Memphis claims ownership of just about every major blues, soul, and early rock & roll artist, and if you count all the artists that made the trek to record at the iconic Sun and Stax studios, those claims have legitimacy. Sun Studio, which recorded the likes of Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, is the size of a small studio apartment, located on a nondescript corner of downtown Memphis. To think of all the talent that has passed through its doors makes standing in the diminutive structure a goose-bump of a rock & roll experience. Pressings of those original 45 rpm singles are for sale if you have the ability to drop $50 – $75 for each plate of vinyl.
It was the Black Cadillacs that brought me to Memphis however – a rootsy blues-based band that was headlining at the scruffy Hi-Tone club, but Beale Street captured my heart. A music mecca, not as ranging and raucous as Bourbon Street (see my blog dated June 29, 2014) but fully packed with music clubs laden with local talent, Beale is a blues fan’s dream. The music starts at 10am, even on a cold winter day, and goes full bore until 3am. Cover is never more than $5, and the local food is Mississippi good.
Probably my favorite moment of the short road trip though, was finding a small historical marker in front of a defunct brick building. I had to move a trash can in front of the marker to see what had occurred at this lonely corner. In 1909 the lower floor was the site of the P. Wee Saloon, where a young musician penned a song at the cigar counter. After being re-worked the song is now considered to be the first blues song ever written, titled “Mr. Crump” at the time, but later renamed by posterity as “Memphis Blues.” The composer, W.C. Handy, the father of blues music, is commemorated in a statue on the edge of Beale Street. What a fantastic find.
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