About Memphis

If you are a music fan planning a trip to Memphis, all we can say is, Come on to the Mecca!

Memphis, known as the birthplace of the blues and rock-and-roll, is the music epicenter of the universe. With Elvis Presley's Graceland, world-famous Beale Street, the Smithsonian Rock 'N Soul Museum, Sun Studios, and, of course, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Memphis offers visitors attractions no other city in the world can claim. 

And the music is not just in museums. On virtually every night of the week, Memphis' vast variety of clubs and concert halls are humming with every type of live music imaginable - blues, jazz, R&B, country, rockabilly, gospel, hip-hop, rock-and-roll, alternative, classical, reggae, and, of course, sweet Southern Soul. From tiny-smoked filled juke joints lit with neon beer signs, to concerts at the Memphis Grizzlies' new FedEx Forum and the new Cannon Center for the Performing Arts and every kind of venue in between, Memphis may not be the city that never sleeps, but it is certainly a city that's never without a constant beat.

But Memphis is more than just music. Awash in arts and culture, Memphis is home to two major art museums, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and The Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Its vibrant art gallery scene includes a concentration of activity in Downtown's South Main Arts District, where on the last Friday of each month trolley cars with champagne take visitors from gallery to gallery. In this same neighborhood, you can also take a horse-and-carriage ride to the incredible National Civil Rights Museum, at the site of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Just a few minutes away is the National Ornamental Metal Museum perched high on a bluff overlooking the Mighty Mississippi River and the only museum in the world dedicated to the art of metal-smithing. The world-class Memphis Zoo draws millions of visitors each year, who come to see Cat Country, Primate Canyon, panda bears, sea lions, and more.

 

As for dining, come with a healthy appetite. The barbecue capital of the world, Memphis restaurants offer dry ribs, wet ribs, chopped pork shoulder, sliced beef, barbecued Cornish game hens, and everything else that can be smoked to succulent perfection. Throughout the city, however, Memphis is also filled with restaurants of every flavor. From down-home soul food to five-star feasts, Memphis has it all - Continental, French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Brazilian, Caribbean, Cajun, Russian, Greek, Italian, Cuban, Colombian, German, Belgian, Hungarian - and all within just minutes from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

All that said, when you come to Memphis to visit the world's only full-fledged soul music museum, you should really get in the groove and have some Memphis soul food! All within a short distance of the Stax Museum, these four are a great place to start - all locally owned and all famous in their own right: The Fourway Grill, where Martin Luther King Jr. and many other Civil Rights leaders have eaten, has been a Memphis institution since the 1940s. Check out their salmon patties, fried catfish, yams, boiled okra, greens, pickled tomatoes, baked and fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, and peach cobbler. The Fourway is celebrating its 65th Anniversary in fall 2011 and it has been 65 years of sheer dining delight for generations of Memphians. This iconic American restaurant in the heart of Soulsville, USA is still a gathering spot for locals, politicians, Civil Rights leaders, tourism industry folks, CEOs, ministers, college professors, and just everyday people from the neighborhood who call it home away from home. Owned by Mr. Willie Bates, this is the place to eat when your soul has been filled with music and it's ready for some homeade turkey and dressing! Seriously, don't miss a meal at the Fourway if you come to Memphis.


 

At Alcenia's, which was recently featured on the Today show on NBC, you will first get  hug and kiss on the cheek from owner B.J. Chester-Tomayo  (pictured above) and then settie in for some of the best food you'll ever have - fried chicken, spicy smothered cabbage, rich macaroni and cheese, fresh turnip greens, hotwater cornbread, and fried green tomatoes. Not to far from there is The GayHawk, another culinary fixture that's been around for more than half a century. It has an all-you-can-eat soul food lunch buffet  (piled up platter pictured here!) that regularly features really crispy fried chicken, ribs, blackeyed peas, greens ,yams, spaghetti, baked chicken, pork chops and, well, you just never know until you get there. Even closer to the Stax Museum is Miss Ellen's Soul Food, where diehard soul food fans clammor for their collard greens and slow-stewed oxtails. All, of course, feature the "Wine of the South": sweet tea.

In Memphis, you'll find the people friendly, the city colorful, and your visit immensely enjoyable. For more information about Memphis and its many attractions, visit the following links.