GRACELAND
Home to Elvis Presley for 20 years, Graceland sits 10 miles south of downtown on Elvis Presley Boulevard. The boy-wonder from Tupelo bought Graceland for $100,000 in 1957 aged just 22. He paid cash. One of his first alterations was a high wall erected around the perimeter of the property to deflect the gaze of adoring fans; the Wall of Love became a famed canvas across which the King’s admirers still daub evidence of their affection.
The house itself, an imposing but not ostentatious place, retained and still retains an air of solid, Southern taste. Inside, however, Elvis indulged his whim for outlandish interior design. Graceland’s rooms and corridors were subjected to a series of radical overhauls until, in 1977, Elvis died and Graceland was frozen in the seventies.
From the design point of view, Graceland could hardly have been fossilized at a worse time. But the King’s taste in decor aside, today’s Graceland experience is very far from the tacky pilgrimage many make it out to be. It is in fact a moving celebration and a slick piece of organization.
SUN STUDIO
Sun Studio (tel 901-521-0664; daily, 10am-6pm; $7.85) at 706 Union Avenue was opened in 1950 by Sam Phillips. This is where blues legends Ike Turner, BB King, Little Milton and Howlin’ Wolf cut tracks before Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison kicked off the rockabilly and rock & roll revolution. More recently, big names like Paul Simon and U2 have recorded here in the hope of soaking up a little of Sun’s soul.
Today Sun is occasionally a working studio by night and always a Memphis attraction by day. The place itself is small; there’s an office, an engineer’s room and, of course, the studio. Given that there’s little to see, the tour is clever and completely engrossing. A guide explains the history of the place and plays rare out-takes and recordings to illustrate the studio’s illustrious past. Though still in use, the studio looks very much like it did in the fifties; the original microphone used by Elvis Presley to record That’s All Right Momma is still standing in the corner.
The guide gives a good impression of the extent to which those early rock & roll stars developed the music together – they were part of the same club and influenced one another. Extracts from the ‘Million Dollar Quartet’, an impromptu 1956 jam session featuring, among others, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, is interesting evidence of that. A music store next door sells much of the music featured on the tour, including the Million Dollar Quartet, and a small café serves peanut butter and banana sandwiches and other rock & roll snacks.
STAX RECORDS
In 1960, just a few years after Sun’s stars had shot to fame, Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart opened Stax Records at 926 McLemore Avenue. Stax made Memphis soul a worldwide hit through such performers as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Booker T and the MGs. Stax aficionados claim the particular shape of the recording studio helped created the Memphis sound which kept Stax at the top for years. The Stax building was demolished in the late eighties – there’s nothing to see at 926 McLemore Avenue now except a vacant lot – but hardcore Stax fans regularly swing by the site where there is, at least, a marker.
Interviewed for this book, Wilson Pickett, one of soul’s greatest stars and a Stax artist, believes Memphis to have been instrumental in the birth of R&B. ‘I don’t think anywhere can beat it,’ he says, ‘and it’s still here, Memphis music ain’t going nowhere. One time it looked a bit shady for R&B but now a lot of disc jockeys and different packaging has saved it. There’s a lot of other popular music out there now but we’re holding in there pretty good’.
BEALE STREET
At the height of segregation, Beale Street was the main commercial thoroughfare of the black community where most whites were as unwelcome as blacks were on Main Street, the hub of white commerce. The corner where the two streets meet was, of course, interesting. Further down Beale Street whites were allowed to see shows in the Palace Theater on Thursday nights but were otherwise kept from the area. The Palace Theater gave, among others, BB King and Rufus Thomas their breaks, but was knocked down in the sixties.
The Orpheum Theater has occupied the corner of Main and Beale Streets since 1895 when it was built for opera. The Orpheum burned down and was re-built in 1928. Today’s Orpheum, restored to its 1928 grandeur, is home of the WC Handy Blues Foundation awards (see box p150). Lined with stores, bars, clubs and juke joints, Beale Street was a rough and bawdy place by night. Crowds would come in search of music, prostitutes, cheap whiskey or all three. Many early bluesmen busked Beale Street – the so-called ‘Sidewalk Univer-sity’. Their increasingly refined Delta blues would later play an important part in the birth of rock & roll.
In the sixties Beale Street businessmen began to drift to the suburbs as part of a wider decline affecting downtown Memphis. Within years Beale Street looked ready to be leveled by bulldozers to make way for ‘urban renewal’. But while many buildings were knocked down, a drive to preserve the spirit of Beale Street persuaded the City to turn Beale into an entertainment district reflecting its past but making business sense in the present. The plan worked.
Today, Beale Street is again a lively strip of stores, bars and clubs. Crowds fill the street at weekends and there’s plenty of music most nights. Clubs are described in the section on live music on p156. Beale Street has been criticized for somehow cashing in on its past; and it is true that whether planned or not the old black community around Beale has to some extent made way for the new entertainment district. But today’s Beale is not quite the sanitized blues theme park some claim it to be; head here on a Friday or Saturday night and you’ll find real blues, raucous partying and plenty to drink.
Arguably the two most famous stores on Beale Street were Lansky’s and A Schwabs. Lansky’s, purveyor of bizarre suits to Elvis and others, has been replaced by Elvis Presley’s Memphis (see p156). A Schwab’s Dry Goods Store at 163 Beale Street, however, has been a constant on Beale since it opened in 1876. Schwab’s is an eccentric, rambling place with a nice line in voodoo paraphernalia and as diverse and incongruous a collection of stock as could be imagined. The motto here is ‘If you can’t find it at Schwab’s, you’re better off without it’. Schwab’s played its part in early blues, too, selling jukebox hits and even loaning records to hard-up local radio stations.
A short walk east of Schwab’s, Handy Park on the north-side of Beale Street was dedicated to the ‘Father of the Blues’ in 1931; the statue was added in 1960. Handy Park has traditionally been center stage for buskers and bluesmen on Beale Street. WC Handy’s house (tel 901-522-1556; Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $2) at 352 Beale Street, where the composer lived from 1905 to 1918, is now preserved as a small museum thanks to the efforts of blues historian Harry Godwin. In fact, Handy lived in this house but not at the current location; originally at 659 Jennette Place, the house was moved to Beale Street in 1985. The organizers have squeezed sackfuls of valuable Handy memorabilia into a tiny space and the staff here are hugely knowledgeable about the man and the history of Beale Street.
MEMPHIS ROCK 'N' SOUL MUSEUM
Just a short walk south of Beale Street, the Gibson Guitar building (tel 901-543-0800) at 145 Lt George W Lee Avenue gives guitar buffs the chance to see Gibson’s instruments in the making (tours $10). But the real reason for rocking up here is to check out the outstanding Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum (tel 901-543-0800; Sun-Thurs 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat 10am-8pm; $6) which is located in the Gibson building.
Part of the Smithsonian Institute, the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum treats visitors to a learned, accurate and exceptionally entertaining history of the origins and influence of Memphis music. Personal audio-guides allow visitors to absorb the museum – and its music – in their own time. It’s worth watching all the introductory film; it includes excellent interviews with prominent Memphis music insiders and explains the context of the museum well. There’s a gift shop with a decent collection of Memphis music attached.
MEMPHIS MUSIC HALL OF FAME
An older but no less interesting museum, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (tel 901-525-4007; daily 10am-6pm; $7.50), stands at 97 South Second Street. This amazing place gives complete biographies for Memphis music legends; many also have on display personal memorabilia, artifacts and even instruments. The Memphis Music Hall of Fame has the largest collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia outside Graceland and the largest collection of WC Handy memorabilia in the world. There’s also the original Sun Records recording equipment, presented in a recreation of Sun Studios, and a massive exhibition on the great Stax and Hi soul labels.
LEWIS RANCH
For a more esoteric look at a Memphis music legend, you might consider making an appointment to visit the Lewis Ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi, a short drive south from Memphis. Home to a certain Mr Jerry Lee Lewis – the ‘Killer’ himself – the ranch (tel 601-429-1290; Mon-Fri 10am-4pm by reservation; $15) is nothing if not surreal. Why Mr Lewis would want to invite random tourists to traipse round his living room is hard to imagine. But he does and they do.
Jerry Lee’s music was and is inspired, of that there’s no doubt, but today a trip to his ranch is a rather sad experience. It feels like Graceland’s poor cousin. Where Graceland has the ‘Hall of Gold’, Jerry has a sort of ‘Corridor of Gold’. While the Elvis Auto Collection has some 22 vintage Cadillacs, Rolls Royces and Ferraris, the ‘Killer’s Kar Kollection’ looks like a used car lot. Indeed, the highlight of the trip is the piano-shaped pool and a piano in the lounge on which Lewis learned to play. A trip to the Lewis Ranch is recommended, and Jerry Lee Lewis’ colossal contribution to music is enough to ensure that people do visit, but don’t expect either to meet the man or to find another rock & roll mansion like Graceland.
FULL GOSPEL TABERNACLE
Soul legend Al Green, who spurned the music industry for a more righteous path some years back, preaches at the Full Gospel Tabernacle at 787 Hale Road. His amazing voice – responsible for classics Let’s Stay Together and Take Me to the River – is just as impressive in the service of the Lord as it was for Hi Records. Reverend Green likes to preach on the pitfalls of his empty showbiz lifestyle and the role of the family. Whatever the theme, however, the music is always exceptional and visitors are made welcome. Be aware that Reverend Green isn’t always preaching. Services are held every Sunday at 11am and last several hours.
NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM
The National Civil Rights Museum (tel 901-521-9699; Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm, $6, free Mon 3-5pm) at 450 Mulberry Street is one of the most poignant, shocking and insightful anywhere in the world. It tracks the civil rights movement from its earliest days to student sit-ins, freedom rides, the march from Selma to Montgomery and all the many other defining campaigns of the fifties and sixties. If you see just one thing in Memphis, see this. Appropriately, the museum is housed in the shell of the Lorraine Motel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Inside, the museum displays a clever mix of storyboards, artifacts and interactive features to explain the all-too-often tragic struggle for equality.
Following the pre-determined route around the museum eventually leads you to the bedroom of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the balcony on which he was standing when he was killed. It’s a good idea to take the audio-guide offered by the entrance; it’s difficult to get the full effect of the material on display without it.
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