GOING TO MEMPHIS

James and Bruce do what Johnny Cash did, left Dyess and went to Memphis, alth9ugh it was via Germany and his stint in the Air Force.

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Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant were already in Memphis, working as mechanics on Union Avenue alongside Johnny's brother, Roy, on the site of what is now Lit Supplies. Johnny visited his brother, got friendly with Luther and Marshall, and the rest, as they say, is history.

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But it's all about timing. When Johnny arrived, Elvis was just starting to make waves in Memphis, and when Johnny, Luther and Marshall decided to make a recording there was one obvious place to try: Sun Studios, because it was further along Union Avenue, where Luther and Marshall worked. Take any of those elements out (Luther and Marshall working alongside Johnny's bother, time of his arrival, location of their workplace), and perhaps Johnny would have remained a bad salesman in Memphis.

The approach into Memphis from Arkansas, over the Mississippi River

Memphis Redbirds ballpark

Peabody Hotel

Union Avenue, the walk to Sun Studios, somewhere in the far distance

Tennessee welcomed us

Automatic Slims on South Second Street, where James and Bruce have breakfast

Downtown Memphis

The garage where Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant worked together, and where they first met Johnny Cash