After taking his son, Luke, 6, to his Saturday basketball game, Tony Lindsey rushed home before noon for a business meeting to plan the Dec. 27th, Third Annual Holiday Jambodian Bash, Southern Kentucky’s fastest growing benefit concert, which is drawing musicians from Nashville and across the state.

By blending two artistic careers, Tony has become a household name in Southern Kentucky. For the past three years he has been voted runner-up or best in the hair stylist and salon categories of the Park City Daily News’ March of Dimes’ Best of Bowling Green Poll. Plus, his career as a rock and roll singer in the band TyBarc has put him on stage with several legendary acts in music history. He could easily slow his pace and relax in his spacious home in Barrington Manor, but he is dedicated to helping children find hope and confidence through the arts. That desire led to the establishment of the Son Rhea Foundation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to ensuring that needy children have access to the arts.

His wife Sherry, a Son Rhea Foundation board member, watched Luke as Tony rushed downstairs to his basement to prepare for the meeting. Although it was mid-November, six weeks prior to the jam, the business of putting the show together had already started to consume most of Tony’s spare time. His basement, birthplace of the Jambodian gatherings, is decorated with Beatles posters, paintings by a Navaho Indian friend and a coffee table stacked with picture scrapbooks from concerts, jam sessions and hundreds of notable music celebrities, such as Greg Martin of the Kentucky Headhunters, Bill Lloyd of Foster & Lloyd and Sam Bush of New Grass Revival.

The Past Tony’s life reads like the American dream come true. Born into a family of nine children, he had little encouragement to do anything other than find a job. But Tony found freedom, motivation and direction through art and hopes to help children that are falling through the cracks find that same inspiration.

His family moved to Bowling Green from Edmonson County when he was five years old. His father often found it hard to provide for nine children. “I remember my dad giving my mom $20 at Christmas to buy everything,” Tony said. “And that happened many years. We lived in Plum Springs for about six months in a little bitty old shack. We had no indoor plumbing and an outhouse. I think growing up poor, feeling inferior, deprived and embarrassed for not having what I felt like most other people had, made me very determined to succeed and do what I wanted to do. Everything I’ve ever done, somebody told me I couldn’t do it.”

Two of Tony’s older brothers, Clinton Lindsey, who plays guitar, and Lonnie Lindsey exposed him to a passion that has shaped and defined his life. “I remember imitating Elvis on a foot-stool when I was four years old, playing a tennis racket and singing Hound Dog,” Tony said. “Clint and Lonnie were both big Elvis fans, so my first recollection of music is Elvis.”

Born in 1955, Tony was nine years old when the Beatles hit the United States, and like most boys at that time, he was caught in the Fab Four tractor beam. “When we played cowboys and Indians, I’d rather be the Indian because I liked the long hair,” he said, as he laughed and ran his hands though his thick stylish hair Rod Stewart would die for. “When the Beatles hit, there was such an emphasis on hair. That’s what led to the hair thing. To me, it’s just an extension of art. Everything I’ve done, as far as the hair business and music, is related to art.” The Beatles opened Tony’s eyes to the new age of art, dress and hair style. “I’d get my hair cut when I was a kid and go back home and do it myself,” he said. “I didn’t like the way it looked. They were giving me these tapers and weird cuts. I wanted a Paul McCartney haircut.”

That flare for fashion often set him apart from many of his counterparts at Bristow School, according to Mitchell Plumlee, drummer for TyBarc. “The first time I saw Tony he was walking down the old wooden steps at Bristow and I was going up. I was staring down at the steps and saw these huge bell-bottom jeans coming toward me. … I looked up and it was Tony, with that long black hair down over his ears – you’ve got to understand, I was in the fourth or fifth grade and all the guys had crew cuts in those days. I said to myself, “I gotta get to know this cat.’” Tony’s boldness sometimes brought unhappy repercussions from guys that weren’t as aware the times were changing. “I was always into fashion and not afraid to wear what I wanted to wear and look the way I wanted, no matter how bad I got ridiculed,” Tony said. “I think most people are afraid to be who they are. They just want to fit into a little mold, status quo.”

A few years later, Mitchell was in a band with Jeff Brooks on guitar, his brother Jerry Brooks on bass, and singer Randy Johnson. Around 1970 or 71, Mitchell was at Tony’s house, sitting in his room, which was wall-papered with posters of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other famous rock and rollers. “We were listening to the Stones and I heard Tony sing a few bars,” Mitchell said. “I said, “Hey man, you got a good voice, you wanna sing in the band?’” Tony came to the audition wearing John Lennon style white bell-bottoms, white T-shirt and white be-bops and sang Born to be Wild, Johnny B. Goode and Jumpin’ Jack Flash. “He had long hair,” Jeff Brooks said. “He had to be good.”

Typical of many teenagers, Tony pushed the envelope and got into a few scrapes with teachers and principals. “If it hadn’t been for art, I was possibly headed down a wrong path,” he said. “What really led to the Son Rhea Foundation is when Mitchell asked me to join the band. When I got in the band, it gave me a direction. It gave me hope. That is what the Son Rhea Foundation was designed to do. I don’t think I would be sitting here right now if I had not got in the band. That gave me the confidence I never had. When I started playing out it made me realize, “Hey, I can do this.’ And that really is what I’m wanting the Son Rhea Foundation to do; to give children that might be falling though the cracks, the ones that might not be the athlete or the famous star of the class, a direction and something to look forward to.”

The band, then known as War Horse, played fraternity parties, high school proms and night clubs around town for several years. They started writing their own songs immediately, recorded an album in Nashville and were contacted by a talent scout from MGM. Even though a deal was not reached with the record company, it served as a faith builder. As young as 15 and 16, they became the house band for some college hang-outs, such as the Kentucky Belle, in downtown Bowling Green. “We were also the house band for Knights Inn on the By-Pass,” Tony said. “Until the police kicked us out for being too young.”

Even before joining the band, Tony had already started cutting hair for his family and friends. Now he was also cutting his band mates hair. “I had no idea it would lead to a profession,” he said. “It was just something I did as an extension of art. I was doing my own hair and then I started doing a few friends. They liked it and it grew from there.”

Randy left the band and War Horse changed its name to TyBarc. It was the age of David Bowie and glitter rock and TyBarc followed suite with satin outfits. Tony’s father was not fond of his son’s flamboyant fashion and Tony found encouragement from only one person at home, his mother, LuRee Lindsey. “My mom was always a positive force,” he said. “She was the one person that told me in private, when nobody else knew about it, to do what I wanted to do, and I could do it if I tried. I would design the outfits and she would make them. That was my identity from that point on. That’s who I was and what I wanted to be. Even then, I pictured myself as a rock star. I knew I wasn’t, but the old saying is, “if you want to be something, you act like it and you’ll be it.’ I believe that. I didn’t care if we were playing in front of 10 people in a school gym somewhere, I still wore my satin pants and I still acted like I was performing at Madison Square Garden. What amazed me was, I could wear something and get all this flack for it, and two weeks later I’d look around and everybody else was wearing it.”

TyBarc played throughout their high school days and Tony continued to cut hair. He got his hair cut at Gentlemen’s Choice and became friends with the owners, Michael Madison and Lane Johnson. “They actually told me that if I wanted to go to school that they would give me a job when I got out,” Tony said. He worked at Thom McAnn Shoe Store during the evenings and drove to Nashville everyday, attending classes at the International Barber School and Cosmetology School in 1975 and 76. During that time, TyBarc continued to perform on a limited basis until Tony finished barber school. The band never broke up, but went though some member changes. Mitchell took other gigs and met bass player David Dorris in a band called Wish. After Tony finished school, he and Jeff Brooks decided to perform only original material. In 1976 they teamed up with guitarist Kyle Frederick. TyBarc was writing songs and planning on recording once again in Nashville. Tony and Jeff decided to contact the original drummer, Mitchell. By that time, bassist Jerry Brooks had dropped out of TyBarc and Trent Shaftner had taken his place. After a few trial rehearsals, Mitchell felt the chemistry was better with David and the band asked him to join.

Three weeks later TyBarc recorded nine songs at Woodland Sound Recording Studio in Nashville. After hearing the recordings, Nashville’s Sound Seventy Productions became TyBarc’s management company and put them on the road as a warm-up band for major recording artists such as Black Oak Arkansas, Brownsville Station, Jay Ferguson, Tracy Nelson, Grinder’s Switch, the Winters Brothers and New Grass Revival. Between recording, rehearsal and travel, Tony kept his job at Gentlemen’s Choice. TyBarc released the song, “Whisper” and it soared to number one for six months on local rock stations, even being played on Nashville’s premier rock station KDF. This caught the attention of RCA and other record labels, but while the band’s manager was in negotiations, TyBarc went though an upheaval, resulting in Jeff being released from the band and then Mitchell one month later.

The band regrouped as Hi-Fi, with Kyle, David, Tony and drummer Kevin Lovelace. “We went more in a pop direction,” Tony said. “But, we never recaptured the momentum of TyBarc. I think if we had to do it all over again, we’d of been better off to stay together and work things through… There are a lot of regrets. To be totally honest with ya, a lot of regrets.” The band’s pace slowed down, giving Tony more time to develop his clientele. With the inspiration of his wife Sherry, he opened his own salon, Tony Lindsey and Company in 1984 and the Lindsey Madison Institute of Cosmetology in 1992. The salon has grown to employee 18 people and the school has five employees and 40 students. “When Sherry and I started the shop, on paper, we couldn’t do it, but we did it anyway,” he said. “My motto has always been blind faith and ignorance. It’ll take you a long way. Sherry is the big inspiration, as far as the business goes. I don’t believe I’d be where I am today, if it wasn’t for the relationship between me and Sherry. She’s given me the courage and drive to do what I’ve done. ”

Starting in the mid 1990s, Tony, David, Kyle, Jeff and Mitchell began getting together at Christmas for a jam sessions. By the late nineties, Tony decided TyBarc should ask some old friends to come and join the party. Some of the people that showed up at the first open jam in Tony’s basement were Bill Lloyd, of Foster & Lloyd, and Greg Martin of the Kentucky Headhunters. Two more jams followed, the guest list grew and soon the jam outgrew Tony’s basement. “It was crazy,“ Tony said. “There were people everywhere. We didn’t know half the people here.” Tony decided the jams should be moved to a public venue, with all the proceeds going to help needy children buy music and art supplies. He talked to David and VH1 was contacted. They provided a sponsorship for the first ticketed jam at State Street Pub in December of 2000. In order for VH1 to be a sponsor, the funds had to be distributed nationally, so Tony decided to start a non-profit foundation in order to keep the funds local.

Tony has passed his love of music and art on to his three children. Luke, 6, will start piano lessons in 2003. Alex, 8, studies piano, recently played a Mozart piece in a talent show and starts guitar lessons in 2003. Zac, 15, is now in his second band. He is a vocalist and plays guitar, bass and drums. When choosing a name for the foundation, Tony thought of the correlation between how the sun’s rays light our way, and how music was a ray of hope in his life. He combined that thought with one of his childrens’ names. “I was thinking sun-ray, like the sun,” he said. “Then I thought, “Hey, I have a son named Rhea. Zac’s middle name is Rhea. So I named the foundation Son Rhea.”

Son Rhea is a non-profit organization so donations must go to government agencies, which up to this point have been schools. In the last three years, Son Rhea has donated more than $3,000 to two schools and plans to give proceeds from the upcoming Dec. 27th Jambodian Holiday Bash to Briarwood Elementary. “When I’m contacted by a school, they tell me what they need and then we see what we can afford,” Tony said. “What’s been really surprising is that I’ve had very few inquiries from schools about this.”

Andrea Brown, music teacher and choir director of Briarwood Elementary, said this is great for schools. “The arts are really starting to be left out,” she said. “I get a little money from my principal and the PTO, but not enough to buy a whole assortment of instruments. One bass xylophone is $500. I really want to develop a good music program for the school and it’s hard to without the funding. Brown had to jump though several hoops in order to obtain just 30 copies of six pieces of music for this year’s Christmas choral concert. “I would love to buy more choir music with the money from the Son Rhea Foundation,” she said. “Plus some orff instruments … xylophones and glockenspiels, the kids just love them.”

Putting an instrument in a child’s hand can put them on the road to success, according to multiple Grammy and CMA award winner Greg Martin. “What this is doing, whether it be wind instruments, drums, amplifiers or guitars, is making these instruments available in school and helping the music program grow by leaps and bounds in this area,” he said. “Music is a great self expression. And there’s so much talent in this region. … I’m sure there are kids growing up here now that are talented … this could give them a direction. A little push to do God’s will so to speak. I think music keeps you out of trouble.”

TyBarc guitarist Kyle Frederick is now part of country music star Clay Walker’s management team and responsible for his day to day operations. Speaking via phone from Nashville, Kyle said he was amazed at the amount of time and money Tony is putting into the foundation. “I think that it is a tremendously noble task,” Kyle said. “I think we’re all aware now that music plays a major role in intellectual development and that it’s imperative that music programs continue in public education. I’ve got a daughter in public school in Nashville and we’re feeling the pinch of cutbacks in music programs, so it could be effective everywhere.”

The foundation is geared toward giving children and young adults initiative to further their education beyond high school. The original concept was to purchase musical instruments for children that couldn’t afford them, but now the idea has expanded to encompass all forms of art. “It includes art supplies, plays or whatever we can help provide,” Tony said. “Our long-term goal is to have a complete school for the arts. We want to have drama teachers, music teachers, art teachers, classes in the technical arts, screen writing and costume design.” Tony hopes to buy an acre of property in The District, which is a renovation project the city of Bowling Green has planned for property between Fountain Square Park and the Barren River. “I would like to build a cosmetology school that is part of the art academy,” he said.

Another event the Son Rhea Foundation is planning is Race For Arts, which will be a bike race around downtown Bowling Green accompanied with an arts festival. The event will include a music festival, featuring a national headlining act. Tony said he is looking for corporate sponsorships to help bring about the Race for Arts, tentatively scheduled for May, 2003.

Past Jams The lists of musicians that have shown up for the jams to lend their support for the foundation reads like a virtual “who’s who” of artists from Kentucky. Some of the jam’s past performers include Greg Martin and Richard Young of the Kentucky Headhunters (both were on hand when the Son Rhea Foundation presented two Marshall amplifiers to the Metcalfe County High School last year), Sam Bush (Duckbutter, New Grass Revival), Kenny Lee (Duckbutter, Slickrock), Byron House (Duckbutter), Curtis Burch (New Grass Revival), Ruth Burch, Bill Lloyd (Foster & Lloyd), Bill Judd (Slickrock), Marc Owens (Foster & Lloyd), Tommy Womack (Government Cheese), Michael Gough, Sheila Lawrence (Wish), Hal Neel (Wish, Slickrock), Beau Haddock, John Martin, Mike Clark (Slickrock), Mike Hildreth (Slickrock), Graham Hudspeth (Avian), Dave Allen, James Harrison, Webb Hendrix, Kevin Lovelace (Hi-Fi), Skip Cleavenger, Suzahn, Karl Moulden, Skip Bond and the Fugitives (including guest Hollywood screen writer Tommy Wallace), Brad Masden (Fender Benders), Jane Pearl, Joe Parker, Kurtis Matthew and members of TyBarc: Tony Lindsey, Jeff Brook, David Dorris (also Wish), Kyle Frederick and Mitchell Plumlee (also Wish).

Future Jams This year’s Holiday Bash will be at the State Street Pub, Dec. 27th. Starting at 6 p.m., there will be an open jam throughout the evening in the small room. Starting at 8 p.m., main acts will appear in the ballroom: Duckbutter, Wish, Skip Bond and the Fugitives, Tommy Womack and Greg Martin. In addition to those just mentioned, guests will include: John Martin, Jeff Brooks, Jerry Brooks, Curtis Burch, Ruth Burch, Dave Allen, Skip Cleavenger, Beau Haddock, James Harrison, Webb Hendrix, Marc Owens, Kevin Lovelace, Michael Gough, Karle Moulden, Graham Hudspeth, Mike Clark and of course Tony Lindsey.

Some of the surprise guests this year may include, Wet Willie’s legendary singer Jimmy Hall, Stevie Ray Vaughn’s keyboard player Reese Wynans, New Grass Revival’s John Cowan and Jonell Mosser, according to Tony. “We’d like to see the jam grow to where we’re doing it in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium,” Tony said. “With the type of people that are starting to come, like Reese Wynans, Sam Bush, John Cowan and Jimmy Hall, you never know?”

Greg Martin attributes the success of the jams and the foundation to Tony’s leadership. “Tony’s heart is in the right place,” he said. “Sometimes people put together benefits and it puts them in the forefront, but Tony is real cool. He steps back. It’s just done from the heart and for the right reasons. I like that.”

The Son Rhea Foundation and the Jambodian Jams evolved from friendships that have stood the test of time. The love of art and music was the tie that bound those friendships. If the Son Rhea Foundation can reach just one child that has a love for art and can’t afford to pursue it, then it’s all worthwhile, according to Tony. “To plant a seed in a kid’s mind that he can succeed,” he said. “Hopefully he’ll pick up an instrument and develop self confidence. And if people can grow up and have the kinds of friendships that we’ve all had over the years, then there’s a lot that can be said for that. I have no friends that are anywhere near the strong relationships that I have with my musician friends and band members. In what community do you know that has the type of long term friendships that we’ve all had? I think this is definitely more of a brotherhood.”

To become a supporter of the Son Rhea Foundation call Tony Lindsey at 270-843-1395 or 270-782-7010. www.sonrhea.org

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom):

Cover Photo by: Elizabeth King, Naos photography

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3. Andrea Ford

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Mitchell Plumlee is a writer and musician. His blog can be found at www.blindbutnowisee.blogspot.com