There’s no reason to leave the Southern States of America without a broad insight into its musical background. Our first visit was to the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum. This started life as an exhibition – named ‘Rock ’n’ Soul: Social Crossroads’ – by the Smithsonian Institute to commemorate its 150th anniversary. The archive became so extensive that it now forms the content of the museum. To get the full benefit it would require a day, if not many days, to delve through its materials.
The exhibition tells the story of how people from all social backgrounds and races broke through cultural barriers to create new musical genres such as Blues, Soul and Rock ’n’ Roll. These originated from the stories of Southern farmers expressing their trials and tribulations, hopes and dreams, through music and song, which is not dissimilar to the origins of the sea shanties created by maritime folk.
One display summed this up succinctly saying: “Rural music – blues, country, gospel, field hollers and work songs – resonated with the rhythms of the land. Each generation added new instrumentation and styles, creating the songs that gave texture and poignance to family, love, work, tragedy and frustration”.
As one delves more there is a commonality is such songs. They lightened the load of often mundane workers’ tasks and lives. They were a means of releasing frustration, but also offering hope. Often the rhythm of the song played along with the rhythm of the work.
Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum takes the visitor through to the Memphis musical heyday of the ’70s and beyond, and includes references to studios including Sun and Stax.
This can be explored via visual displays but also interactive means such as audio tours and records played through its jukebox systems. As a bit of fun one can also act out a studio recording, and Ted managed to indulge himself.
Some notable information that added to our knowledge was finding out that Albert ‘Sunny’ Burgess recorded Hank Williams’s ‘My bucket’s got a hole in it’. Despite the title, if one listens to it online it will get many people jigging.
Our day from here took on a more sombre mood when we travelled to the Lorraine Motel, now a museum. This is actually the venue where civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jnr was assassinated on his room’s balcony in 1968. The assassin fired from a boarding house opposite.
In that era most hotels were for whites only, but the Lorraine Motel welcomed blacks and whites. Regular visitors included musicians Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin and Otis Reading.
While being a memorial to Dr King, the site – now named the National Civil Rights Museum – is a place for educating about the African-American fight for equal rights. When walking around the expansive interior it is easy to forget that this was once a motel until one comes across a bedroom and kitchen. These are the rooms that Dr King was staying in.
From the outside the museum clearly looks like a motel, and on the balcony where Dr King was shot hangs a floral tribute. His cars are parked outside as if he is still a guest.
The building from which the assassination took place is also part of the museum. This is now an exhibition centre which covers the search for the assassin and his arrest. As time was limited we did not get the chance to see this part of what is an extensive archive into civil rights.
But we were then to lighten the load travelling to our next destination in Natchez some 300 miles from Memphis. It was here that we got the chance to visit and interact with some homeowners.
The first involved a piano recital from the owner of the house, which is stacked with family memorabilia. And that is justified, for the Joseph Newman Stone House had been acquired in 1877 by a gentleman of that name and has remained in the Stone family for more than 147 years. The current owner, Joseph Britton Stone, is the great grandson of the original purchaser and who, not only told us about the family history and showed us a wealth of artefacts, but also treated us to a recital of a work by Claude Debussy played on a Steinway piano.
The house, which is quite small, is built in the style of a Greek temple, but encompassed a private billiard hall. Everywhere one looked there were intriguing historical items. Some of those that caught my eye included a book entitled ‘The history of the mild Yellow Fever in 1848’ (the area had been hit many times by the disease); beautiful ‘pocket doors’ which slide back into the surrounding walls when fully opened; and a chaperone chair which comprised three seats in a circular fashion. There were also many wonderful maps. The house was a treasure-trove owned by a most interesting individual.
The doors slide back into the interior of the walls alongside
Not a lot of romantic talk would be carried out by lovers here, accompanied by their chaperone
We then moved on and rather than having supper in a restaurant we were entertained by owners of an original plantation house, which enabled us to see how the interiors were decorated in their heyday.
Supper was served in the elegant surrounding of yesteryear
Such houses would have been those used by the plantation owners to entertain and impress their guests. It gave us some idea of what life would have been like for the plantation owners, but tomorrow would bring a greater insight into the life of the slaves.
Copyright: Words and photos Sue Barnard 2024