Are you starting to get into the holiday spirit? Taking the blankets down from the shelves? Hunting out bars with hot toddies? Humming joyful tunes under your breath? Lifelong Louisiana resident and singer-songwriter Kelcy Mae, of Ever More Nest, certainly is. 

On Wednesday, December 18, Kelcy will host her 3rd Biennial Merry Songwriter Revue, inspired by the joy of the season and her 2015 catchy, charming, marriage-equality themed holiday tune, “Christmas with You (Merry Me).”

Kelcy Mae  is no stranger to writing songs about the concept of home, distance and family. Her band’s debut album, The Place That You Call Home, was nominated this year by the Independent Music Awards for Best Alt-Country Album and she grew up singing traditional hymns in her hometown church of Shreveport, which has been an influence threaded through her lyrics.

Join Kelcy Mae and a slew of other musicians: Lynn Drury, Alex Bosworth, Jamey St. Pierre, Jeremy Joyce, LLYDIAN, Rose Cangelosi, James Rose, OTIIS, and more, for an evening of hymns, carols, holiday classics and originals. Whether or not you’re spending the holidays with your family, Kelcy’s Merry Songwriter Revue was created to make you feel like you are, as she sings in the hook of “Merry Me”: “I want to spend Christmas with you. I want to feel the way merry folks do, ‘cause my family is yours and your family’s mine, yet we’re never together at Christmastime.” 

The event will be hosted at Carnaval Lounge, f.k.a. Siberia. Now run by two married couples, the venue has been painted bright purple, the bathrooms have been renovated and the food is warm and Brazilian. As co-owner Jennifer Johnson said in an OffBeat article about the transition, “We want it to be a festive, welcoming place for everybody.” So, this December, allow yourself to feel embraced by the lyrics and the spices of the Merry Songwriter Revue.

The event begins at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door. Carnaval Lounge is located at 2227 St. Claude Ave.