MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE | 291 MILES | 5 HOURS
If sound is the backbone of a city, Memphis, Tennessee, is all about the blues, greeting visitors with a Southern spirit that’s gritty yet genteel.
“Memphis is a city that’s constantly evolving. We’re a city for everyone with a lot of heart and authenticity,” says Lauren Berry, PR Director at Memphis Tourism.
Sept. 16 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the “Beale Street Blues Boy.” B.B. King started as a disc jockey, later shifting into live performances and a Sun Studio recording career, although Stax Records is more often credited with creating the soulful “Memphis sound.” Both sites are open for tours. Another legendary Memphis king, the lasting allure of Elvis Presley still inspires pilgrimages to Graceland and Elvis Presley’s Memphis, where admirers — perhaps some of the 13,500 fans who saw The King in concert at Roberts Municipal Stadium on Oct. 24, 1976 — can view his classic cars, airplanes, gold records, and gold lamé jumpsuits at and around his former home and gravesite. Since its launch in 1991, more than one million visitors from around the world have paid their respects at the National Civil Rights Museum built around the historic Lorraine Motel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968.
You’ll smell Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous before you see it. Spicy-sweet smoke wafts through the alley the landmark restaurant calls home, luring hungry guests for mouthwatering racks of dry-rubbed ribs. If crispy white and dark meat are more your jam, beeline to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, and be prepared to wait in line. Open 24/7, Gibson’s Donuts satisfies sugar cravings with its signature glazed confections, while nostalgia-tinged Arcade Restaurant honors Elvis by keeping his favorite fried-peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich on the menu and preserving a diner booth in his memory.
With luxurious trappings and National Register of Historic Places status, the Peabody Memphis Downtown isn’t called the “South’s Grand Hotel” for nothing. Even if you’re not an overnight guest, don’t miss the twice-daily March of the Ducks, a charming spectacle that ushers five resident Mallards from their rooftop roost to the majestic main lobby fountain and back again. The wilderness-themed Big Cypress Lodge fits right into its soaring, pyramid-shaped Bass Pro Shop confines on the Mississippi River, where rustic-chic accommodations include a treehouse, duck cabin, and fly-fishing lodge options. Sports fans will remember the pyramid as the former home court for the University of Memphis’ men’s basketball team and the NBA’s Grizzlies; it also hosted the Memphis Pharaohs of the Arena Football League in 1995-96 before they relocated to Oregon the following year.
To underscore the way Memphis continues to surprise, Berry draws a link to songwriter and Evansville native Philip Lawrence’s handiwork: “Ever heard of Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’? That was recorded at Royal Studios,” she says. “You can come here to reflect on our legendary music history … but you can also learn and experience the new Memphis sound of hip hop and R&B that’s also making waves and putting Memphis on the map.”
