The Big Easy

History

The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club opened in February 1994 at 5731 Kirby Drive in Rice Village, next to the Yeah You Right record shop, under harp player Tom McLendon. A 2008 Houston Press profile described a small room booking Gulf Coast blues, rhythm and blues, and zydeco, including Trudy Lynn and Guitar Shorty. The club's own site still presents it as a rhythm-and-blues room and marked a 30th anniversary in February 2024. It shut for about 18 months during the pandemic. The Houston Chronicle reported that donations and a volunteer cleanup let McLendon reopen with a benefit show on August 1, 2021.