries slow their breathing and relax their bodies to decrease the amount of anesthesia needed.

“So, [my] first [career] was music. Then it was music therapy. Then I started human resources,” Puppo said. “And when we moved to DC, I did an MBA specializing in corporate social responsibility. I worked with nonprofit organizations mostly based on the environment or sustainable environments.”

“I only went back to Uruguay seven years ago. My husband and I wanted to see if two city people, who only grew plants in pots, could live sustainably and with the land. My move to Uruguay meant creating memories in a place I was born in but hadn’t lived in.”

“While we became farmers, I became a painter, and I thought this is it. This is what I want to do in the long run.”

Despite Puppo’s diverse experiences, art has always been the throughline. Some of her earliest memories are drawing girls with skirts and balloons on her parents’ discarded blueprints. And in her many moves and flights in adulthood, from San Francisco to Boston to DC to Falls Church to Uruguay, she always carried ink, paper, markers, and a small palette of watercolors.

“I’ve always been interested in art because I grew up surrounded by artists. I was able to trace back seven generations—all Italian artists—and the first one was born outside of Italy,” Puppo said.

Her ancestors include the famed 19thcentury sculptor Ettore Ferrari (whose bronze and marble monuments can be found in the squares of Venice, Pisa, and Rome) and her grandfather Ernesto Puppo, also known as one of the founders of the Rationalist Architecture Movement in Italy.

In comparison, Puppo regards her art and oil paintings as much more “humble,” but that doesn’t take away from their beauty. One of the secrets to her signature style is an Italian technique called sgraffito. Typically used in ceramics, the technique involves scraping away the surface layer of color to reveal a contrasting tone underneath.

For Puppo, she must work within a small window of time where her oil paint is neither too dry nor too wet. If it’s too dry, she won’t be able to scratch it away with a toothpick, ballpoint pen, or her fingernail. But too wet, and it may run back together and fill in her etches.

Puppo will continue oil painting at her

townhouse in Leesburg—a place she intends to be her long-term home. She loves the nature, open spaces, and quiet of Leesburg and looks forward to becoming more involved in the community.

In particular, she hopes to connect more of her art and volunteer work to local organizations, such as Wildlife Loudoun, of which she’s become a recent member.

“I’m not very unidirectional. I like two-way streets,” said Puppo. “I like things that go underground and get elevated, and things with roots where one tree reaches a lot of ground. Where one individual can reach within a community, and where one action just doesn’t end there. They have ripples, and they’re all virtuous.”

Sabina Puppo’s exhibition, Nature of Delight, is on display at Hill Center Galleries in Washington, DC, through Jan. 6. To learn more about the exhibition or to purchase Puppo’s exhibition catalog, paintings, prints, or greeting cards, go to sabinapuppo.com.

Check out

Loudoun’s Attractions

LOUDOUN HERITAGE FARM MUSEUM

Travel through time to meet the 10 generations of Loudoun County residents who built this county and left their mark on the land. Exhibits include a schoolhouse, general store, Native American artifact display and the American Workhorse Museum Collection.

21668 Heritage Farm Lane, Sterling, VA 20164 (571) 258-3800 • heritagefarmmuseum.org

LOUDOUN MUSEUM

With a collection of more than 8,000 artifacts, the museum tells Loudoun’s story over its 260-year history, with an ever-changing selection of special exhibits on Native American settlements, World War II memorabilia, the county’s role in the Civil Wars, along with displays of antique clothing and furniture.

16 Loudoun Street SW Leesburg, Virginia 20175 (703) 777-7427 • loudounmuseum.org

MORVEN PARK

Morven Park is a 1,000-acre historic estate on the edge of Leesburg that was home to Virginia governor and agricultural pioneer Westmoreland Davis. Tours of the Greek Revival mansion include 16th century Belgian tapestries, Spanish cassones, hundreds of silver pieces, Hudson River Valley paintings, and Asian treasures. The estate also features the Winmill Carriage Museum, the Museum of Hounds and Hunting of North America, formal boxwood gardens, miles of hiking and riding trails, and athletic elds.

17195 Southern Planter Lane Leesburg, VA 20176 703-777-2414 • morvenpark.org

OATLANDS HISTORIC HOUSE & GARDENS

The 415-acre Oatlands estate, owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers tours of the historic mansion, extensive gardens and outbuildings that include the oldest standing greenhouse in the South. Exhibits focus on the lives of the Carter and Eustis families who building the estate, as well as the lives of enslaved people who lived and worked there.

20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane, Leesburg, VA 20175 703.777.3174 • oatlands.org

Happenings

20 Years of Frozen Gizzards

The Town of Leesburg’s Freeze Your Gizzard race celebrates its 20th anniversary Nov. 19.

Each year, the event draws hundreds of runners to Ida Lee Park for a 5K cross country race and one-mile fun run.

Participants bring donations to help restock the Loudoun Hunger Relief food pantry as the nonprofit distributes special holiday meals to area residents in need.

All pre-registered 5K participants will receive a commemorative long sleeve performance T-shirt. One-mile fun runner will receive a commemorative finishers’ medal. For details and registration, go to potomac.enmotive.com.

Visitors are encouraged to bring their wands as they tour Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest Experience at Movern Park.

A Walk Through Harry Potter’s World

Morven Park is a 1,100-acre estate known for its history, stately manor house, equestrian events, and open spaces. The fall, however, it’s been converted to the world of Harry Potter. “A Forbidden Forest Experience” is making its U.S. debut in Leesburg for a three-month run that offers an immersive tour of the sights and sounds familiar to the celebrated wizard and his Hogwarts’ colleagues.

The nighttime display is a fully luminescent, outdoor experience created by Warner Bros. and award-winning theatrical designers, complete with realistic sounds, lighting, special effects, and interactive moments from the films. You’ll also come across friendly creatures from the iconic films, like hippogriffs, centaurs, unicorns, and Nifflers, but also those terrifying spiders.

After completing the 90-minute walking trail, visitors will emerge from the forest into a Hogsmeade-inspired village where they may taste themed food and beverages from the franchise and purchase cloaks or wands and souvenirs. The attraction is also partnering with One Tree Planted to give guests the opportunity to donate $1 towards planting a tree and contributing to their efforts of rebuilding forests after fires and floods, providing jobs for social impact, and restoring biodiversity.

As of press time, some tickets remained for shows in November and December, with more availability in January. Learn more and buy tickets at hpforbiddenforestexperience. com/leesburg.

Contributed

1 50 West Vineyards

39060 John Mosby Highway, Middleburg 50westvineyards.com

2 8 Chains North Winery 38593 Daymont Ln., Waterford, VA 8chainsnorth.com

3 868 Estate Vineyards

14001 Harpers Ferry Rd., Purcellville 868estatevineyards.com

4 The Barns at Hamilton Station 16804 Hamilton Station Rd., Hamilton thebarnsathamiltonstation.com

5 Bleu Frog Vineyards 16413 James Monroe Hwy, Leesburg bleufrogvineyards.com

6 Bluemont Vineyard

18755 Foggy Bottom Rd., Bluemont bluemontvineyard.com

7 Bogati Winery

35246 Harry Byrd Hwy., Round Hill bogatiwinery.com

8 Boxwood Estate Winery 2042 Burrland Rd., Middleburg boxwoodwinery.com

9 Breaux Vineyards

36888 Breaux Vineyards Ln., Hillsboro breauxvineyards.com

10 Bozzo Family Vineyards

35226 Charles Town Pike, Hillsboro bozwines.com

11 Cana Vineyards of Middleburg 38600 John Mosby Hwy., Middleburg canavineyards.com

12 Carriage House Wineworks 40817 Brown Lane, Waterford chwwinery.com

13 Casanel Vineyards 17952 Canby Rd., Leesburg casanelvineyards.com

14 Chrysalis Vineyards 39025 John Mosby Hwy., Aldie chrysaliswine.com

15 Corcoran Vineyards & Cider 14635 Corkys Farm Ln., Waterford corcoranvineyards.com

16 Creek’s Edge Winery 41255 Annas Ln., Lovettsville creeksedgewinery.com

17 Crushed Cellars 37938 Charles Town Pike, Purcellville crushedcellars.com

18 Doukenie Winery

14727 Mountain Rd., Hillsboro doukeniewinery.com

19 Droumavalla Farm Winery 14980 Limestone School Rd., Lucketts droumavalla.com

20 Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery 18195 Dry Mill Rd., Leesburg drymillwine.com

21 Eagletree Farm & Vineyards

15100 Harrison Hill Lane, Leesburg eagletreevineyards.com

Endhardt Vineyards

19600 Lincoln Road, Purcellville endhardtvineyards.com

Fabbioli Cellars

15669 Limestone School Rd., Leesburg fabbioliwines.com

Fire y Cellars

40325 Charles Town Pike, Hamilton fireflycellars.com

Fleetwood Farm Winery

23075 Evergreen Mills Rd., Leesburg fleetwoodfarmwinery.com

Forever Farm & Vineyards

15779 Woodgrove Road, Purcellville foreverfarmandvineyard.com

Greenhill Winery & Vineyards 23595 Winery Ln., Middleburg greenhillvineyards.com

Hidden Brook Winery

43301 Spinks Ferry Rd., Leesburg hiddenbrookwinery.com

Hiddencroft Vineyards

12202 Axline Rd., Lovettsville hiddencroftvineyards.com

Creek Winery

43285 Spinks Ferry Rd., Leesburg lostcreekwinery.com

31 Maggie Malick Wine Caves

12138 Harpers Ferry Rd., Hillsboro maggiemalickwinecaves.com

32 Old Farm Winery

23583 Fleetwood Road, Aldie oldfarmwineryhartland.com

33 Otium Cellars

18050 Tranquility Rd., Purcellville otiumcellars.com

34 Stone Tower Winery

19925 Hogback Mountain Rd., L’burg stonetowerwinery.com

35 Stonehouse Meadery

36580 Shoemaker School Rd., Purcellville stonehousemeadery.com

36 Sunset Hills Vineyard

38295 Fremont Overlook Ln, Purcellville sunsethillsvineyard.com

37 Tarara Winery

13648 Tarara Ln, Leesburg tarara.com

38 Terra Nebulo 39892 Old Wheatland Rd., Waterford terranebulo.com

39 Three Creeks Winery

18548 Harmony Church Road, Hamilton 3creekswinery.com

40 Two Twisted Posts Winery 12944 Harpers Ferry Rd., Hillsboro twotwistedposts.com

41 Village Winery 40405 Browns Lane, Waterford villagewineryandvineyards.com

BREWERIES

42 Willowcroft Farm Vineyards

38906 Mount Gilead Rd., Leesburg willowcroftwine.com

43 The Wine Reserve at Waterford

38516 Charles Town Pike, Waterford waterfordwinereserve.com

44 Walsh Family Wine

16031 Hillsboro Rd., Purcellville northgatevineyard.com

45 Williams Gap Vineyards

35785 Sexton Farm Lane, Round Hill williamsgavineyard.com

46 Zephaniah Farm Vineyard

19381 Dunlop Mill Rd., Leesburg zephwine.com

1 Adroit Theory Brewing

404 Browning Ct., Purcellville adroit-theory.com

2 B Chord Brewing Company

34266 Williams Gap Rd., Round Hill bchordbrewing.com

3 Barnhouse Brewery 43271 Spinks Ferry Rd., Leesburg barnhousebrewery.com

4 Bear Chase Brewing

33665 Bear Chase Ln., Bluemont bearchasebrew.com

5 Belly Love Brewing Company

725 E. Main St., Purcellville bellylovebrewing.com

6 Beltway Brewing Company

22620 Davis Dr. Ste 110, Sterling beltwaybrewco.com

7 Black Hoof Brewing Company

11 South King St., Leesburg blackhoofbrewing.com

8 Black Walnut Brewery

210 S. King St., Leesburg blackwalnutbrewery.com

9 Crooked Run Brewing Central

22455 Davis Dr., Sterling crookedrunbrewing.com

10 Crooked Run Brewing Market Station, Leesburg crookedrunbrewing.com

1 Bluemont Station Brewery and Winery

18301 Whitehall Estate Lane, Bluemont bluemontstation.com

11 Dirt Farm Brewing 18701 Foggy Bottom Rd., Bluemont dirtfarmbrewing.com

12

Dynasty Brewing Company

21140 Ashburn Crossing Drive, Ashburn 101 Loudoun St, SE, Leesburg dynastybrewing.com

13 Flying Ace Farm 40950 Flying Ace Ln, Lovettsville flyingacefarm.com

14 Harper’s Ferry Brewing 37412 Adventure Ctr. Lane, Hillsboro harpersferrybrewing.com

15 Harvest Gap Brewery 15485 Purcellville Road, Hillsboro facebook.com/HarvestGap

16 House 6 Brewing 4427 Atwater Dr., Ashburn house6brewing.com

17

18

19

Lost Barrel Brewing 36138 John Mosby Highway, Middleburg lostbarrel.com

Lost Rhino Brewing Company 21730 Red Rum Rd. #142, Ashburn lostrhino.com

Loudoun Brewing Company

310 E. Market St., Leesburg loudounbrewing.com

20

Ocelot Brewing Company

23600 Overland Dr., #180, Dulles ocelotbrewing.com

2 Hillsborough Brewery & Vineyards

36716 Charles Town Pike, Hillsboro hillsboroughwine.com

3 Notaviva Brewery and Winery

13274 Sagle Rd., Hillsboro notavivavineyards.com

21

Old 690 Brewing Company

15670 Ashbury Church Rd., Hillsboro old690.com

22 Old Ox Brewery

44652 Guilford Dr., Ste 114, Ashburn oldoxbrewery.com

23 Old Ox Brewery Middleburg

14 S Madison St, Middleburg, VA

24 Phase 2 Brewing

19382 Diamond Lake Dr, Lansdowne Phase2Brewing.com

25 Rocket Frog Brewing Company

22560 Glenn Dr. #103, Sterling rocketfrogbeer.com

26

27

Solace Brewing Company

42615 Trade West Dr., Sterling solacebrewing.com

Sweetwater Tavern

45980 Waterview Plaza, Sterling greatamericanrestaurants.com

28 The Craft of Brewing

21140 Ashburn Crossing Dr., Ashburn thecraftob.com

29

30

Vanish Farmwoods Brewery

42245 Black Hops Ln., Lucketts vanishbeer.com

Wheatland Springs Farm + Brewery 38454 John Wolford Rd., Waterford wheatlandspring.com

4 Quattro Goomba’s Brewery & Winery

22860 James Monroe Hwy., Aldie goombawine.com

Celebrating the Community Natoli Named Winemaker of the Year

BY NORMAN K. STYER

Those who grow, create, serve—and drink—Loudoun’s wines gathered last month to put the spotlight on the industry’s best work while highlighting the special community collaboration that makes that work possible. Among the highlights of the annual Loudoun Wine Awards program were recognizing some of the key players in rising the reputation of the region branded as DC’s Wine Country.

Loudoun Wine Association Chair Bill Hatch said that today the county has more than 1,000 acres in grape production, harvesting about 5,000 tons of grapes, and creating millions of bottles of wine.

“I call this a community, not an industry. Industry to me speaks of smokestacks. We’re a community. Everybody collaborates. We want everybody to make the best wine possible and I think that is what is going on in Loudoun County,” he said.

Seven months after becoming the first female winemaker to win the state’s top wine award, the Governor’s Cup, Melanie Natoli of Cana Vineyards & Winery was celebrated as Loudoun’s Winemaker of the Year.

Natoli won the Governor’s Cup for her 2019 Unité Reserve and on Friday earned

Photo by Norman K. Styer

Mike Newland offers a toast after being named Grower of the Year during the 2022 Loudoun Wine Awards ceremony.

WINE

best-in-class honors for Cana’s 2020 Chardonnay.

In accepting the award, she recalled giving up her work as a physical therapist for the opportunity to follow her passion and learn the industry from Doug Fabbioli, of Fabbioli Cellars, starting in 2009. She struck out on her own with her first harvest in 2014.

“I am a Loudoun-made winemaker. I’ve only made wine in this county and I’m proud of that. And I’m proud of the grapes we grow and the wine we make here,” she said.

Like many in the room, her thoughts weren’t far from the work still needing to be done to harvest this year’s fruit.

“It has been a fantastic harvest. It has been a heck of a week,” she said. “It is the pretty complete physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that I think you only hit when you’re doing something that you love so much that you’re putting yourself into—I wouldn’t trade that for a second. I’m very grateful to be doing what I’m doing and doing it here.”

Michael Newland, owner of Sycamore Springs Vineyard and vineyard manager for Walsh Family Wine, was named Loudoun’s 2022 Winegrower of the Year. He also credited Fabbioli with giving him his start in the industry.

“If you would have asked me when I was 16 years old, what do you want to do with your life—my parents asked me this and I said I wanted to be a farmer,” he said.

Instead, he earned an English degree and went into business with his brother. He said he filled the next decade with 90-hour work weeks. After selling the business, he reached out to Fabbioli to learn whether he was cut out to be a farmer.

“I gave him free labor. He gave me free knowledge,” Newland said of his yearlong apprenticeship.

“I’ve been in the business world and seen what that is like, and it is like a night and day difference from the wine industry,” Newland said. “This is a community. We help each other. We know that if someone

Melanie Natoli of Cana Vineyards & Winery was celebrated at the Winemaker of the Year during the 2022 Loudoun Wine Awards as winemaker of the year.

visits a winery and doesn’t like the wine in a particular place that word is going to travel, so we all strive to make the best wine we can and help each other to do the same thing.”

“I pinch myself every day that I get to do what I do. We grow things. We make things. We use our hands and create things. It is just a wonderful industry to be a part of,” he said.

Nancy Deliso, general manager and coowner of 868 Estate Vineyards, was named the 2022 Wine Ambassador of the Year.

She was on a wine trip in Portugal and unable to attend the event. Her husband, Peter, accepted the award, which recognizes those who work to create exceptional experiences for visitors to Loudoun’s wineries.

“We’ve both been blessed in this industry,” Deliso said. “When we looked around for what to do, we met many people in the industry. What we loved about it was how it was welcoming, cooperative, loving, caring and moving forward. We love supporting our neighbors. We love

Photo by Norman K. Styer

supporting our industry.”

This year’s program also featured the presentation of the inaugural President’s Award to Aimee Henkle, the past chair of the Loudoun Wine Association and coowner with her husband, Todd, of Lost Creek Winery.

Before moving to Loudoun 15 years ago, Henkle said their jobs kept them on the move—seven times in 10 years. One of those stops was in Portland, OR, where

they saw small farmers working to build a wine industry. The area now is renowned for its Pinot Noir.

When they bought Lost Creek in 2012, “I wanted to be part of the transformation that was happening here,” she said. “I can’t think of a better place to be than right here, right now, when this transformation is happening here in Loudoun County. This makes me very excited.”

“I can’t wait to see where the next decade is going to take us,” Henkle said.

THIS YEAR’S BEST

If

checklist of the must-taste Loudoun wines, add these to your upcoming ventures into wine country.

This year’s Loudoun Wine Awards competition attracted a record 135 entries, with 15 earning a gold rating from a panel of judges. Another 112 ranked as silver in the ratings.

Competition Director and Chief Judge Neal Wavra, owner of Field & Main Restaurant, said in the seven years he has been judging the competition he has seen Loudoun’s wineries both

and expand in variety of their offerings. In particular, he said, Loudoun’s

are setting the standard for Petit

Best

Best

Best

Best

Best

Best

Best

Best

Best

From

TUNES

The New Era of Rowdy Ace Band

Loudoun’s Country Cover Group with a Musical Pedigree

BY DANA ARMSTRONG

What do a rock band drummer from Alabama, a soul/funk bass player from Chicago, an ex-hair band member from Burke, an off-Broadway performer, and a frontman from Amarillo, TX, have in common?

They all have white-collar day jobs, and they’re all part of the Loudoun-based country music cover group: Rowdy Ace Band.

The five-piece band includes vocalist and guitarist Todd “Rowdy” Tolbert, lead rhythm guitarist Gregg “3G” Lechner, bassist and musical director Paul “Elwood” Horenberger, pedal steel guitarist Ron McNuss, and drummer Melissa “Twitch” Shaver.

Their shows combine country nostalgia and boot-scootin’ fun with a clear passion for performance. Although they all love playing country music for their audiences now, it didn’t start that way for many of the band’s members.

“I never played country in my life until I met [Tolbert]. And I actually said, I will never play country,” Horenberger said.

“I said the same thing,” Shaver said.

“And Gregg said the same thing—he was a hair band guy. I think Ron was the only other country guy,” said Tolbert, who has played country music since he was 18.

Back in 2014, co-workers Tolbert and Lechner bonded over their musical

backgrounds and started practicing as a duo. Tolbert’s neighbor, Horenberger (who toured extensively with numerous bands throughout the ’80s and ’90s) joined in 2015. The three formed the nucleus of the band and chose their band name in 2016.

“We started practicing in [Tolbert’s] basement, and I was like, man, I am never playing country. I started playing it, and it was really fun. And [the bass lines on old country songs were] a lot harder than I ever expected. Now I’m hooked. It’s all I listen to.” Horenberger said.

In the beginning, the Rowdy Ace Band trio played country, rock, and slower acoustic ballads. That is, until 2018 when they saw a performance of Ashburn-based modern country cover band Delta Spur.

“I remember sitting there watching Delta Spur and saying, ‘well, we could do what they’re doing, but they’re skipping a whole part of country music that people enjoy,’” Tolbert said.

Since then, the band set out to play everything from Johnny Cash to Jason Aldean. They took their renditions of country and rock classics such as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Beer in Mexico,” “Friends in Low Places,” “Take It Easy,” “Country Roads,” and more to breweries, wineries, legion halls, and weddings across Loudoun and Prince William counties.

Especially popular with audiences is their original song “Beer County Line.” Tolbert wrote the song decades before moving to Loudoun County, basing it on a wet county in the panhandle of Texas surrounded by dry counties. On nearly every road leading into the county, there was a beer joint selling packaged beer and liquor.

“It was written a long time ago, but it still fits here. I mean, there are 36 breweries in Loudoun County now. The song talks about small-town life, growing up in a little place, all the cool things that go along with that, and how we live there now,” Tolbert said.

In 2019, they were a five-piece band with Tolbert, Lechner, and Horenberger at the center, plus two other musicians.

They were all content with playing two or three shows a month. By January 2020, it seemed they were on the precipice of booking more shows. Then, COVID struck, and like all live musicians, performances came to a halt.

But the resilience of the core trio would hugely aid their success. The three got their vaccines as soon as possible and were willing to perform before many other musicians in the area. Immediately, they were able to book shows in venues they weren’t able to before, and the band’s reputation skyrocketed.

“We came out of COVID to where we doubled the number of shows from 2019 to 2020. From ’20 to ’21, we doubled again. We were 65 shows in ’21, and then this year is 80 plus. It used to be three shows a month, and now we’re at three shows a weekend, most weekends,” Tolbert said.

Another key to their success was the addition of two more members. McNuss’ extensive experience in playing pedal steel guitar for other bands and Patsy Cline off-Broadway shows added a distinctive western sound to the Rowdy Ace Band. “Twitch” Shaver’s—a nickname she earned from her rowing team during her college days at WVU—drumming abilities meshed with Horenberger’s bass.

“[Horenberger] is a funk/soul bass player, and I learned to play the drums to funk. So, when I got into this mix of playing with these guys [in July 2022], he and I were instantly locked in together. I never thought I’d play country music, and now I play with

Rowdy Ace Band performs at Veteran-owned Harvest Gap Brewery in Hillsboro, a location they play about once every month.

TUNES FROM PAGE 19

a bass player who was a funk player, and it works,” Shaver said.

With the new and improved five-piece Rowdy Ace Band, 2023 is gearing up to be an exciting year. Tolbert anticipates recording and releasing some of their covers and original songs. He also teases the band is in talks to open shows for some larger venues in Arlington and DC.

But, above all, they are focused on providing tighter, cleaner, and even more fun country music performances for Loudoun County.

“Some of these bands that you can see in Loudoun County that are country bands, country vocalists, they’re trying to make their bones and go off to Nashville and record. God bless ‘em! Do all that,” Tolbert said.

“While you’re doing that, we’re going to be back here doing 80-100 shows, playing for a bunch of our friends, and enjoying the hell out of it because that’s what we started out to do, and we’re kind of in the middle of where we want to be.”

“There are so many great musicians in Loudoun County and Northern Virginia. But I think the thing that we’re doing is different. We take it from the perspective of entertainment. Let’s go out and put on a show and have fun. We enjoy doing it, being there, and playing together, and maybe somebody else will too.”

Rowdy Ace Band releases the dates of their upcoming shows on their Facebook page every month. To stay updated with the band or inquire about booking them for a performance, go to rowdyace.net.

Photo by Dana Armstrong

Check

Loudoun’s Dining

FORDS FISH SHACK

Consistently voted Loudoun residents’ favorite place for seafood, Ford’s offers fresh seafood in a family-dining atmosphere at three locations, as well as a catering arm and a food truck operation.

Ashburn-44260

Rink Plaza, Ashburn, VA 20147 (571) 918-4092

fords shshack.com

Lansdowne-19308 Promenade Dr., Leesburg, VA 20176 (571) 333-1301

fords shshack.com

South Riding 25031 Riding Plaza, Chantilly, VA 20152 (703) 542-7520

fords shshack.com

SPANKY’S SHENANIGANS

Known as one of the Loudoun’s favorite bars, Spanky’s Shenanigans is a popular destination from its morning breakfast menu to its ample roster of live music performers.

538 E Market St, Leesburg, VA 20176 (703) 777-2454

spankyspub.com

LIGHTFOOT RESTAURANT

Inside an historic bank building in downtown Leesburg, the Zagat-rated Lightfoot provides both a ne-dining experience and a gathering place for locals. Executive Chef Ingrid Gustavson serves up American cuisine with southern and ethnic accents.

11 North King Street Leesburg, VA 20176 703-771-2233

lightfootrestaurant.com

TUSCARORA MILL

Known by locals as Tuskies, the restaurant is located inside a restored 19th century grain mill in Leesburg’s historic district. Offering everything from locally sourced ne dining to a casual bar experience, it’s been a dining destination for more than three decades.

203 Harrison St SE, Leesburg, VA 20175 (703) 771-9300

tuskies.com

Best Bets

11.06.22

FLYING ACE BARN DANCE

Sunday, Nov. 6, 6-9 p.m. Flying Ace Farm flyingacefarm.com

Enjoy an evening of traditional dancing led by caller Sam Kroiz and live music from the Shorthill Mountain Boys.

11.19.22

90S PARTY MIX

Saturday, Nov. 19, 5-11 p.m. Ion International Training Center ionarena.com

Relive the fun times with internationally touring artists including Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, No Mercy, Dr. Alban, and Admiral C4C.

11.10.22

NRBQ

Thursday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m. (doors)

Tally Ho Theater tallyhotheater.com

Founding member Terry Adams brings the legendary New Rhythm and Blues Quartet to the Leesburg stage. The Kris Lager Band opens.

11.23.22

SO FETCH

Wednesday, Nov. 23, 7 p.m. (doors) Tally Ho Theater tallyhotheater.com

So Fetch brings a Thanksgiving eve party to the Tally Ho with its setlist of top hits from the 2000s.