The Birchmere
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The Birchmere is a well-known, intimate concert hall in Alexandria, Virginia, known for presenting performers in the bluegrass, country, folk, and jazz genres. The main stage has table seating with dinner service. The room seats 500 hundred people and the tables in front are about two feet from the stage. This allows for up-close views of the musicians, great for enthusiastic fans, budding guitarists and nostalgic baby boomers eager to see top acts from earlier days in a more personal setting. The bandstand includes a dance area, perfect for Texas two-step and any other act that gets its audience up on their feet.
Among the artists to grace its stages are Poco, Pure Prairie League, Average White Band, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminsky, Barry Bales, the Virginia Gentlemen, the Seldom Scene, Marty Stuart, Delbert McClinton, Arlo Guthrie, the Dixie Chicks, Al Di Meola, Joe Sample, Los Lobos, Jerry Jeff Walker, Junior Brown, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle, Matt Bianco featuring Basia, Bonnie Raitt, Swing Out Sister, Vienna Teng, Katie Melua, and Bea Arthur. Past performers include Radney Foster, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Vince Gill, Suzanne Vega, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and incarnations of the extended Little Feat family (e.g. the Blues Busters).
The Four Bitchin' Babes recorded two of their albums, Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don't Mess My Hair and Gabby Road, at the Birchmere. Riders in the Sky also recorded their live album there.
Dave Matthews Band recorded songs from their album Recently at the Birchmere on February 21, 1994.
