The Memphis music scene is audibly healthy. Blues is kept alive by a string of local stars. Look out for Preston Shannon, Little Jimmy King, Ruby Wilson, Blind Mississippi Morris, RL Burnside and Mose Vinson among many others. Soul and R&B is played in several clubs – often by veterans of the Stax episode – while gospel lives on, not least in the church of soul star-turned-preacher Al Green. Strangely, however, the fifties-style rock & roll which brought Memphis to the world’s attention is seldom heard in Memphis today.
Friday’s Commercial Appeal is the best source of entertainment listings in Memphis. Even here in the so-called ‘home of the blues’, it’s worth planning ahead to find good live acts. Beale Street is almost always happening but beyond that strip of clubs, the town can be fairly quiet on weeknights. Blues rules in Memphis and most of the venues listed in this section reflect that fact. Cover charges are usually around the $5 mark but increase for major acts.
Beale Street is the main drag for music in Memphis. Strolling down Beale Street from Main Street, Elvis Presley’s Memphis (tel 901-527-6900) is on the left at number 126; there’s a statue of Elvis outside. Located in the former Lansky’s clothes store, once patronized by the King himself, Elvis Presley’s Memphis is a large and polished operation with music most nights. Bands here are generally high-energy, rock & roll-style acts. The place is pleasant enough but it feels just a bit too corporate for some tastes. There’s no cover but drinks aren’t cheap.
Further down at 138 Beale Street the Blues City Café (tel 901-526-3637) is a well-known blues showcase for local and national talent. While the quality of blues here is almost always high, today the Blues City Café places at least as much emphasis on the restaurant side of the business as it does on music. However the restaurant and venue sections are separate so at least the club’s low-down bluesy atmosphere remains undiluted. Red lights, dingy corners and cheap beer contribute to the experience. Almost opposite at 143 Beale Street, BB King’s Blues Club (tel 901-524-5464) is a must-visit joint for blues lovers. Opened in 1991 by the ‘Beale Street Blues Boy’, BB King’s has struck a fine balance; it’s a fun place for the uninitiated with music of a high enough quality to satisfy any blues fan. Local stars like Preston Shannon and Little Jimmy King play here often while larger acts – including BB King himself – stop by several times a year. Some complain that BB King’s attracts too many random tourists and as such loses some of its authenticity as a music venue. But wait till the food’s been cleared away and the band’s rocking; BB King’s can get as wild as any club in Memphis.
The Black Diamond (tel 901-521-0800) at 153 Beale Street is a slightly shabbier set-up than BB’s; tinsel and fairy lights decorate the walls and drinkers are wedged in around sparse wooden tables as they listen to powerful blues performed on a tiny stage. The close mood and confined dancefloor make the Black Diamond a charged and likeable place. A relative newcomer to Beale Street, this club has quickly found a place for itself by booking good bands and dishing up decent Southern food.
On the other side of the road at number 162, King’s Palace Café (tel 901-521-1851) is another venue worth checking out. It’s not one of Beale Street’s best clubs but good acts do appear here and the service is friendly.
At 182 Beale Street the two-storey Rum Boogie Café (tel 901-528-0150) is one of the bigger clubs on Beale with live music every night. It’s always packed with diners, drinkers and dancers. Music in the main club is usually energetic R&B or soul rather than straight blues although the Boogie Blues Band, which appears frequently, plays a highly entertaining mix of all three. Famous musicians’ guitars hang from the ceiling and the walls are hidden behind Memphis music memorabilia including a Highway 61 sign. A Stax sign hangs over the stage. Both would make great bar trophies but, naturally, we don’t encourage theft and, anyway, they’re probably fairly well fastened.
The Blues Hall ‘club within in a club’ inside Rum Boogie is a more hardcore blues stage in the style of a juke joint. You could almost be in another place altogether. Almost opposite at 183 Beale Street, Silky O’Sullivan’s (tel 901-522-9596), a huge Irish theme pub, features good-time piano music most nights and blues acts from time to time.
If you carry on east along Beale the after-dark feel of the place begins to grow steadily more seedy despite the unfortunate presence of a Hard Rock Café on the corner of Rufus Thomas Boulevard. There are, however, three more venues still to discover. Legends, at 326 Beale Street, is a cavernous and unpretentious blues hall and drinking den. The back of the place seems to be little more than a warehouse. Legends feels a shade rougher than most Beale Street venues although some would see that as a good thing.
Just a few steps further on at number 330, the New Daisy Theater (tel 901-525-8979) is another huge venue – 900 seats – and an under-rated Beale Street stalwart where BB King made his name. There’s often a great jam party here after the Handy Awards ceremony.
A little further on again, Dick’s Last Resort (tel 901-543-0900), while predominantly a bar-restaurant, has live blues and R&B from time to time.
While it would be easy to satisfy your musical curiosity on Beale Street, one of the best clubs in Memphis is some miles away at 1580 Vollintine. Wild Bill’s (tel 901-726-5473) is a small, simple place with a mighty atmosphere and great music till the small hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Some nights it’s blues, other nights it’s R&B. Well-known local musicians frequently sit in. Wild Bill, a big, gray-haired man, runs a slick operation; there’s rarely any sort of trouble.
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