Walking in Memphis

ROCK’N’SOUL MUSEUM

Across town to the Rock’n’Soul Museum, fittingly directly across the street from the home of Gibson Guitars, at the crossroads of Beale Street and the legendary Highway 61 “The Blues Highway”. The trip gives us a chance to get our first close look at the mighty Mississippi river, our “travelling” companion for the next week or so and breathtaking in scale.

The Museum itself was a joint venture with the Smithsonian Institution, the first ever, to appropriately showcase that institution’s staggering collection of relevant exhibits. Rather than merely focusing on the individual stars, the emphasis is on the social and economic environment that led to such an outsized explosion of creative output in this relatively small part of the world. As one might expect from the Smithsonian, the quality of exhibit is excellent and the audio tour through the seven galleries is first class, being informative, entertaining and with over 100 songs. A must-see and deserving of sufficient time to take in the breadth of what is on display.