Walking In Memphis, Singing The Blues
“Hey guys, how you doin’”, calls the guy on the corner of Beale Street as we wander out to explore Memphis for the first time. “Well”, he continues when we tell him we’ve just arrived, “Memphis is about four things. There’s barbecue, there’s the blues, there’s Elvis Presley and there’s Martin Luther King”. Interesting that he says barbecue first.
You know, when learning about a new place on our travels, we often feel as if we’re unravelling history to piece together what has made that town or city what it is today. Memphis is to turn out to be the exact opposite: our time here is all about learning that the different stories and different people, the significant changes and momentous events, are all so entwined as to all be part of the same story. It’s fascinating, if complex, to put it all together.
Such is the huge context of the Memphis story, the times around the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights movement, the unjust times of the Jim Crow laws, that it would be banal for a couple of amateur travel bloggers to try and squeeze it all into one post, but we can at least try to convey what we’ve learned here. And how those stories and histories are ingredients in the same melting pot.
Like the guy on the corner, let’s deal with the barbecue first. Ask for recommendations here and you’ll most likely get the response that such things are pointless when “we got over a hundred great barbecue restaurants”. Indeed, the Barbecue World Championships are held here annually; what’s more, so are the Chicken Wing World Championships and the Rib World Championships. Didn’t know there were such things? No, nor did we.
Whether we eat on Beale Street, elsewhere in Midtown or Downtown, the compliments are justified, this is exceptionally good barbecue food. It is absolutely all about the meat – side dishes are just token gestures. Pork ribs are so, so tender that they start to fall off the bone if you so much as look at them: put a knife in your hand and the meat makes the journey from bone to mouth all on its own. It’s THAT tender. Well nearly. The barbecue coating is sticky, spicy, sweet and smoky all in one go – simply great food. Just when we think we’ve already hit the jackpot, we eat at Central….and it just goes from heavenly to sublime.
Anyway, on to the more serious stuff as we go through that process of finding just how the stories and histories of Memphis all merge into one. The city is rich with places to study the past: the vibrant Beale Street which is the designated “home of the blues”, Sun Studios where a teenage Elvis made his first demo and started the journey towards immortality, the Rock’n’Soul Museum, the Stax museum and the Civil Rights museum to name but a few – as well as the theatres and street memorials each contributing another piece to the story. And, of course, there’s Graceland.
1950s in the southern US states was a time when segregation was the norm, operating under the auspices of the notorious Jim Crow laws which effectively forbade any crossover between the lives of whites and non-whites. The mantra of the Jim Crow years was “separate but equal”, borne out of the belief that whites and non-whites should be segregated in everything: not just education, but transport, restaurants, cafes, cinemas…..you name it, it was one for whites and one for “coloureds”, to use the words of the time.
It was separate and it was segregated but it sure as hell wasn’t equal. The 50s rumbled with the discontent which was to explode in the 60s. Out in the cotton fields and plantations, labour was poorly paid and badly treated, still tied to employers six decades after the abolition of slavery. Realistically unable to leave the plantation, workers were forced to obtain essential supplies, including clothing, from shops owned by the plantation, so amassing debts so large that leaving the employment was all but impossible.
Two music genres collided in the cotton fields as the country music of the white population met with the black peoples’ gospel music. As more and more machinery was introduced to the harvesting process, so workers became dispensable and migrated in huge numbers from rural settings to cities in search of work. When they arrived in Memphis, the melancholy of blues music had already taken root, especially in Beale Street, where the strumming of guitars wiled away the day and lyrics reflected the challenging and downbeat lifestyles.
Inside the Blues bars of Beale Street
Now, there are suddenly three music styles which clash: gospel, country and the blues, and, as a mural in Central Barbecue puts it…..
“The blues had a baby and named it rock’n’roll”
The Sun Studios tour is absolutely excellent and completely awe inspiring to stand in the spot where, truly, rock’n’roll was born – in fact, arguably the point where the course of music history was altered and everything I came to love in the world of music began. We learn how Sam Phillips, boss of Sun, first rejected the young Elvis and how his assistant, Marion Keisker, saw something special and kept a note of his name.
We hear Elvis’s first ever demo, followed by the first ever single, “That’s All Right”, and a wonderful recording of Elvis and his two fellow band members, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, jamming in the studio unaware that the mikes were still on. Fabulous.
Possibly most inspiring of all was learning just how far ahead of his time Sam Phillips was – perhaps that’s why he was open to discovering such talents as Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rufus Thomas as well as The King himself and many other famous names. Phillips was a rarity: a man who created a recording studio open equally to black and white artists, setting up the world’s first all female radio station and flying right in the face of the Jim Crow laws by promoting bands of mixed race. “It can’t be done”, was one narrator’s comment on hearing that Booker T & the MGs had both black and white members.
Phillips was obviously a proper pioneer, arguably the Godfather of everything that transpired in the story of rock.
Yet rock’n’roll wasn’t the only child of the fusion of the three genres and before long soul music was growing in the same city from the same sources. Whilst Detroit was giving birth to the polished sounds of Motown, Memphis and in particular the Stax record label was creating a more earthy, raw soul sound more closely linked to its roots.
Stax Museum
Again, tours of both Stax and the Rock and Soul museum are fascinating and informative, especially the videos of stars reminiscing and describing just what it was like to be part of the start of something so special, so new. An era of music history which by definition can never be replicated.
And so back to Beale Street, home of the blues, birthplace of the blues. Beale Street isn’t a tourist gimmick even though nowadays it’s a destination : this was genuinely where musicians sat and played, wrote lyrics reflecting their challenging lifestyles and their sorrows and trials as well as their everyday events, long before blues was known to the rest of the world. It was soon to become the place to be for any aspiring blues musician.
The neon signs of Beale Street
Less manic than Bourbon Street and nowhere near as sleazy, Beale Street is all about the music, and still mostly about the blues. Choose any bar and lose yourself in the atmosphere, down local beers and swoon over the barbecued meat, get into the groove and dance the night away in BB King’s bar. We do it all.
BB Kings Blues Club, Beale Street
And of course we visit Graceland, home of the King, and the Civil Rights Museum. Two very different places but, as we said at the outset, chapters in the same story rather than isolated tales.
More on Memphis to come….
34 Comments
Helen Devries
Looking forward to the follow up
Monkey's Tale
Memphis has never appealed to me, but you’re warming me up to it a little. It would be great to hear that Elvis recording. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
We enjoyed Memphis, Maggie – quieter than New Orleans . But I guess four days is ample.
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Such an amazing confluence of music, food and politics there. Great piece.
Phil & Michaela
Yes exactly – all fused into one big story. Part 2 to follow!
Andrew Petcher
All very bling. I confess to being like Sam Phillips. Never understood the Elvis thing. Still don’t.
Phil & Michaela
Graceland comes in next post.
Andrew Petcher
I would like to go to Dollywood. Is it om your itinerary?
Phil & Michaela
No. Dollywood isn’t what you’d think. It’s a theme park. Alton Towers with country music.
Andrew Petcher
Exactly. I do like Dolly Parton.
Phil & Michaela
Me too, but theme parks …. ugh, no thank you…
grandmisadventures
It really is amazing to see how music, politics, and food all comes together to make such a dynamic place. I really love your pictures of Beale Street and their neon signs and the studio tour sound fantastic. I’ll be more prepared for what to see when we make our way to the west side of the state 🙂
Phil & Michaela
It was so interesting working through the history and piecing those major events together.
wetanddustyroads
Ha, I like that the barbecue was mentioned first! And it looks like barbecue heaven … maybe Memphis hasn’t heard of South African barbecues yet! I think we’ll have to send a national team to the Barbecue World Championships next year. The evening scenes in Memphis certainly create a picture of fun (and music). It’s always interesting to read about the “time of segregation” in the US … really just another name for “apartheid” as it was known here in SA until 1994.
Phil & Michaela
Yes there’s definitely connections with the times of apartheid. More to come on that subject in the second Memphis post…
Toonsarah
I’ve always thought I’d like to visit Memphis and now I KNOW I would! There’s clearly more to see there than I’d realised. Of course I know about Beale Street and Graceland, and I think I knew that you could visit Sun Studios but I wasn’t aware of the Rock and Soul museum nor the Civil Rights one. The links between the segregation policies and the development of the music genres we grew up with are so fascinating too.
As I side note, I just read Meg’s post about you guys meeting up and it’s reminded me we really must try to make our get-together happen, if we can just all be here at the same time!
Phil & Michaela
Yes! At the minute we’re scheduled to be in the UK from May 22nd for roughly four weeks or so…
Image Earth Travel
Your nighttime photos are lovely!
Just spent a month in the US but didn’t get to Memphis. Nearly finished a month in Canada and in Toronto until Sunday, then off to Portugal.
Hope you guys are well. 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Excellent. We only have a couple of weeks left on this trip, then it’s home for 4 or 5 weeks before we head off on the next one. Enjoy Portugal!
Image Earth Travel
Where’s the next one?
Phil & Michaela
Not entirely sure yet but the African continent is under scrutiny just now…
Image Earth Travel
Sounds amazing!
Alison
A troubled history, as with many places in the South. Ive read a lot of historical books about this time, fiction but still based on fact. Makes me mad!
Have never been an Elvis fan give me Isaac Hayes anyday 😁 Those meals don’t look good for the waistline!
Phil & Michaela
America is NOT kind on the waistline. Urgent attention needed! Some of the history makes difficult reading, that’s for sure
Christie
It sounds a perfect combination, bbq, music and history, a bit of everything. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Christie, it’s certainly an interesting city
Miriam
Sounds like you had a ball there. Learning about the history, visiting those iconic studios, getting into the groove and of course that tender succulent barbecue. Great post, felt like I was there with you guys.
Phil & Michaela
Stay tuned, there’s more 😀
leightontravels
So glad you got to Memphis, this article brought back so many memories for me. I can still vividly remember the night I spent drinking and dancing at B.B. King’s. Oh, and it was at A. Schwabs that I bought the fantastic book ‘Me and a Guy Named Elvis’ which is a must read written by one of Elvis’ closest buddies. Sun Studios…. Stax… The Arcade… magical stuff!
Phil & Michaela
You gotta do BBKings…it’s a must do whilst in Memphis and Beale Street, huh. Enjoyed our time there…lots of
WanderingCanadians
We’ve never been to Memphis before, but it sounds even more interesting after reading about its history and your time there. And then there’s the food. I had no idea there was such a thing as a BBQ, chicken wing or rib world championship either!
Phil & Michaela
I think out of the big three that we’ve just done….New Orleans, Memphis & Nashville….Memphis was our favourite.
Annie Berger
A great read from beginning to end. You had me engrossed with your descriptions of the Memphis trifecta, Phil, and even though we’ve been there, I still learned a lot.
I do not know HOW you can possibly be home for about a month before setting out again on another extended trip! I am amazed how you can catch your breath, see family and friends, let alone plan for another trip right away. I am in awe of you both!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you, Annie. We liked Memphis possibly the most of the “big 3” we’ve just visited. Ah well, we’re now at my daughter’s house in California and Michaela is in research overdrive! 😂