HEY PORTER

James and Bruce visit Sun Studios, a walk along Union Avenue from downtown Memphis. If you are a fan of music history, I cannot recommend this highly enough. It borders on a religious experience. The only tip I have is go early in the morning, before the coach parties arrive, and book your tour for maybe forty minutes after your arrival time, rather than the next one. This is because when the tour before your slot disappears, you almost have the place to yourself for a while.

Where you are sitting isn't Sun Studio itself, of course, as that is the building next door, the old Memphis Recording Service run by Sam Phillips, and some of blues greats recorded there before Elvis and Johnny Cash walked through the door. The place where you will be sitting before you go on the tour is just as special, of course, as back in the fifties it was a diner, Taylor's, and it is where Elvis signed his first contract, where Marshall Grant used to go for his lunch, and where Johnny, Luther and Marshall would go to relax during and after recording sessions. You can enjoy a coffee and take in the history. And buy stuff, of course.

The advantage of going early is also that once you have finished, you can walk down Beale Street, where there are bars. A lot of bars.