Blues and barbecue both have tremendous legacies woven into the cultural fabric of Kansas City. The historic jazz district of 18th and Vine has showcased some of the biggest names in jazz and blues in history, including Count Basie and Kansas City native Charlie Parker, and discussing the KC food scene without debate over the best BBQ spots in town is practically impossible. For Jimmy Nickle, owner and GM of BB’s Lawnside Blues & BBQ, paying homage to those dual legacies is the name of the game—and one of his favorite parts of the gig.
“I started working at BB’s in 1992, just a couple of years after it opened,” Nickle says. “The husband-wife duo of Lindsay and Jo Shannon opened BB’s just a few years earlier, and they originally envisioned a standard, old-school barbecue joint.”
Lindsay helped make BB’s into what it is today when he added another passion into the mix: live music. Lindsay was a founding member of the Kansas City Blues Society, and he hosted the long-running “Kansas City Blues Show” on 101 The Fox for decades. It wasn’t long before BB’s became one of the go-to spots in town for live blues music…