Nashville/Memphis must sees?

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joninc
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Nashville/Memphis must sees?

Post by joninc » Fri Sep 25, 2015 12:23 am

I am gonna be in Memphis and Nashville in a few weeks for 2 days each and would love any recommends for must see places and eats. I am a big music nerd and am hoping to see stax/sun studio/Graceland and take in a show at the ryman.

I'll have a little time to sneak in a few other things so tell me what I need to know!

Also I love tacos and bbq and espresso. And records.
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Post by kslight » Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:37 am

I'm assuming you'll hit Third Man Records? I met Jack White there a few halloweens back.



Food wise I wasn't impressed by the choices I made for the very brief time I was there, but maybe I just don't like "Memphis" bbq considering I live in KC....

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Post by cgarges » Fri Sep 25, 2015 9:46 am

My wife and I spent three days in Memphis this summer and didn't get to see everything we wanted. It's an amazing town.

As a music nerd, I can tell you that the American Soul Museum (located in the re-built Stax theatre) was superbly done. It had a TON of artifacts related to the genre (and not JUST Stax stuff, either). I learned a lot and got pretty choked up at times. And as a studio geek, it was REALLY cool to see how the Stax studio was laid out and to see the "correct" console that John Fry donated to the museum (which was the original Madison Avenue Ardent console).

Graceland was Graceland. I'm glad I went, but I probably won't ever go back unless I'm in town with friends who haven't been. The house was TOTALLY worth seeing and quite charming, despite all the kitsch around it. Also, the airplanes were awesome. Getting tickets is weird and confusing, so unless there are specific areas that you want to see (the car museum was okay, but not THAT thrilling), I'd get a ticket for the tour of the house and grounds (you can skip the "artifacts" building, unless you're a real Elvis nut) and you can buy tickets for each individual area AT each individual area, not just at the main ticket counter. That's not clear when you go to the ticket booth and I wish someone had told me that. If I could do it again, I'd buy a ticket for the tour of the house and then go to the airplanes and buy a separate ticket to see them. But it's something you probably SHOULD do while in Memphis.

The grounds of the American Ironworks Museum are really pretty and there's a really nice view of the river from the top of the Indian mounds there. We got there too late to see the museum (everything closes at 5pm in Memphis), but it was a nice way to chill out for a bit in the afternoon and that museum is supposed to be really fascinating. From what little of it was saw, I totally believe it.

We had an amazing BBQ meal at Central BBQ, right behind the Civil Rights Museum (which was incredibly stunning to see). If you go to Central, DON'T get the full rack of ribs. It's REALLY too much. BUT, if you go, order banana pudding, even though it's not on the menu. It will blow your mind! On previous short trips to Memphis, I've fallen in love with the ribs from Cozy Corner, but they had a fire there back in the spring and are currently re-building. We didn't make it to the Civil Rights Museum, but that's first on the list next time we go. And there will be a next time. It's a very cool town.

Thanks to Jeff Powell and Matt Ross-Spang, we got a tour of Sam Phillips recording, which is currently being revitalized. That is an absolutely STUNNING piece of American music history and when they really get it up and running, it's going to be a true powerhouse of southern recording, like it was in the 60s. Totally worth seeing, if you can call and arrange a tour around their session schedule. I'm currently trying to work out doing a record there in the next few months.

I've seen Ardent, too, and I've always loved the output from that studio and it's cool to see.

We visited Sun, too, and the tour is pretty great. Worth doing.

The Memphis Drum Shop is one of the best drum shops on the planet.

At some point, you should just walk down Beale Street at night, just so you can say you did it and so you can see it. That's about all I have to say about that.

We had absolutely exceptional meals at The Trolley Stop (near Sun-- terrific lunch spot), Central BBQ, the quasi-"secret" restaurant above BB King's (Itta Bena-- it's $$$$, but worth it and the excellent Susan Marshall has a regular gig there on Wednesday nights), and another super nice place over on the east side. I'll try to find out the name of that place. I'm spacing on it now.

I played at Ernestine And Hazel's for the Memphis Pop Festival with Mitch Easter some years ago and that place seemed really cool. The burgers smelled great!

We got a GREAT deal on rooms at The Madison Hotel, which was really nice and totally cool. I THINK my wife got the deal by just calling and asking.

We went to see the ducks at the Peabody one morning and that was a fun, touristy thing to do, too.

We had some really great drinks at Alchemy downtown and the lobby bar of the Peabody is REALLY cool! The drinks and desserts we got there were stellar and that's just a great place to people-watch.

That's my brief Memphis schtick.




I've spent TONS of time in Nashville and really like that town. Most of my time there has been work-related to an extent, so, for instance, I've never been to the Ryman and the Country Music Hall Of Fame, but that's supposed to be really great.

I HAVE been to RCA Studio A twice and that's an amazing piece of history. Sound Emporium and Ocean Way are also very cool studios to see.

Chris Mara at Welcome To 1979 would probably be happy to show you around. His fantastic studio is over on the up-and-coming west side, right near The Stone Fox (and really cool bar/restaurant) and one of my favorite Nashville establishments, Coco's Italian Market, a terrific place to get relatively cheap Italian eats.

You should drive around Music Row (17th Ave South) and just look at all the music businesses that (still, amazingly) exist. It was super-impressive some years ago, but it's still pretty cool to see how much business is done in that little area. The adjacent streets have some cool stuff, too, so it's worth driving around there.

Also, the East Iris neighborhood is pretty great, in terms of exciting studio stuff. House Of Blues, Sputnik, County Q, and Blackbird (among others) are over there. (So is a cool southern cuisine restaurant called Monell's.) That's also sort of near Guitar Center Nashville, which typically has a better selection of used stuff than most Guitar Centers. 2nd Gear Music (a relatively newish used store) is also over in East Iris and that is pretty great, especially for guitar players. You could probably get a tour of Blackbird by calling and it would be worth it to see if Mark Rubel could show you around over there before one of his classes in the morning.

I played at the world famous Bluebird Cafe a few years ago and that is a truly great venue. They have a lot of songwriter nights with some really great, very well-known folks.

Other great Nashville spots:

Jackson's is one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

Fork's Drum Closet is a really, really terrific store. Corner Music (next door to it) is kind of cool, too.

Check the schedule to see if there are any cool bands playing at The Basement. It's a super cool venue on the south side with a TERRIFIC record store called Grimey's right above it. I've played there many times. In fact, check out The Basement website for pictures of the time METALLICA played there just a few years ago!

There's also a great Tennessee record store chain called McKay's that has locations in Knoxville and Nashville and that place is REALLY great.

If you're a cocktail fanatic, the incredibly hard to find Patterson House (right at the end of music row-- Division Street and 18th Ave S-- in an unmarked building across from a dry cleaner or a mini-mart or something-- there's a high end restaurant upstairs called the Catbird, I think) is worth the wait to get in and they make really, really, really excellent drinks. The Red Door is also a notable bar in the same area.

If you plan on doing a bunch of this kind of music stuff, I'd recommend trying to find a place to stay that's over near Music Row or Vanderbilt/Belmont universities.

You CAN do Broadway downtown, but I wouldn't invest much time or effort in that. It's pretty much like a 100% country version of Beale Street.

If I think of anything else, I'll try to post it.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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Post by joninc » Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:15 am

Thanks a lot!
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:32 pm

Great list Chris.
For Memphis I would add the Civil Right Museum. It's housed in the Loraine Motel where MLK was killed. I had no idea when I went. Got off the bus, turned a corner and there it is pretty much exactly the same as all the news photos from that terrible day. It really knocked me over. Not an easy/fun/light way to spend the afternoon but it's really moving and will stay with you.

For Nashville I'd add Grimey's record store.

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Post by cgarges » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:06 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:Great list Chris.
For Memphis I would add the Civil Right Museum. It's housed in the Loraine Motel where MLK was killed. I had no idea when I went. Got off the bus, turned a corner and there it is pretty much exactly the same as all the news photos from that terrible day. It really knocked me over. Not an easy/fun/light way to spend the afternoon but it's really moving and will stay with you.

For Nashville I'd add Grimey's record store.
I mentioned both, even though we didn't actually got the Civil Rights Museum. Grimey's is above The Basement (on 8th Avenue South) and yes, it's a GREAT store.

I had the same experience in seeing the Lorraine. When we went to Central BBQ, we followed Jeff and Matt over there and when we turned that corner, my first thought was, "Hey, check out that restored motel," and then I realized that it was The Lorraine and I totally got chills on my arm, then realized that it was the museum. Just seeing that balcony was a totally powerful experience.

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sat Sep 26, 2015 6:34 am

cgarges wrote:
A.David.MacKinnon wrote:Great list Chris.
For Memphis I would add the Civil Right Museum. It's housed in the Loraine Motel where MLK was killed. I had no idea when I went. Got off the bus, turned a corner and there it is pretty much exactly the same as all the news photos from that terrible day. It really knocked me over. Not an easy/fun/light way to spend the afternoon but it's really moving and will stay with you.

For Nashville I'd add Grimey's record store.
I mentioned both, even though we didn't actually got the Civil Rights Museum. Grimey's is above The Basement (on 8th Avenue South) and yes, it's a GREAT store.

I had the same experience in seeing the Lorraine. When we went to Central BBQ, we followed Jeff and Matt over there and when we turned that corner, my first thought was, "Hey, check out that restored motel," and then I realized that it was The Lorraine and I totally got chills on my arm, then realized that it was the museum. Just seeing that balcony was a totally powerful experience.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
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Low Society

Post by supafuzz » Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:37 am

Look for the Band Low society in Memphis and the band Blackfoot Gypsies in Nashville.
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Post by joninc » Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:04 pm

anyone know where Woodland studio is?

Also can i have lunch with Roger Moutenot or Mark Nevers?

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Post by joninc » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:10 pm

just wanted to say thanks for the recommends. Had a great time exploring Memphis and Nashville...

made it to Sun, Graceland, Stax, Central BBQ, Peg Leg Porker BBQ, Gibson factory tour, Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis.

and in Nashville - walked Music Row, got a tour of Ocean Way (wow), went to see a show at the Ryman and had some great food. checked out east nashville - cool music shops, coffee, walked by Woodland studios and soaked in the atmosphere of all the cool old houses and stuff

a dream come true!
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