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    Home » Travel » Tennessee

    Memphis for Music Lovers

    July 26, 2017 • Updated: May 16, 2023 • by Renée B. • This post may contain affiliate links.

    WC Handy Statue - Walking in Memphis {Must-Dos for Music Lovers} | The Good Hearted Woman

    Memphis is a town that lives and breathes music. Here are our top Memphis destinations for musicians and music lovers.

    View down Beale Street at twilight: neon signs lighting cafes and bars on either side of street.

    ♫ Put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane
    Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues in the middle of the pouring rain

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

    I still remember the first time I heard “Walking in Memphis” – years ago, on KINK in Portland. 

    At that time, I’d never so much as touched a toe south of West Virginia, but something about that song spoke to a deep-roots place in my belly, and I couldn’t wait until I could get my hands on the whole album. (This, children, was in the days before iTunes or Amazon (or even Napster!) – back when you had to wait for a CD to arrive at Music Millenium, and then rush down to grab a copy before they were all gone. 

    We must have played that CD a thousand times. Dig Down Deep. Walk on Water. Silver Thunderbird (which always makes me think of my dad and his pocket comb). Perfect Love. True Companion. And always, Walking in Memphis; a song which over time became lullaby for my girls about a magical, musical land: like Puff’s Honalee, it almost wasn’t real.

    But Memphis is real. And walking down Beale Street – with music pouring out of every brick and around every corner – is a sublime experience. Especially if music feeds your soul.

    Memphis Travel for Music Lovers

    • Beale Street
      • Live Blues on Beale
    • Graceland
      • Sign the Wall at the Entrance to Graceland
    • Sun Studios
    • Gibson Guitar Factory
    • Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum
    • More Tennessee Travel
    • Southern Cooking & Recipes

    If you are short on time, you can actually visit all of these destinations in one day! Check our Nashville & Memphis Travel Itinerary for Music Lovers for more.

    Beale Street

    ♫ ♪ ...I'm walking in Memphis - walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale ♫  

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

    Formally declared the Home of the Blues in 1977 by an act of Congress, Beale Street is where the cool kids hang out. (Or at least they used to.) Kids like Louis Armstrong, Memphis Minnie, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. Once of the most iconic streets in America, Beale Street is the heartbeat of Memphis.

    Closer view looking down the middle Beale Street, with neon signs lighted on both sides.

    Walk down Beale Street any given evening and you’ll hear a musical stew pouring out of open doors all along the three-block stretch – delta blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, R&B, and gospel. Walk through a door, and the music will grab you and pull you in.

    ♫ ♪ W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me...

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

    WC Handy, Father of the Blues, stands in a WC Handy Park on Beale Street.

    Oversized red Gibson electric guitar, inscribed: All Roads lead to Memphis. Golden WC Handy statue in background.

    Live Blues on Beale

    ♫ ♪ Now Muriel plays piano every Friday at the Hollywood...

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

    As luck would have it, just before leaving for Tennessee, Mr B and I saw Marc Cohn perform nearly every cut from his Walking in Memphis album live at the Aladdin in Portland, on the album’s 25th anniversary tour.

    The Aladdin is an intimate venue, and we had fourth row seats. Almost as entertaining as the songs Marc sang were the stories he told about writing them. It was fascinating to learn more about Walking in Memphis' Muriel; the very real, remarkable woman who inspired this piece of the song.

    We didn't get to see Muriel (sadly, she passed away many years ago) but we did spend an evening listening to the amazing BB King All-Star Band at BB King's Blues Club on the corner of Beale and 2nd. (We ate some pretty decent barbecue there too!)

    BB King All-Star Band on stage at the Blues Club: piano player in duel-V set-up, drummer with set, bass player.

    The food at BB Kings Blues Club was good. Not great, but definitely a solid Good. (I highly recommend the Shrimp & Cheese Grits.) The music was Awesome.

    Trumpet player playing, four other musicians on stage.

    Fun Fact: Just a block away from Beale Street, Gibson Guitar’s famous factory produces B.B. King’s signature ES-355 Semi-Hollow body.

    Graceland

    Of course you're going to Graceland. Of course you are.

    ♫ ♪ Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue
    Followed him up to the gates of Graceland, then I watched him walk right through

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis
    Gates of Graceland, with music notes and line-drawn, stylized Elvis playing guitar on either side.
    The actual "Gates of Graceland."

    Sadly, we did not see Elvis (or even his ghost) at Graceland. Nevertheless, it was a surprisingly captivating tour. Not only did I learn a ton about the man, his family, and his music (not to mention the impact he had on American culture), but I found that seeing Graceland in real life brought a measure of earnest humanity to the Elvis mythology.

    Even if you aren't a big Elvis fan, a visit to Graceland needs to be on your list. 

    Interior view of Graceland's glass peacock; sitting room piano.

    ♫ ...there's a pretty little thing waiting for the King - down in the Jungle Room ♫ ♪

    Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

    The Jungle Room wasn't either as sultry or exotic as I had imagined. 

    INterior of Graceland's Jungle Room: green shag carpet, dark red mood lighting, silk foliage, and animal motifs.

    Speaking of Graceland...

    Sign the Wall at the Entrance to Graceland

    It seems like every adventure has at least one defining, unforgettable moment. For Mr B, signing the fieldstone wall at Graceland was one of those moments. It was for me too, but for somewhat different reasons.

    Close-up of Graceland signing wall, with names written in various colored pens.

    All you need to sign the wall is a Sharpie and a few minutes.

    • If you go at night, the experience will feel more risky and exhilarating!
    • It's not risky at all. In fact, it's totally legal (and even encouraged). Two police cars drove by us while we were signing.

    For more about Graceland, visit A New Era at Graceland: Elvis Presley's Memphis and Why You Will Love "The Guest House at Graceland".

    Sun Studios

    Sun Studios is known as "The Birthplace of Rock & Roll." Founded in 1952 by Sam Phillips, this is where it all began.

    Old fashioned radio turntable, large radio microphone, control panel for old radio station.

    Our tour of Sun Studios was an entirely different experience than our tour of RCA Studio B. Sun is smaller, grittier... more raw. Ghosts still sing in the walls.

    In the beginning, Sun was home to an impressively wide variety of talent, as Sam Phillips was willing to give anyone who came off the street to record a chance. It didn't matter what they played, Sam recorded it all: gospel, blues, hillbilly, country, boogie, or western swing. The label had no limits.

    Then, in 1954, Elvis Presley walked through the doors of Sun Studios, and Sam found himself with the artist he had been looking for: someone who could perform the blues with passion and energy, and still reach across both musical and racial barriers. Sam and Elvis opened a door that would never again close.

    Round, black and yellow record-shaped sign with a guitar and Sun Records in the center, and recording artists' names where music grooves would be.

    Our tour of Sun Studios started with a climb upstairs to a small but impressive museum filled with some amazing music history artifacts. After learning about Sam Phillips and the artists who recorded there, we went downstairs into the studio itself.

    As I mentioned earlier, there are ghosts in those walls, let me tell you. It is an amazing feeling to know you are standing where sounds that changed American music were first recorded.

    If I had space and time, I could go on forever about the artists who recorded at Sun Studios over the years. These names are synonymous with the 1950's music revolution - the artists who gave us that "good ol' fashioned Rock n' Roll."

    Mr B was thrilled to sing into the Shure 55 microphone at Sun Studios that was once used by Elvis Presley. (He was trying to play it cool.) (He failed.)

    Collage: Sun Studio sign, Mr B signing into Elvis' microphone and smiling like a crazy man, interior of radio booth.

    Sun Studios is still an active recording studio, and continues to reflect the diversity and vision that was first embraced over sixty years ago. If we ever have a chance to visit Memphis again, we will take this tour again. It's that good.

    Tours of Sun Studios are given every day at the bottom half of every hour from 10:30 AM through 5:30 PM. 

    Gibson Guitar Factory

    The Gibson Factory tour isn't so much must-do as some of the other destinations on our list, but it is definitely worth your time if you find yourself with an extra hour on your hands.

    Close-up of the midsection of a mother-of-pearl inlaid maple topped custom electric guitar.

    I wish I could show you pictures from the tour, but they don't let you take them, and my stealth photography skills (as my daughters will tell you) suck are nonexistent.

    What I can show you are some beautiful guitars from the Gibson showroom. For example, the guitar on the left - a custom guitar created by a single master luthier over the course of an entire year - is the single most expensive guitar I've ever touched. It comes with 14 kt gold hardware, mother-of-pearl inlay, and a $26,669 price tag.

    Gibson collage: Beautiful inlaid electric guitar, close-up top down of Les Paul head and neck, Gibson sign lighted at night.

    The Gibson Factory tour costs just $10 a person and takes about 45 minutes, start to finish. You get to walk through the entire guitar-making process, from raw wood materials through the intricate process of binding, neck-fitting, painting, buffing, and tuning that creates these iconic musical instruments.

    Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum

    If you want a solid, interactive, informative education about the history of Southern music and the Memphis sound, the Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum is the place to visit. 

    Personally, I think one of my biggest takeaways from this experience was a far clearer understanding of the vital role of the musical pioneers who persisted, for the love of music, through racial, regional, and socio-economic barriers to create music that transformed our country.

    Rock & Soul Museum collage; old hand-crank record player, trumpet, Aladdin label recording artists.

    According to its creators at the Smithsonian Institution, “Rock ‘n’ Soul: Social Crossroads” is the story of the body of music that had the most influence on the culture and lifestyles of the world during the middle 20th Century unto this day. It affected the way we walked, the way we talked, the way we combed our hair and the way we dressed – not only in Memphis or the nation, but the entire world.

    The museum is divided into seven galleries that trace Southern music and the Memphis sound over time. Beginning with Rural Culture, which illustrates the musical traditions of the rural South historically, you move through the roots of Southern music, the social challenges it responded to, and the social changes for which it is responsible.

    The tour begins with short, informative movie; then you are given an audio headset so you can walk through the rest of the museum at your own pace. (It took us just under an hour to do the whole tour.) Always there is music, from short clips to full-length songs, highlighting each point along the way.

    The Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (The Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum is literally right across the street from the Gibson Factory, so it's almost like a two-fer.)

    Oversized Gibson with black neck, blue-sky upper body, and scene of Ruby Wilson painted below.

    Ruby Wilson, depicted here on this giant Gibson guitar, was known as "The Queen of Beale Street." She was a blues and gospel singer, and an actress who sang in clubs on Beale Street for over 40 years.

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    About Renée B.

    Renée is self-taught home chef with a penchant for creating healthy(ish) comfort food recipes, and adapting vintage recipes for the 21st century cook. In her spare time, she writes unfinished novels and songs about cowboys.

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    1. Anna says

      August 07, 2020 at 11:53 pm

      Hello,
      i am also a music lover. The photos that you have shared in this blog are very beautiful. I think music lovers like Memphis place, once you should visit here. I want to know the history and would like to visit.

      Reply
    2. Miike Snow says

      April 13, 2018 at 2:23 am

      All roads lead to Memphis, right?? 🙂

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        April 13, 2018 at 9:38 am

        Amen, Miike ? ?

        Reply
    3. jgrhaam says

      January 23, 2018 at 10:49 am

      I Loved the Gibson tour, at least until the end. To see all those poor guitars that didnt make the quality nice list get sent to the bandsaw.

      Reply
    4. Robert Miskey says

      October 27, 2017 at 1:42 am

      Hello Renee, I also love music. The pics you shared in your blog are so beautiful. I think Memphis is the great place for all music lovers and they should visit once. I am excited to know the history and would like to visit. Thanks!

      Reply
    5. Guitar_nick says

      August 10, 2017 at 11:58 am

      I can't wait to go to the gibson guitar factory.

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        August 10, 2017 at 1:55 pm

        It was pretty cool seeing the process from start to finish,and the custom guitars in the showroom are amazing.

        Reply
    6. Mary says

      July 30, 2017 at 11:26 am

      Memphis is on my bucket list!!! I can't wait to someday visit. Great recommendations for when I finally get out there!

      Reply
    7. Heather says

      July 28, 2017 at 5:38 pm

      This looks amazing! I would love to visit someday. I love to see all that history - so much fun!

      Reply
    8. Heather says

      July 28, 2017 at 5:06 pm

      I really need to visit Tennessee! A close friend moved to the Nashville area and opened a boutique so it's been on my list for awhile. Looks like a great place for music lovers!

      Reply
    9. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says

      July 28, 2017 at 8:42 am

      It's so much fun following your music travel adventures, Renee! I'm excited to see more about your Graceland visit. Signing the wall looks like it would be a memorable act, indeed. So much excitement and history rolled into one spot! Love it!

      Reply
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