Elvis, B.B. King, and the best ribs on earth all came from this Tennessee river city

It’s all still here on the bluffs

You can stand on the bluffs above the Mississippi River in southwest Tennessee and feel the weight of what started here. Memphis gave the world the blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, and Isaac Hayes all built careers in this city. More than 13 million visitors showed up in 2024, spending roughly $4.3 billion.

And somewhere in those streets, over 100 barbecue joints are slow-cooking pork right now. The music is just the beginning.

Beale Street has hosted the blues since 1903

Beale Street goes back to 1841, and after the Civil War, it grew into a center of African American commerce and culture.

W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” started working here around 1903 and wrote “Memphis Blues” and “Beale Street Blues” on this stretch of road.

By the 1920s, B.B. King, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, and Memphis Minnie were all performing here. Congress declared it the “Home of the Blues” on Dec. 15, 1977.

Live music still fills the club seven nights a week.

A small studio on Union Avenue changed music forever

Sam Phillips opened Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue on Jan. 3, 1950.

A year later, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats recorded “Rocket 88” inside, widely considered the first rock ‘n’ roll single.

Phillips founded Sun Records in 1952 and launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison.

On Dec. 4, 1956, all four walked in at the same time for the “Million Dollar Quartet” jam session. Sun Studio still records music and runs guided tours.

Walk through Elvis’s Jungle Room at Graceland

About 500,000 people a year walk through Elvis Presley’s home at 3717 Elvis Presley Blvd. Only the White House draws more visitors for a home tour in the United States.

You move through the living room, the music room, and the famous Jungle Room, where Elvis recorded two albums. Out back, the Meditation Garden holds his grave.

Across the street, the entertainment complex displays his car collection and two private jets. Graceland earned National Historic Landmark status in 2006.

Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel still has its wreath

A wreath hangs on the balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, 450 Mulberry St., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Walter Bailey bought the motel in 1945 and named it after his wife Loree and the jazz song “Sweet Lorraine.” During segregation, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Louis Armstrong stayed here.

The museum opened in 1991 and added over 40 new films after a $27.5 million renovation. Exhibits cover five centuries of civil rights history.

Stax Records ran an integrated studio during segregation

Brother and sister Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton turned a movie theater at 926 East McLemore Ave. into a recording studio that produced hits from 1959 to 1975.

They ran a racially integrated operation during the height of segregation.

Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and the Staple Singers all recorded here.

The 17,000-square-foot museum holds over 2,000 artifacts, including Isaac Hayes’ gold-trimmed 1972 Cadillac Eldorado. A reconstructed Mississippi Delta church shows the gospel roots of soul.

Dry rub or wet sauce is the only question that matters

Memphis barbecue centers on pork, especially ribs and pulled pork shoulders, slow-cooked in a pit.

You order your ribs “dry,” coated in a spice rub of salt and seasonings, or “wet,” brushed with sauce before, during, and after cooking.

Charlie Vergos opened Rendezvous in a basement on a back alley in 1948 and helped put dry-rubbed ribs on the map. Every May, the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest draws over 100,000 visitors.

Guinness lists it as the largest pork barbecue contest on earth.

Five ducks march through the Peabody Hotel lobby every day

The Peabody Hotel recently finished a $19 million renovation of its 464 guest rooms, but the real draw walks on two feet.

In 1933, General Manager Frank Schutt placed live duck decoys in the lobby fountain after a hunting trip, and the tradition stuck.

Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, taught the ducks to march a red carpet starting in 1940 and served as Duckmaster for 50 years.

Five North American mallards march down at 11 a.m. and back up at 5 p.m. daily. It costs nothing to watch.

The 321-foot pyramid is now a Bass Pro Shop

Memphis built a 321-foot-tall pyramid on the banks of the Mississippi in 1991 as a 20,142-seat arena, a nod to the city’s Egyptian namesake. It sat vacant for years before reopening in 2015 as a Bass Pro Shops megastore.

Inside, you’ll find cypress trees, an indoor stream with live fish and alligators, a bowling alley, restaurants, and a 103-room hotel.

Ride the elevator to the glass-floored observation deck near the top for a wide view of the river and the city skyline.

Shelby Farms Park is five times the size of Central Park

Shelby Farms Park covers 4,500 acres, making it one of the largest urban parks in the country. Over 40 miles of trails cut through it for hiking, cycling, running, and horseback riding.

The Shelby Farms Greenline stretches 10.65 miles and connects the park to Midtown Memphis. More than 20 bodies of water let you fish, kayak, canoe, or paddleboard.

A bison herd has roamed the grounds since 1989. If you bring a dog, the off-leash park covers more than 100 acres all by itself.

Walk a 2,000-foot scale model of the Mississippi River

Overton Park spreads across 342 acres in Midtown Memphis and holds the Memphis Zoo, walking trails, and one of the largest remaining old-growth urban forests in the country.

A few miles away, Mud Island River Park sits on a peninsula in the Mississippi and holds the Riverwalk, a scale model of the Lower Mississippi stretching over 2,000 feet.

You walk alongside it from Cairo, Ill., to the Gulf of Mexico, with every twist and city along the river built to scale. The skyline and the real river sit right behind you.

Memphis keeps you longer than most cities do

Visitors stay an average of about 3.8 nights, and the city earns that time.

Seven stops on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail run through Memphis, more than most American cities can claim.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum recently unveiled a hologram interactive exhibit, only the second of its kind in any American museum.

The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, a Smithsonian research project, digs into the social history behind the music. You come for a weekend and leave understanding something you didn’t before.

Explore Memphis’s music and history firsthand

You can cover a lot of Memphis on foot, especially downtown between Beale Street, the Peabody, the Civil Rights Museum, and the riverfront.

The city sits about four hours from Nashville, five from Atlanta, and three from Little Rock, and Memphis International Airport handles direct flights from major hubs.

If you plan to hit the big music spots, the Memphis Music Pass bundles admission to the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Sun Studio, Graceland, and the Stax Museum into one ticket. Check the official website for current prices and hours.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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