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Isaiah’s

It’s all about the fried lemon-peppered catfish and peach cobbler at this super-friendly soul food spot. 334-265-9000; 135 Mildred St, Montgomery; mains from $8.50; 11am-2pm Tue-Fri

Martin’s

Fried poultry you’d kill your grandmother for, served up Americana-style in a Winn-Dixie parking lot. 334-265-1767; 1796 Carter Hill Rd, Montgomery; mains $8-13; 11am-3pm & 4-7:45pm Mon-Fri, 10:45am-1:45pm Sun;

Thelma’s Kitchen

This no-frills soul-food stop occupies the former space of MLK favorite, Auburn Ave Rib Shack. The food hasn’t changed much, though. 404-688-5855; 302 Auburn Ave; mains $8-9; 8am-6pm Sun-Fri, to 8pm Sat

SLEEP

Butterfly Inn

Montgomery’s first African American–owned B&B is a real charmer, but Isaiah’s restaurant on site is the real coup. 334-230-9708; www.butterflyinn.net; 135 Mildred St, Montgomery; r $89-119

Inn at Hunt Phelan

Sitting on five downtown Memphis acres, this historic 1828 antebellum mansion is a welcome urban retreat. 901-525-8225; www.huntphelan.com; 533 Beale St, Memphis; r $185-295

Hyatt Regency Atlanta

We don’t normally recommend chains, but this Hyatt was the first in Atlanta to welcome African Americans. 404-577-1234; www.atlantaregency.hyatt.com; 265 Peachtree St, Atlanta; r $195-255

St James Hotel

This landmark hotel – Selma’s only surviving hotel in the historic district – offers rooms with spectacular balconies overlooking the river and Edmund Pettus Bridge. 334-872-3234; www.stjameshotelselma.com; 1200 Water Ave, Selma, AL; r $105-205;

Tutwiler Hotel

In 2007 Hampton Inn purchased this historic hotel (originally opened in 1914) and spruced it up – it’s Birmingham’s best. 205-322-2100; www.thetutwilerhotel.com; 2021 Park Pl, Birmingham; r $199;

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.thekingcenter.org

www.nps.gov/malu

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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

4 Music City to Dixieland: A Musical Roots Run

26 48 Hours in Atlanta

27 Atlanta for Food Lovers

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Return to beginning of chapter

TRIP 4

Music City to Dixieland: A Musical Roots Run

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WHY GO Waylon Jennings once said, “I’ve always felt that blues, rock and roll, and country are just about a beat apart.” And a few miles. Get your motor runnin’ on this musical tour of the South, where country, rock and roll, blues and jazz were all born within 500 miles of each other.

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There isn’t a spot on planet earth that has seen a soundtrack as influential as the American South. Go on – just try and name a region, anywhere in the world, that can sing a sweeter song than this: blues, rock and roll, country and jazz were all born here; gospel, bluegrass, soul, funk and R&B all grew up here; alternative and indie rock came here for college; and hip-hop settled here after graduation. Ethnically, politically and economically diverse, the sounds of the Southland cut through lines of race, color and creed and, in fact, owe a mound of debt to the composition of the South as a racially mixed land of milk and honey. How sweet it is.

Fire up a good road-trip mix tape and make your way to Music City, Nashville, home to country music and the most musicians per capita than any other city in the US (two for every 1000 residents, and those are just the serious ones). Drop your bags at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, a chain hotel anywhere else, a spot steeped in local music memorabilia here. Toss some funds in the jukebox and get your dancing shoes on.

Nashville’s honky tonk history begins at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, a straight shot east on West End Ave from the hotel. This 40,000-sq-ft facility will teach you everything you need to know about the origins of country music, from its humble beginnings in rural Tennessee to where we’re at today: if you don’t live in Nashville and are trying to make it in country music, well, you’re gonna find a lot of tears in your beers.

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TIME

8 days

DISTANCE

660 miles

BEST TIME TO GO

Mar – May

START

Nashville, TN

END

New Orleans,