Hangin with the Dawg

Last night we went with our neighbors to a cool little venue here in Alexandria called the Birchmere. It's a dinner / theater / concert hall type of place that has some great acts. From their website "On any given night, a star may be born. Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dave Matthews, Vince Gill, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and k.d. Lang are just a few of the artists counted as good friends of the Birchmere". For a photo tour of the Birchmere click here. Last night we got to see the David "Dawg"Grisman Bluegrass Experience and the show was phenomenal. Dawg has colaberated with such artists as Bela Fleck, the Grateful Dead, Stephane Grappelli, Emmylou Harris, Chris Isaak, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt , Earl Scruggs, Dan Fogelberg, John Sebastian and James Taylor, not to mention having a band way back when with Jerry Garcia (Old and in the Way).















The mural on the outside of the building kind of lets you know the general theme of the place.








That's Grisman on the mandolin- the cool thing is after 40 years of making his own style of bluegrass music his new bass player is also his young son Samson.

One thing that was really cool about the show was that Grisman took us through the history of bluegrass by playing favorites from the Carter Family, Earl Scruggs, and many more, interspered with stories and compositions of his own. Here is a video of them gettin' down- the little jam in the middle is something else! (Sadly, I can't remember the name of the song.)

A note from The Mrs.: All I know is that last night I got to see one of my icons, my musical heros, play "Old and in the Way" and "Shady Grove", which he dedicated to Mr. Garcia. All I know is that now, I can officially die happy. There were moments during this performance when the sheer power of this amazing music had a profound impact on the crowd. After many years of listening to Grisman's distinctive style on recordings, to hear it live was just awe-inspiring. What a great night!