Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [134]
Lansky Brothers
This upscale department store, formerly “Clothier to the King,” sells a line of Elvis-themed duds. 901-529-9070; www.lanskybros.com; 149 Union Ave, Memphis; 9am-6pm Sun-Wed, to 9pm Thu-Sat
Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum
This Smithsonian-affiliated music museum has plenty of info on Elvis among its exhibits tracing the history of music in the Mississippi Delta. 901-205-2533; www.memphisrocknsoul.org; 191 Beale St, Memphis; adult/child $10/7; 10am-7pm
Overton Park
See bands play at the band shell in this Midtown city park, where Elvis first shook his hips. 901-272-5159; www.levittshell.org; park btw Poplar Ave & N McLean Blvd, shell is west side; admission free; park 6am-6pm, to 8pm summer
Sun Studio
Knowledgeable guides lead tours of the studio where Elvis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison were discovered. 901-521-0664; www.sunstudio.com; 706 Union Ave, Memphis; adult/child $10/free; 10am-6pm
EAT & SLEEP
Arcade
Memphis’s oldest restaurant has the King’s favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich. 901-526-5757; www.arcaderestaurant.com; 540 S Main St, Memphis; mains $6-8; 7am-3pm daily, dinner Fri
Heartbreak Hotel
Every room has a framed picture of Elvis at this theme hotel across the street from Graceland. 901-332-1000; www.heartbreakhotel.net; 3677 Elvis Presley Blvd, Memphis; r from $125
Lauderdale Courts
Sleep in the Elvis Suite in the apartment complex where the Presley family once lived. 901-523-8662; www.lauderdalecourts.com; 252 North Lauderdale St, Memphis; Elvis Suite $250
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.elvis.com
www.memphistravel.com
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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner
TRIP
56 Memphis Music Tour opposite
58 Country Music Capital: Nashville
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Return to beginning of chapter
TRIP 56
Memphis Music Tour
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WHY GO Memphis’s founders had high hopes when they named their city after the capital of ancient Egypt. Memphis lived up to its legacy with music, bringing forth blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll. The beat lives on, pulsating out of sweltering juke joints and baroque concert halls. Come hear.
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TIME
3 days
BEST TIME TO GO
Apr - Jul
START
Memphis, TN
END
Memphis, TN
ALSO GOOD FOR
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To understand Memphis’s music scene, you have to understand the 2-mile stretch of downtown pavement that is Beale St. It all started here, just after the Civil War, when freed slaves began to move to the riverfront area and build the foundations for a vibrant African American community. Black doctors, lawyers and store owners set up shop and traveling musicians performed on the corners and in the bars.
In 1909, a young Beale St band leader named WC Handy was commissioned to write a campaign song for mayoral candidate EH Crump. The song, later titled “Memphis Blues,” was one of the first published songs in the emerging genre known as the “blues” - a guitar-based mixture of old slave “field hollers,” church music and African call-and-response songs. You can see Handy’s old shotgun shack, now the WC Handy House Museum, at the corner of Beale and 4th.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Beale St was sin central, lined with whorehouses, juke joints and pool halls. It was here, in the 1940s, that a teenage Elvis used to come to listen to the sounds of African American blues masters like BB King and Little Junior Parker. White country met black blues, and the result made music history. Snap your picture with the Elvis statue on Beale between Main and 2nd Sts.
These days Beale St, now partially a pedestrian thoroughfare, is like a giant fraternity party and street carnival. Revelers of all ages roam the street day and night, eating corn dogs and ordering Jell-O shots from walkup windows. If it sounds trashy, it sure is, but it can also be a lot of fun. When things are hoppin’, the clubs stay open as late as 5am. Most clubs don’t charge covers, so skip your way down the