In its former life, the room that houses 3rd & Lindsley was a Mexican restaurant called Jose's. But things didn't get spicy until a former commercial real estate player named Ron Brice and a friend decided to fix it up as a music venue. At first they thought they'd flip it for a profit, Brice recalls, but they had so little money tied up in the joint that they decided to see if they could make it work.
That was in 1991. Starting Thursday, 3rd & Lindsley gets to do what few Nashville rock clubs have ever done: celebrate its 20th anniversary. Through April 3, the club that owner-manager Brice calls "the last of the seated venues" toasts its last year underage with nearly two weeks of shows, staffed with longtime favorites such as Jimmy Hall & the Original Prisoners of Love with Jack Pearson (7 p.m. Friday), a 20-year reunion of Stevie Ray Vaughan's killer backing band Double Trouble (March 31), and a three-night stand by Citizen Cope (April 1-3) that will likely be sold out by press time.
The events double as a celebration of the club's 20-year partnership with WRLT-100.1 FM, aka Lightning 100, whose Sunday-night broadcasts from the L-shaped room have given clubgoers and home listeners remarkably intimate nights with the likes of Richard Thompson, Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and Lucinda Williams. "They're progressive like we are," Brice says, noting that he hooked up with 21-year-old Radio Lightning in the first place because it was the only station in town then playing new acts — many of them local — that appealed to "adult, educated listeners." Over the years, that could mean anyone from David Gray to The Avett Brothers.
The first band to play 3rd & Lindsley was the Bobby Bradford Blues Band, followed a night later by DeFord Bailey Jr. Brice has seen the audience change over the years, along with the band names, but he says the city's level of talent just continues to rise. He cites the group that served for a year as his Tuesday night band — a little act called Lady Antebellum.
"They had all the ingredients — they were really nice people, with really good songs," he says. And if they've moved on to slightly bigger venues — like Bridgestone Arena — he's happy for their good fortune. Besides, somewhere down the road he might just see them on his stage again.
"I got lucky when I first got in — there were local artists simmering and wanting to play," he says, then chuckles. "I get 'em on the way up and the way down."
