Graceland Mansion.
includes a pool table room, TV room, and the den with Polynesian or Tiki furniture. Nicknamed the “Jungle Room,” the den features figurines and chair armrests carved to look like jungle animals. Elvis chose the theme because it reminded him of Hawaii where he vacationed and starred in movies. Graceland’s entertainment and museum complex exhibits Elvis’ platinum records, movie memorabilia, and history. Exhibits include many of his flashy white and cool blue jumpsuits, capes and jewelry worn when performing. Other exhibits highlight his military service and Hollywood backlot movie sets, while another section is devoted to his late daughter Lisa Marie. My favorite is Elvis’ car collection including his mother’s 1955 Pink Cadillac Fleetwood and the 1973 Stutz Blackhawk he last drove just before his death in 1977. Like other Memphis artists, Elvis got his start at Sun Studio in its original building, which still holds recording sessions in the evenings for local musicians. I joined one of its daytime hourly tours and learned that although studio founder and legendary producer Sam Phillips at first wasn’t that interested in the young Elvis, the singer got his break in a moment of desperation. “He began the audition with a lot of slow Dean Martin- style songs, trying to show his unique three-octave range voice and doing what he thought he needed to do to get a recording contract,” recalls tour guide Josh Hurley. When the day was ending, Elvis realized he was running out of luck.
“A very nervous Presley then began pacing the floor, thinking he had just blown the one shot he had at getting discovered. So, guitar in hand, he started strumming this old obscure blues song that he remembers from his youth in Tupelo called ‘That’s Alright Mama,’” continues Hurley. “A short time later, Sam bursts out the door and walks right up to Elvis and says, ‘Son, you’ve been holding out on me. Play it louder. Let’s get this recorded.’” Memphis is the home of the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum, which displays artists’ actual guitars, performance garb and other personal items. Catching my eye are Stevie Ray Vaughan’s snakeskin boots and one of the silver bands he wore on his signature black hat. There’s also Robert Cray’s Stratocaster seen on his adjacent album cover. The Blues Foundation, like Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, inducts new members each year. “It’s part of our motto to keep the blues alive,” says Foundation President and CEO Kimberly Horton. “So, we have to recognize blues players who make the music and give us the craft and the art to keep the history and the heritage going.” Another famous Cadillac, Isaac Hayes’ gold-plated, peacock-blue 1972 Superfly El Dorado, is a key exhibit at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. A former recording studio and record company founded in an old movie theater, the museum showcases soul music’s beginnings from Southern gospel music including an actual reassembled Mississippi Delta church, to an exact replica of Studio A where soul legends including Hayes, Otis Reading, Booker T. & the MG’s, and Wilson Pickett recorded their albums. The Hall of Records showcases all the many albums
MUSIC MECCA: MEMPHIS
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