Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum — Memphis, Tennessee

The Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum at 191 Beale Street, developed in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, is the most comprehensive account of how Memphis produced the musical forms that changed the world. The museum traces the story from the Delta field recordings of the 1930s through the development of rhythm and blues on Beale Street, the birth of rock and roll at Sun Studio, the soul revolution at Stax Records, and the ongoing musical culture of the city. Its curatorship — drawing on Smithsonian resources and Memphis expertise — places local stories in their national and global context with unusual rigour.

Memphis's claim on American music history is extraordinary: Sun Studio gave the world Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and the blueprint for rock and roll; Stax gave it Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Albert King, Booker T. and the MGs, Isaac Hayes, and the template for Southern soul; Hi Records gave it Al Green and the Willie Mitchell sound; Beale Street itself gave it the blues. No other American city of comparable size has contributed more to the development of popular music.

The Rock 'n' Soul Museum is adjacent to FedExForum arena in downtown Memphis, a short walk from Beale Street and the National Civil Rights Museum. It is open daily. The museum's audio tour — using devices rather than fixed displays — allows visitors to move through the material at their own pace, and the combination of instruments, ephemera, and recorded music creates one of the more immersive music museum experiences in America.