We came to Memphis for different reasons, for Carol, Gracelands will be the highlight of our visit to the home of the blues,
for me it will be to stand on the hallowed ground of the home of rock and roll.
The first stop on our tour of the highlights of Memphis was the Sun recording studio. For lovers of rock and roll this is where it all started with a song called Rocket 88. A song about fast cars guys and the chicks they hoped to pull.
The studio was a time capsule from the 50s. Sam Phillips the owner, recording engineer and floor sweeper would use a single track, recording onto tape with the best live “take” being made into an acetate master disk.
This LP shows how the history of rock and roll came from Sun records.
This picture shows the million dollar jam session when Jerry Lee Lewis was recording with Carl Perkins when Elvis dropped in to catch up with the local gossip and Johnny Cash who had been due to record later got in on the act. We even heard a tape of some of the out takes from that session.
As Sams success had allowed him to move into bigger premises this tiny studio was left untouched and some of the early outdated equipment stored there, including this microphone which was used in the 50s in many recording sessions. Eldorado our tour guide said that when one visitor heard that it was likely that Elvis had sung into this mike she went up to the mike and licked it. Carol had to promise not to repeat this act.
But the guitars and drums in the sessions were there with the crosses on the floor where the artists had to stand to get the best out of the old style acoustics in the tiny studio.
We got to hear the 18 year old Elvis on his first ever recording. It cost him $3 to make and he only got one take. Sam did not make the disk for Elvis . This lady did and she fell for the velvet voice. Sam was not sure and it took her a year to get Sam to fix it for him to play with two other musicians. Eventually he signed him to a 3 year contract. After 18 months he sold Elvis to RCA records for $35,000. This was a lot of money in the 50s. With hindsight he might have asked for more but the money allowed him to stave off his creditors and hire more staff. With the next few years came success as he had gold records with Great Balls of Fire [ Jerry Lee Lewis ], Blue Suede Shoes [ Carl Perkins] and He Walked the Line [ Johnny Cash ].
As Eldorado played little riffs from many of these sessions all over the studio eyes were closed and a little discrete air guitar was played as many there had a Walter Mitty moment. I know I did.
Our next stop was Beale street, so nearly bulldozed in the fit of urban regeneration that overtakes town planners but some how allowed to survive, scruffy, tacky and very much alive today. We wandered up and down listening to the live music belting out from many free performances.
We even found a bar where the spirit of Coyote Ugly lives on and girls dance on the bar.
Walking back we met Echo, a white German Shepard sitting tall alongside his carriage driving owner, he was not the last dog we saw riding shotgun on a horse drawn carriage.
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