In inner-city streets across Memphis or St Louis, the bars and clubs evolved from the
deep soulful voice of musicians like Big Mama Thornton, to the guitar licks of B.B. King—the father of rock and
roll—and the reverberating poetry of Muddy Waters. The scene would culminate in the fame of Elvis Presley and the
popularity of rhythm-and-blues, a more instrumental evolution, putting the guitars, drums, and pianos at the
foreground of the rhythm, rather than emphasising the singer’s voice. When Ike Turner’sRocket 88record was produced in 1951, by a
little-known DJ called Sam Phillips, it would mark the birth of Phillips’ Sun Records in the following year. And one
of the crucial, most deeply influential, labels in the story of rhythm-and-blues—and consequently of all music—would
be born.
Founded in Memphis in 1952, Sun Records was intended to introduce RnB to a wider
audience, and—controversially for the time—Phillips concentrated mainly on the city’s African American artists,
including Turner.Initially, Phillips didn't want to create a record label,
saying, “I was forced into it by those labels either coming to Memphis to record or taking my artists elsewhere.”
Usinghis strong Delta-Blues connections, Ike acted as a scout for Phillips,
bringing in the likes of Howlin’ Wolf to the label. And because the producer encouraged amateurs to record their
songs, B.B. King, Junior Parker, and various other future stars would cut their first tracks at his Memphis
Recording Service, and would later join Sun Records’ historic collection of artists. From Charles Bradley to Sam
Cooke, Freddie King, John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley, the record company built a catalogue of classic blues music,
and was to attract global attention with the signings of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. Regardless, its story is forever
attached to the dive bars and clubs of Memphis—the Mecca of RnB. Even long after Sun Records stopped focusing on
emerging African American musicians when purchased from Phillips in 1969, its influence on the southern city’s
musical heritage, and that community, remains.
Memphis’s Beale Street and the surrounding three blocks are still energised by the
blues—officially declared ‘Home of the Blues’ by Congress in 1977. It was briefly seen in the recent Elvis film, as
the young singer escapes to join his friends and listen to the sounds of B.B. King and Ma Rainey—highlighting the
area’s influence on his own music and performance style. Famous spots like B.B. King’s Blues Club remains open
today, and visitors flock to the Blues Hall Juke Joint for a rotation of emerging singers and guitarists. They say
that the best of Beale is in Handy Park, where you can watch the famous rag-tag band in the afternoon. But each stop
offers the same deeply woven sounds from over the past century—a nostalgic trip to another time. As with most
legendary music quarters, there is a suspicion among Memphis natives that the neighbourhood has lost some of its
authenticity thanks to tourism. Where do they go? Robert Gordon, author ofIt Came From Memphis, suggests Wild Bill’s on Vollintine
Avenue—where the juke crowd bring their own drinks and dance to covers of James Carr and Otis Spann. For more RnB,
there’s also the Buccaneer Lounge, Hi-Tone, and Dad’s Place in the Clarion Motel. On Sunday night, Gordon adds, you
might even catch Ben Cauley on trumpet—the sole survivor of the plane crash Otis Redding, singer of 1967’s legendary
‘The Dock of the Bay’ died in.
For all the bright lights, Memphis is still a hip and soulful town. You will easily
find the spirit of Sun Records along those neon-washed streets. The sounds of Little Richard and Charles Bradley, or
B.B. King lives on as the birth of popular music and remains a part of every beat in every pop song on the radio. In
Memphis, it flourishes in the same establishments, preserving an atmosphere simply unavailable beyond its borders.
Pop music owes a large thanks to Memphis. In the words of blues artist Jackson C Frank, even after a century of the
blues, they still run the game.
Inspired by the rhythm-and-blues of Memphis, Tennessee,listen to
The Rake Records, Volume One
Now on Spotify
