The Memphis Blues
Ever since the 1920s, Memphis has been a Mecca for blues music lovers all over the world. If you’ve ever been to Beale Street in downtown Memphis then you know that this is the heart of the Memphis music scene. And it hosts every style of music from jug bands to jazz, and of course the blues.
After WWII, the electric instruments were born into the Memphis Blues. And during this time musicians flocked to Memphis with these electric instruments. They would all gather on Beale Street, and soon there became recording studios up and down that street. One of the most famous studios being Sun Records, who recorded the like of Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, just to name a few.
The Memphis Blues is so self expressive, and was an attempt to capture that sound of the singing sharecroppers and workers. At first, the sound was nicknamed the gutbucket blues, but settled into simply the Memphis Blues.
Still today on Beale Street songs are written and recorded in small studios by artists with a dream. And the streets of Memphis are just as alive as ever with the sound of the Memphis Blues. Go there and you’ll see the bars and clubs filled up every night with tourists and locals who will sit and listen for hours and be touched by the music.
Why does the Memphis Blues have such staying power? Many people believe it’s because it is so much more than just music. It is a culture and a lifestyle that just continues to get passed down generation after generation. And chances are it will continue to be enjoyed for many generations to come.
Filed under: Blues Music
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We loved Memphis! We visited there for The Limu Company conference in 2008. Joey wants to go back to the B. B. King Club on Beale street to have some more gumbo. He said he’d never had better!
Craig enjoyed having his picture taken with Carl Drew, possibly the oldest active blues guitar player today. After Craig mentioned Lowell Fulson, they played some of his music when they took a break.
Joyce Henderson (dressed in red) belted out the songs with electric energy. We lost the pictures, because some vicious person sent a virus to my desktop.
We will return to Memphis when The Bulk Mail Blues Man is ready to put his blues project together.
He played in a club called The Lafayette House in December 1986 with a band called T. J. Jam and the Wreckin’ Crew. That club was just down the street from B. B.’s Club, but it wasn’t opened when we were there for the TLC Convention.