Memphis Music and Barbecue – Memphis Tennessee [March 12, 2017]

Fried Pickles and Memphis Barbecue at BB Kings, that is Lucille (one of them) in the background

Memphis.  Birthplace of Rock and Roll.  Memphis Blues.  Memphis Barbecue.  It sounded like a great destination for us.

The restored Orpheum Theater off of Beale

We had some business to take care of in the morning, so our first stop of the day was lunch along Beale Street.  Beale Street is known for all the music clubs, bars and restaurants celebrating the city’s rich musical traditions.  Lunch started with fried pickles.  Dana had a pulled pork barbecue sandwich and Russ had gumbo.  We listened to a Memphis musician sing a mixture of blues, and rock songs as we ate.

Display from the Rock N Soul Museum

Originally, Beale Street was where businesses that catered to Black folks in segregated Memphis were located.  White teenagers would come down to Beale to the nightclubs to listen to “black music.”  Our next stop was the Rock N Soul Museum.  Memphis music grew from a mixture of: songs sung while working in the cotton fields, black and white gospel music traditions, country music, and the blues.  A group of three pioneering music labels, Sun, Staxx and Hi integrated the music industry in the town, and nurtured the distinctive voices of music in Memphis.

Sun Records

The Sun record studios was where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and other early Rock and Roll artists were discovered.  The tour is lots of fun.  This was where the famed Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis, Johnny, Jerry Lee and Carl) took place.  It was actually a publicity stunt that Sam Phillips, the Sun owner, orchestrated one day when Elvis dropped in for a visit while Jerry Lee and Carl were recording.  The musicians hung around after the newspaper photographer left and jammed.  Phillips secretly recorded the session.  The recording was never released (Sun no longer owned Presley’s contract so did not have the right to record him).  The recording was found after Phillips death, negotiations ensued and it was then released.  We bought a copy.  Do you know what they sang and played?  Gospel music, Christmas music (it was December), some old country music!

BB King's

We returned to Beale Street for dinner at BB Kings while we listened to a rock band sing and play familiar rock and blues tunes.  It was a bit touristy, but the food was good and the vocalists were exceptional.  We started with fried pickles and had pulled pork barbecue.  When in Rome…