The Devoted Resilience of The Birchmere

Alexandria, VA – In late 2020 as COVID raged on, longtime revered Birchmere owner Gary Oelze, who started the music aspect of his classic venue around 50 years ago, made his first appearance on my program on YouTube Live, Living On Music With Steve Houk. Speaking with his longtime booker Michael Jaworek, Oelze talked about what was most important for The Birchmere as the pandemic was overwhelming everyone.

“My main mindset is that I gotta keep my crew together,” he told me. “I’ve been with the Birchmere for 35 or 40 years and I wouldn’t be here without them, so the main reason to open back up was to keep my guys together…we’re a team, and that’s our goal…it’s not about me, it’s about us.”

Gary died in 2023 at 80, and clearly his Birchmere squad took a huge hit on his passing, also amidst the residue of COVID. So yes, there was some legitimate concern about how things would continue at this seminal musical establishment.

Yet today the deep resilience, the strength, and the togetherness at this legendary Alexandria musical mecca have been able to keep life stable and busy there, and continuing to grow. Gary’s widow, Susan Oelze, who had become more involved there after he passed, still feels there has been positive growth even given those hard times.

“The Birchmere certainly did come back strong from that dreadful COVID period,” said Susan, “and then even since Gary passed away, I feel like things there have remained consistent. And the day-to-day running of the Birchmere, due to the long-term management team, has been steady. Gary left a very well-oiled machine with the same dedicated management staff for over 30 years, a dedicated crew from the top management to the door ‘guy’ that helps you survive a competition that’s now more universal.”

And it’s clearly not just the Birchmere team but also the artists and the attendees who love and keep coming there. Susan continued, “The acts know when they come here that everything works, they love being greeted by the same people who know what they are doing. Vince Gill always said, ‘It’s like coming home.’ And the same goodness comes from the patrons, they love that it is a ‘listening’ room, they love that the shows start on time, and over the years they have come to know the waitresses and waiters, so they feel like they have come home. It just feels good, and at the end of the day, that’s what we all want.”

For many of his still devoted co-workers, as well as musician friends and longtime respectful fans, both the positive spirit and the difficult loss of Gary Oelze will never leave the Birchmere, while the scar from COVID can also linger. Yet the current team is clearly everlasting and plentiful in keeping the Birchmere alive and well.

“Even though it’s been a hard loss,” Susan continued, “I feel I was so lucky to have been married to somebody so amazing, and we also all learned a lot from Gary, about how you treat people, especially the way we watched him run the Birchmere. It was an amazing experience being with him, I was very lucky. And we all still are.”