Rafters Music Club

Rafters is a friendly music club in central Auckland.

Held on the 3rd Friday of each month

Time: 8-11pm

Admission: $10 cash at door

Venue: Unitarian Church, 1a Ponsonby Road. Next to the Art Station. Between K'rd and Hopetoun St.



Rafters Music Club promotes music from traditional to contemporary. We welcome new performers. 

Our format is open mic (without a mic!) in the first half, supper, then guest/s. Anyone who would like to perform in the first half is welcome to see Graham at the door, but please put your name down before the 8.00pm start. 
Tea, coffee & biscuits provided for supper.



Contact Rafters

Email: raftersmusicclub@gmail.com

or contact us via Messenger 




Music Club Links

- Auckland Bluegrass

- Devonport Folk Music Club

- East Coast Folk Club

- Titirangi Folk Music Club

- The Barebones Acoustic Folk Club

- Auckland Folk Festival. A great camping weekend full of concerts, workshops, dances and fun.    

 Held at The Unitarian Church
1a Ponsonby Road
at 8pm every 3rd Friday of the Month.

$10 cash at the door 

Our Guest for Friday September 19th 2025 is

Benjamin Preston

Hi all. To welcome in Spring we have Benjamin Preston as our guest this month.

Benjamin Preston grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau and spent nearly three decades overseas, where he discovered Americana and bluegrass while living in Texas. Since then, he has immersed himself in mandolin, guitar, singing and performing—learning by doing and fortunate to play with many musicians in both the US and New Zealand.

He is a member of PettyGrass, a Telluride-born bluegrass band that “grasses up” Tom Petty songs and hopes to bring their act to the Auckland Folk Festival in 2026. Closer to home, Benjamin is an active supporter of the Auckland Bluegrass Club, where he has served as President for the past two years.

His set features songs from a dozen of his favourite troubadours—including Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Neil Young, John Prine, and Lucinda Williams - artists who have shaped his musical journey and the songs he aspires to write and perform.

Programme

The first half of the evening brings musicians old and new to warm us up before supper and our main guest/s. We welcome new performers. See Graham at the door if you want to perform, but you will need to be there before the 8pm start.

Photos and Videos

Photos and some videos of performances will be taken during the evening and displayed on our Facebook page. We also have a Rafters Music Club YouTube channel where we display some videos (type Rafters Music Club into YouTube search to find these videos). Please see Linda if you do not want your images publicly available.

See you there

Graham, Linda, Jennifer and Alistair