A Visit to the Stax Museum of American
Soul Music in Memphis & More!
Last week my wife and I took the day off from work and took our son to Memphis, as he was home from college for Spring Break. It’s just shy of a four hour drive for us from our house, and I go myself every few years to visit Graceland and Sun Studios. I’ve always enjoyed a day trip to that city because there are great places to eat and so much music history and cool music-centric museums there! So wOn t took off at 4am from our house and hit the road for Memphis, Tennessee for a day of fun.
This trip our main focus was Stax Museum of American Soul Music, one of the places I’d never been to before. But our first stop in Memphis was Gibson’s Donuts, which has been in business since 1967. It was about 8:30am when we pulled up that Tuesday morning and people were in and out in full force! After choosing from their extensive selection of donuts, we sat at one of their booths, people watched, and dug into our box of sweet treats! Those donuts were wonderful! I honestly wish we had bought more to bring home for the next morning’s breakfast, but we all agreed that Gibson’s Donuts would be a morning ritual from now on when we visit the town!
After the amazing donuts was STAX, which far exceeded my expectations and a place I will recommend from now on for those visiting Memphis. For those that do not know, STAX records was record label and studio based in Memphis that started in 1957, and was wildly successful throughout the 60s and early 70s. Primarily known for soul and blues music, the label was interracially owned and operated and featured both black and white artists during very turbulent times in American history. The museum is a very professional and world class presentation that takes about 1.5-2 hours to complete on a self-guided tour, depending on how long you spend at each exhibit and how much you read. The museum follows the path of black gospel music mixing with delta blues and white “hillbilly” music coming over the radio on WSB out of Nashville - ending in this beautiful amalgamation of early soul and rock and roll! Greats like Tina Turner, Ottis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes, and more are all well represented here and my family thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits and 11 minute film at the beginning of the tour! Personally, I liked seeing Duck Dunn’s Precision bass and Steve Cropper’s Telecaster and Princeton tweed amp.
Following the morning tour we went to The Arcade Restaurant which has been in business since 1919. It was a frequent lunch spot for Elvis, Johnny Cash, and other Memphis area legends. I’ve always enjoyed stopping there when in town, partly because of the history, but also because I'm a sucker for a vintage diner! And this one fits the bill. They have an AMAZING corner entrance with a stunning neon sign out front! You can’t miss it!
After lunch we visited the legendary Sun Studios, this being my 6th visit to those hallowed grounds! I love that place, obviously. There is some REAL mojo going on there. This was where Sam Phillips transformed the “Memphis Recording Service” into a recording hotbed of important and music industry (and cultural) change. You had blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf, Little Milton, BB King, and others recording there. Then you have the first recordings of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Lee Riley (one of my favorites!), and more! This place was the mecca for rockabilly and early rock and roll! They have a great collection of memorabilia including Dewey Phillips radio studio, intact, that was moved there for display. Dewey was the first person to ever play Elvis Presley on the radio and thus changed music history! And then there is Sun Studio itself, left nearly intact, which you can walk around in looking at classic photos of music legends that recorded there, vintage instruments, and admire how a small and humble place could have such a deep impact on the music industry and American culture!
Finally we drove across town to Shangri-La Records, a vinyl record shop that has been in business since 1988, making it the oldest operating record store in town. It is situated in a large house and is filled with new and used vinyl and CDs… and tapes as well! They had a great selection and my son bought a record he was looking for. After that stop we called it a day and headed home. Memphis has always been fun for me, and on this trip I learned some new things, got to eat some really good food, saw two great historical studios, classic music gear, and spent quality time with my family! That’s a great day in my book!