It was also home to Stax records where classics by stars such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Rufus Thomas were recorded on a daily basis and the city where soul singer supreme Al Green turned from pop to praise and bought his own church. And then of course, there was a young truck driver called Elvis Aaron Presley who just happened to call in at the Sun studio in Memphis in April 1954 and cut a song called That’s All Right (Mama) which turned popular music on its head.
So it’s not surprising that a month-long series of concerts are being held at the Barbican in London from April 3-25 to celebrate the city’s musical heritage and the impact that it’s had on popular culture.
But for those anxious to go to the source, is it still worth visiting Memphis - or did the Mystery Train leave a long time ago? My advice is to start packing now. You’re not going to find B.B.King at the local juke joint (although he does pop in at his club, B.B. King’s in Beale Street, occasionally) or Jerry Lee Lewis still recording at Sun, but there’s still enough going on to attract any music fan.
PLACES TO GO
Museums
Graceland: Still the biggest attraction in Memphis and a holy shrine for millions of Elvis fans worldwide. A combined "platinum" tour ($27) takes in the mansion itself, plus an Elvis memorabilia exhibition, a tour of Elvis’s car collection and a walk through his two private jets. Surprisingly, by superstar standards, the house is quite small but it’s still a cathedral of kitsch with Elvis's jungle room and the yellow and black TV room as highlights. You’re not allowed upstairs so you can’t see where the King actually snuffed it, but you can see his flower bedecked grave with its eternal flame (cue the Bangles) in the "Garden of Remembrance".
Sun Studio: Sam C. Phillips, a radio station recording engineer opened this studio on Union Avenue, Memphis in January, 1950 and proceeded to record some of the finest blues talent in the South, including a band led by a piano player called Ike Turner. One of the band’s amps had fallen off the car and been damaged on their way to the studio from St Louis so it was stuffed with newspaper in an attempt to repair it. The resulting distorted sound helped turn the record they were making, Rocket 88, into what many consider is the first rock’n’roll record. Presley turned up in 1953 to cut for his mum and returned the following year to record That’s All Right (Mama), the single most influential record in the history of pop. Others who followed him into the studio included Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Tours take in some of Phillip’s original recording equipment plus the chance to stand where Presley and backing musicians stood on that fateful day in April, 1954. What strikes you is the actual size. Records which changed the whole outlook of Western culture were cut in a studio the size of your living room. Tours cost $8.50.
Stax Museum of American Soul Music: This building marks the biggest comeback in music history since the return of Tony Christie. Stax records, the home of Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Sam and Dave and scores of other enormously influential soul acts was formed by a country fiddler called Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton (thus we get ST-ewart AX-ton) in 1959. They moved to a rundown theatre in McLemore Avenue in 1961 and proceeded to churn out some of the finest soul music America’s ever produced. All went well until the mid 1970s when big business and the onslaught of disco forced the company into bankruptcy. The studios were sold and demolished in 1989. Then, realising the error of their ways, the city had the studios rebuilt to the original plans. Once again we have the cinema frontage seen on thousands of LP covers, while inside we have a history of soul which takes in everything from an original wooden country chapel to Isaac Hayes’s gold plated Cadillac plus tons of original Stax artefacts. Admission $9.
The Memphis Rock’n’Soul Museum: A branch of the respected Smithsonian, this hands on display delves deeper into the history of the Memphis music scene with audio reminders of how important the Memphis radio stations were in broadcasting the rocking sound of the south to a mass audience. Exhibits include Presley’s guitar, bluesman Albert King’s suit and the motorbike that belonged to Sam the Sham, a Memphis resident who can still be persuaded, occasionally, to perform his big hit Wooly Bully. Admission $9.
Music
Beale Street: Although apparently a faint shadow of what it was in the prewar and immediate postwar years, there’s still enough happening along this strip of bars and clubs to keep your attention. The most popular attraction is B.B. Kings at 147. It has a slightly touristy feel and the clientele tends to be mainly white but there was a decent enough blues guitarist performing there when I popped in for a beer.
Wild Bills: This is the place you have to go. As one of the local guidebooks has it, this is the meat, the rest is all gravy. It’s nothing much to look at from the outside but inside on a Saturday night there’s a rocking house band called the Hollywood All Stars and the the place jumps. It’s a local audience too, so white faces tend to be in the minority but you’re made to feel welcome and if you come early enough you can even tuck in to some chitlins, although I wouldn’t advise it. 1580 Vollintine, Memphis
The Full Gospel Tabernacle: Yes I know this is a church, but the pastor just happens to be the Rev Al Green. Where else in the world can you go to a church service and listen to the finest soul singer on the planet as he tells you to keep to the straight and narrow. On the Sunday I went, the Rev Green was in a particularly forceful mood. He would preach for a bit and then sing, backed up by a four-piece band and a 12-strong female choir. Heavenly isn’t the word. Essential is. But be warned the sevices start at around 11am and last until 2pm, and there’s no guarantee that the busy Rev Green will be there.
Transport
Taxis are few and far between and despite what Cher may say Walking in Memphis isn’t the done thing. One good way of getting around is by using the American Dream Safari. Tad Pierson, a laconic graduate from the University of New Mexico with a knowledge of Memphis music wider than the Mississippi will drive you around in his 1955 Cadillac. And you can see the signatures of some of his former customers, including Elvis Costello, Van Morrison and Wilson Pickett, on the inside of the car doors. There’s no better way to arrive at Graceland. Tours start at $50.
