Birchmere
Venues
The Birchmere is a legendary music hall located outside of Washington, D.C. in Alexandria, Virginia. Since its founding in 1966 by Gary Oelze, the club has been significant to the mid-Atlantic bluegrass movement for many reasons including hosting a legendary 20-year weekly Thursday residency for the progressive bluegrass band The Seldom Scene. It popularized a strict, mandatory "Quiet Please" policy to cultivate a dedicated "listening room" atmosphere where audiences focused entirely on the acoustic performance which had a legitimizing effect on the genre for the urbanite audience it attracted.