After a year of quarantine, shutdowns and limited movement for most Memphians, this summer looks to be a busy one for travel and entertainment.
While the Bluff City boasts plenty of world-class music museums of its own, for those looking to make an easy regional road trip, there are a number of intriguing options. There are several spots in Mississippi and Tennessee — some newly opened, others recently expanded — that every music lover should check out.
Here are five musical destinations worth visiting.
Grammy Museum Mississippi
Where: 800 W. Sunflower Road, Cleveland, Mississippi
Hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; noon-3 p.m. Sunday
Online: grammymuseumms.org
At the time it was opened in 2016, the Grammy Museum Mississippi was only the second Grammy museum to be built. The first is located in downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. Live complex.
Owned and operated by the Cleveland Music Foundation — a nonprofit founded in 2011 — the 27,000-square-foot museum is housed on the Delta State campus. Like its sister museum, the Mississippi incarnation is, as its mandate sets, “dedicated to exploring the past, present and future of music, and the cultural context from which it emerges.”
If Cleveland seems an unlikely location for a Grammy museum, consider the list of popular musicians in the 20th century — pioneers, innovators and superstars alike — who were born, brought up or rooted in Mississippi. From Charley Patton to Son House, Jimmie Rodgers to Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters to B.B. King, Elvis Presley to Bo Diddley, the Staple Singers to Sam Cooke, Charley Pride to Bobbie Gentry, arguably no other state can claim as much important native talent.
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The museum mixes public events, educational programming, traveling exhibits and a permanent Mississippi-centric display that introduces visitors to the impact of the state’s “songwriters, producers and musicians on the traditional and modern music landscape.”
Current exhibits include “Celebrating Garth Brooks” and a tribute to Memphis soul maestro “Willie Mitchell & The Music of Royal Studios” (both are on display until early September). On May 14, the museum will celebrate the grand opening of “MTV Turns Forty: I Still Want My MTV,” marking four decades since the launch of the iconic network. As part of the celebration there will be free admission to the museum all day.
B.B. King Museum
Where: 400 Second St. Indianola, Mississippi
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
Online:bbkingmuseum.org
Hailed as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, B.B. King was given honorary doctorates from Ivy League schools, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and Kennedy Center honors, membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and more than a dozen Grammys. But perhaps no honor in his life was greater or more meaningful than the opening of the B.B. King Museum in his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi.
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Since 2008, when the first visitors passed through the doors of the $15 million, 20,000-square-foot facility, the museum has served as more than a tribute to the world’s most famous blues musician. It’s also provided a lesson in the forces that shaped his life and that of the Delta.
Aided by a rather remarkable selection of personal artifacts, pulling together everything from the sandstone footing of a house that King — orphaned and taken in by a family of white rent farmers — lived in as a youth, to a collection of guitars, the museum offers a 360-degree view of one of American music’s true giants.
On June 5, the B.B. King Museum will officially expand with a new addition. The expansion will house a series of exhibits that celebrate the last decade of King’s life (he died in 2015). The museum will also mark the completion of its Memorial Garden and a life-size bronze of the King of the Blues. Those wishing to attend can register for free on Eventbrite.
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum
Where: 401 Gay St., Nashville
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and Thursday-Saturday
Online:Musicianshalloffame.com
While various music museums celebrate specific artists, labels or genres, Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum puts the focus squarely on the players — often unheralded or unsung — who have helped shape the history of popular sound.
Located in an old warehouse just south of the city’s honky-tonk district on Lower Broad, the hall is the brainchild of Joe Chambers, a Nashville songwriter and guitar store owner. Since opening in 2006, the museum has hosted a selection of touring exhibits and now houses an official Grammy gallery as well.
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The permanent displays feature instruments, photos, movies, recordings and other artifacts that document the great legacy of session players and touring musicians from across the country — from Memphis to Muscle Shoals, Detroit to Los Angeles, and elsewhere. There are also exhibits dedicated to legendary producers and to the studios that helped create the soundtrack of our times.
National Museum of African American Music
Where: 510 Broadway Ave., Nashville
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
Online:Nmaam.org
In January, after more than two decades of development, the National Museum of African American Music opened in downtown Nashville. Located across from Ryman Auditorium, the 56,000-square-foot space features seven galleries dedicated to the history of gospel, blues, jazz, R&B and hip-hop. The NMAAM also boasts a 200-seat theater and will host a series of rotating exhibits.
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NMAAM bills itself as the “first entity to tell a comprehensive story about the impact African Americans have made on American culture through music.” A selection of instruments, stage costumes, sheet music, recording equipment and photographs help explain and explore many musical genres and styles created, influenced or inspired by African Americans.
Although Nashville has long been associated with country music, the museum’s presence there is fitting given that the city also has a rich legacy of Black music and artists that NMAAM will celebrate. And the museum promises that a tour will illuminate Nashville’s significant influence and share how African American music inspires others around the world.
Elvis Presley Birthplace
Where: 306 Elvis Presley Drive, Tupelo, Mississippi
Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday
Online:elvispresleybirthplace.com
As the story goes, in 1934, Vernon Presley borrowed $180 for materials to build a small frame house in East Tupelo. It was in that little house on Jan. 8, 1935, that the King of Rock and Roll came into the world. Some 80 years later, fans from all over the world still flock to the birthplace of Elvis.
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The City of Tupelo bought the home and surrounding property in 1957. Today, the house is still in its original location and has been restored and decorated with period furniture and is open to the public for tours.
The house is part of the Elvis Presley Birthplace park, which also features a pair of Elvis statues, and the nearby Elvis Presley Birthplace Trail, which connects to downtown Tupelo and welcomes more than 80,000 visitors a year.
