By Greg Tourial

Today we started by leaving Birmingham and traveling to Tupelo… the birth home of Elvis Presley. We walked around his shotgun shack house and read about his elementary school years. Billy also led a discussion with us on the history of rock and roll and the importance of this music in bringing the black and white cultures together.

We then continued up the road to Memphis. We began at Sun Studios, where such legends as Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and BB King got their starts and created rock and roll.

We then had some free time to explore Beale Street, the city’s main entertainment district. This was followed by a visit to the Smithsonian Rock and Soul Museum which explained the significance of Rock and Roll to our culture.

After dinner we finished the night at Rum Boogie Café where we heard a legendary live Blues band and had a great time dancing the night away to the music we had been studying all day.