Excluding Graceland, Memphis has three museums devoted to Memphis Music. Graceland is devoted purely to Elvis and his career. My father has a cousin from Sweden who made a special stopover in Memphis not to see me but to see Graceland as he always adored Elvis. Graceland is something that Fans would want to see at least once.
Memphis Music Museums are 1) Stax 2) Rock and Soul and 3) Sun Studio. A free shuttle van transports tourists from Graceland, Rock and Soul and Sun Studio. It actually took me going to all of the venues to really understand what is going on. People come in to see Graceland from all over the world. Because Graceland is geographically isolated, a shuttle service provides safe and easy transit for visitors. Rock and Soul is a comprehensive museum, covering different sounds. Furthermore, R&S’ downtown location and extended hours make it the most accessible. R&S is open even later when the FedEx Forum has events. Sun Studio is a National Landmark and still used as a recording studio. It provides a history of Elvis’ early career, the Elvis sound, and the evolution of rock and roll.
Recommendation: Don’t get me wrong, I liked the Stax museum. Stax’s focus was on Soul music where as R & S was all encompassing. If you LOVE soul music, go see Stax. Together, all of the Memphis Music Museums tell a story. But Stax is semi-redundant. If I had to limit my choices to two, Stax wouldn’t make the cut. It is less comprehensive, noisy, and in the ghetto.
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