Welcome to the latest edition of Gem and Si somewhere in the world on some day or other at some time or other 😄.

Memphis was an odd place. Apparently, from being a vibrant hub the city had a massive decline in the 80s and 90s, and in part that is still visible. There has been a lot of effort to redevelop it, but that is far from finished. We also found it to be the quietest place, in terms of people going about their business, that we have been to for some time. Beale street is their music hub, and after about 8pm it does come to life. Before that it is as quiet as everywhere else. There is some great music, but we had to look for it. In the end the best was in the Rum Boogie Cafe, great name 😄, a good mix of rock and roll and blues 🎸. Attached to this was a Juke Joint (Google it) that was suitably rough and ready. Favourite fact of the day no. 1……the term Jukebox comes from Juke joints 😁.

Obviously we had to do the studios whilst in Memphis. Sun Studio….OMG. That place is still a working studio at night, tours during the day. The museum bit is upstairs and is basically a collection of lots of stuff used in the studio since the 50s, all explained by knowledgeable guides (all of whom weren’t born until the 90s or later!). Very cool. Then it gets better….the studio is exactly as it was. Same room, same lighting, same control booth, same sound proofing, same floor, same piano and stool, same mics etc. There is the picture of the million dollar quartet on the wall (the one that always comes up if you search it) but you then look down and the piano and stool in front of you are the ones in said picture that Elvis is sat at, talking to the others !!!! On the floor are crosses where the singer, guitarist, bass player etc are supposed to stand when recording (do stand when recording)…..but it’s the original floor so they are the same crosses that Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, BB King, Rufus Thomas, Ike Turner etc etc etc, along with a host of famous musicians, stood on!!!! Suffice it to say the place is amazing. Favourite fact of the day no. 2……Sam Phillips didn’t like Elvis to start with and just shelved the recording. It was Marion Keisker, his assistant, that actually saw something and got Elvis back, teamed him up with house musicians and sped up the tempo….bingo. Favourite fact of the day no. 3……the local DJ who first played Elvis, Dewey Philips, is responsible for the term “smash hit” as he used to literally smash records over the mic🎙.

Stax museum and studio tour is also great but not quite the same as it is now just a museum, and located in a very run down part of town that we were warned not to walk around. They do however have some amazing stuff from the likes of Otis Reading, Issac Hayes, Booker T and the MGs, Sam and Dave etc etc. The funniest things are Issac Hayes’s car and desk. Think gold bling to the max 😄. By far the best thing is the organ that Booker T & the M.G.s recorded Green Onions on 🎹. An absolute classic song still played a lot today all over the world.

We then came back down to earth with a bump when we went to the civil rights museum. It is located in the motel where Dr Martin Luther King was shot, and followed on really well from what we did and saw in Atlanta, but took it a step further with detail. It is not jut about him, it is about everyone involved in the movement, which is good. They have preserved the motel room and building exterior exactly as was, a bit of a shrine perhaps?

We did go and see Graceland, but only as a drive by. We are not big Elvis fans so paying a lot to go in seemed pointless. We both concluded that Graceland (which includes a museum that you have to go through first) is probably the biggest tourist trap/money making machine we have seen for some time, second only to US theme parks like Disney. It reflects what Elvis was to the music industry, money. Sad really 😔.

We moved on to Nashville, via Elvis’s birthplace in Tupelo. The house is the original house, and they were very, very poor. It is called a shotgun house as that type of hand built wooden house is so small, two rooms on one level, that you can fire a shotgun through one end and it will come out the other!

Nashville is altogether different. It is big, clean, busy and the downtown area is full of music. Broadway (Country) is their version of Bourbon Street (Jazz) and Beale Street (Blues/Rock and Roll), but bigger and busier. Everyone says there is free live music in every single bar (or Honky Tonk as they call them), and that is no exaggeration. There appears to be an unlimited supply of highly talented musicians, all gigging for tips. Fantastic in the evening. Beyond the music there isn’t much of interest, it is a.n.other US city and we’ve been there and done that 😄.

Had to swap the car with Hertz whilst here, which is annoying, as we have done so many miles it needed an oil change 😄, and the parking battle continues. For a country that is 100% wed to their cars and where their often isn’t another option, parking in cities can be ludicrously expensive 🙄.

Off to the Grand Ole Opry later today and then to St Louis tomorrow.

P.S. Gem found more Americana

P.P.S. It’s still really hot