The Birchmere At 50

The venue, built primarily to showcase bluegrass and Americana, has seen three locations so far. Gary Oelze bought a small restaurant in 1966 and refused to change its name, adding nightlife to the menu.

“I needed to spruce up the night business,” Oelze told the Washington Post. “I started having a folk singer or bluegrass band one night a week, and then it grew.”

Within the decade, the Seldom Scene had a Thursday night residency, with the Birchmere barely a 100-capacity room. Yet, it had a reputation internationally and there would be guest musicians galore.

“When the residency built a reputation, a lot of musicians started showing up and playing with us,” the band’s Ben Eldridge told the Post. “A lot of famous folks would stop in, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou (Harris). During one of the best nights, I remember Vince Gill, Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Peter Rowan all came. … They took the stage one at a time, and everybody in the room was wired with excitement.”

Bob Dylan wanted to watch them one night at 11 p.m. but the emcee, John Duffy, wanted to go home instead. Another time, then-President Bill Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore showed up with their wives and the Secret Service. But that didn’t compare with one of the regulars – the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“The Birchmere has a great crowd that’s willing to let us showcase new things,” Ricky Skaggs told the paper. “Sadly, it will never be the same without Justice Scalia. He came to see us at the Birchmere all the time, including this past January. That’s why it was so heartbreaking when he passed right after that. He loved classical music and bluegrass, and playing the Birchmere without him in the audience will certainly be a challenge.”

The Birchmere has been at its current location, with two performance spaces – 1,000- and 500-capacity – since 1997.