It is basically a short drive from Jackson to Memphis, via a nice walk past Paris and Union City, we arrive at a brisk journey of 424 km. Almost every town in the Memphis area has produced a famous musician. For example, the town of Nutbush is the birthplace of Tina Turner.

Memphis is known for two legendary people, civil rights activist Martin Luther King and superstar Elvis Presley, who have both left their mark on 'The River City'. In addition, the city along the Mississippi River is the birthplace of blues music, a genre that is well represented on historic Beale Street. But you will also regularly hear other music such as Soul and Rock 'n' roll here.

Beale Street has already been mentioned, but what about: The Sun Studio, where greats like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded their hits. Graceland, the estate of Elvis Presley, about 15 miles south of downtown Memphis. The glorious villa offers a unique glimpse into the life of the King of Rock 'n Roll. The National Civil Rights Museum that the heartbreaking struggle that African-Americans fought for freedom and equal rights. Or the Memphis Zoo, the zoo that is considered one of the best zoos in America.

You can start the Mississippi Delta in many places, but perhaps Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, is the most appropriate. Beale Street Historic District is also a possibility, but if you come to Memphis with music in your ears, it is mainly thanks to Elvis Presley who ensured the great fusion of southern music.
Everyone knows that the blues was born here, but nobody can tell you where exactly and how. The most acceptable version is that chants on the plantations with strong African characteristics were combined with traditional country music where everything that produced sound could be an instrument, washboards, basses consisting of one string strung over a bucket, empty bottles: everything can be used. Route 61 is therefore the music route of America. Along this path, music from the delta with the moving blacks first flowed to Memphis, and later to Chicago, where it became the Chicago Blues in electrically amplified form.

In this 4-star route you will drive on beautiful good roads, through beautiful surroundings, and you will also stop regularly to take some pictures in this route.

History:
Today's Memphis has its origins in 1819. Before the emergence of the modern city, however, there were already settlements of the Chikasaw and Mississippi Indians. From the sixteenth century, Spanish and French explorers undertook expeditions in the area, but it was not until the early nineteenth century that the Chikasaw tribe sold their rights in the area and thus enabled the creation of Memphis.

Memphis was founded on May 22, 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson, the later president of the United States. The trio had grand plans for the settlement, which was named after the capital of ancient Egypt. After its establishment, a period of rapid growth followed, with Memphis, because of its favorable location on the Mississippi, becoming an economically important place for the cotton industry and the slave trade. During this period a large part of the population consisted of slaves and the explosive growth of the city was only halted by the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Tennessee belonged to the southern states that were pro-slavery. Memphis was captured by the Union's northern troops after just over a year and remained outside of a brief uprising (led by Nathan Bedford Forrest, the later founder of the Ku-Klux clan) without much difficulty in the hands of the Union.

The city barely had a chance to recover from the war due to various outbreaks of yellow fever. Because the cause of the outbreaks was unknown, it was very difficult to control the disease. It even went so far that Memphis went bankrupt in 1879 and (temporarily) lost its city rights. In the 1990s, the city picked up again and modern Memphis emerged. A new flowering period in the first half of the twentieth century made Memphis the most important trading place in the world in the field of cotton and hardwood. It also grew in other respects. Jazz and rhythm & blues (r & b) were further developed in the black clubs until finally rock & roll came into existence. The upper class of the south came together in the chic hotels in the center of the city, such as the Peabody Hotel. In 1916, Memphis was also the first city in the world with a self-service supermarket.

In the 1960s, Memphis (like the entire South) was in the news worldwide because of the struggle of the black population for civil rights. Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968 on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel.