Memphis Makes Me... Want to Listen

Memphis has quite a story to tell. And perhaps it’s a story best told through music.

Maybe that’s how the Delta became the cradle of the Blues and the home of Rock ‘n Roll. From the swampy, clangy tunes of Memphis Minnie and Muddy Waters to the brash, upbeat songs of Staxx, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis, the region has always used rhythm and melody to draw attention to the plight of its people, to bridge the gaps, and to draw communities together. There is nothing quite like the sound of Memphis music. It makes you stop and listen to the lyrics...at times woeful, at times hopeful, always down to earth. This music acknowledges pain. There’s a raw edge to it. The lyrics of the Blues spring from the African American spirituals of the enslaved, addressing quite literally the blues of the heart and the hope of the spirit. The lyrics of Memphis rock reflect a drive to grab life with both hands and enjoy every second between the struggle. This is who we are, this is what we face, this is how we deal. Memphis makes me listen.

1955 Memphis Newspaper Article spotlighting Elvis Presley’s first performance at the Levitt Shell outdoor amphitheater in Memphis, which was also the the first paid performance of his career.

But I’m not just listening to the music. I’m listening to the stories behind the music. I’m listening to the history of a people who have shown a brilliant resilience in the face of oppression and injustice, poverty and destruction. We’ve pulled through epidemics, floods, and even losing our city chartership in the late 19th century. We’ve been center stage on the fight for racial justice and grappled with inequalities and corruption in our own city. We’ve overcome our societal hardships too many times to count. This is why we identify ourselves as people with “grit”. Memphians have learned how to do the hard work; to struggle with the seemingly impossible. But it’s not just the raw determination to survive that sets Memphians apart, it’s our ability to take the difficulties of life and find something stirring and beautiful in them that forces the world to listen. 

From this wrestling, comes the great music. It’s our soundtrack, if you will. Wafting through the open club doors on Beale Street to the front porches in Midtown to the BBQ joints in East Memphis and beyond, the voices of our ancestry stand as a testament to what a Memphian can withstand. And we don’t just withstand. We don’t just survive. Memphis is always growing and evolving, stretching our limits...finding our place in the modern South. This will be a place of refuge, we tell the world. We will take your sick children and make them well. We will take you in and feed you richly. Our faith leaders will band together to work for unity. We will provide new opportunities for education, economic growth, and the arts. We’ve been through a lot. We have a story to tell and it’s not over yet. That makes me want to listen.