Memphis is the largest city in the state of Tennessee with a population of 1,280,533. Equipped with a humid subtropical climate, Memphis has four seasons quite conducive to the music scene. This state is where rock n´ roll, the blues and soul music was born. This is where Elvis made his first recording, where Al Green and Otis Redding first expressed their music as well as where W C Handy first wrote the blues. Memphis museums include the National Civil Rights Museum, Graceland, Brooks Museum of Art, Pink Palace the Memphis Walk of Fame and the Mud Island River Park. With his guitar slung over one shoulder, a bronze Elvis statue right on Beal Street is a favorite place for a photo op as well as the larger-than-life likenesses of both B B King and Elvis at the Tennessee State Welcome Center.
Walking down the Memphis streets or mingling at the Sun Studio Café, you are most likely going to be able to hear Japanese, German and French tourists waiting to pass through Graceland´s iron gates. As the birthplace of one of the most important styles of music in the world, you are just as likely to hear Irish, Scottish, English and British accents. Many people treat a trip to Memphis as a type of pilgrimage on the road to discovering and getting in touch with major historical events that took place in the area of rock n´ roll.