Liverpool gave us the “British” sound. New York’s Broadway was home to lavishly produced show tunes. Appalachia spawned Bluegrass, and Nashville sent county music around the world. But no city, region or country equals the musical heritage of Beale Street in Memphis. In a short six-block – stretch running from the Mississippi River wharfs through the south end of downtown Memphis, came the blues.. rock ‘n roll … AND rhythm & blues.
Beale Street blues are the real thing. Unlike the orchestrated blues developed in Chicago, Kansas City and New York, which were scored and played the same way every time, Beale Street blues are more ad-libbed. Each singer modifies the words.. . no band ever plays the music the same way twice. Beale Street is music that came from the tiny towns and farms, black churches, juke joints and medicine shows of the Mississippi Delta region. It tells the story of daily experiences, mostly among the poor. And it all came together on Beale Street as Black folks migrated to Memphis in the years following the Civil War, It matured in the 1900’s; under the guidance to W;C; Handy, author of the St Louis Blues, which was actually written in Pee Wee’s Saloon on Beale Street. And it reached out nationally via records by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Ruby Wilson and later, B.B. King.
In the 1950s, white musicians and would-be singers also migrated to Memphis and found a fascination with Beale Street. Sam Phillips built a small studio on the corner where Beale Street ends· at Union Avenue. And something spectacular happened. Phillips recorded Elvis Presley doing his interpretation of previous blues records (“That’s Alright Mama”, “Hound Dog,” etc…) and with the help of other Sun Records artists including Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, “Rock ‘n Roll” was born. Simply put, Rock ‘n Roll was white guys trying to sing Delta. Blues.
Meanwhile another phenomenon was taking place in and around Beale Street. Young black musicians were creating something called, “Rhythm & Blues.” Again, simply put, Rhythm & Blues consisted of blacks speeding up the blues and adding electrical instruments for a hard bass beat. Banker Jim Stewart heard he potential; converted an old theater into a studio and Stax Records exploded R&B across America’s white radio dials; Otis Redding, Rufus and. Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Booker T & The MGs s along with the teen daughter of a Memphis minister who later became the Queen of Motown, Aretha Franklin, became household names. BB King, W.C. Handy, Elvis, Rufus. It all happened in an electrifying atmosphere along a street of pool halls, saloons, bawdy houses, honky tonks and dry good stores. From a commercial viewpoint, Beale Street was the site in the 1940s of the first supermarket… a concept that let the customer stroll down the aisles and pick their own groceries as opposed to the storekeeper picking and bagging the merchandise. And from a cultural aspect, Beale Street was the last venue for Martin Luther King’s freedom marches…
While a marvelous experience of bands, singers, sidewalk acrobats and Elvis impersonators awaits, even the three blocks now preserved as a National Landmark cannot impart the true heritage of Beale Street. Certainly our restaurant cannot provide the emotional experience of a walk down Beale Street, But we hope you’lI enjoy a bit of the art and cuisine as we pay tribute to the world’s crossroads of music culture.
We welcome your ideas and comments.