If you are a real soul/blues fan, you will need a few hours to see and hear everything on offer here. The mp3 guide is fairly informative and lets you go round in your own time. As mentioned by others, the name is a little misleading, as really it's more about how Blues music progressed into soul and rock and... more

The place gives you a great overview of the Memphis music scene and its history - the sounds, artists and record studios. I would put it below Graceland (duh) and Sun Studios. Probably check out Stax before this as well. If you have time, great. If your time is limited, there are better places. Only thing is at this place,... more

Had fun listening to old music .After a short film about the history of Memphis music I was give a headset for a self guided tour of the museum. I enjoyed seeing the clothes that the performers had worn and the jukebox that you could pick your old favorites to listen to. more

On July 26, 2009 we toured the museum and we found the museum to be very interesting. We liked that we could move through it at our own pace with head sets. It told of the background to Beale Street and the music. I would allow about 1-1/2hrs. to go through at a comfortable pace. They also have a small... more

It's an audio guided tour with a lot of information. However, the audio doesn't always really pertain to what you are seeing, and it's frustrating to be listening to x while looking at y and trying to read z. We spent 3 hours in the museum and did not listen to all of the songs. There are several "jukeboxes" that... more

This museum is owned by the Smithsonian, which shows in every facet of its character. While it was definitely a nice overview of everything in Memphis music, it seemed to waver on its message and lost the attention of my wife and me several times. The audio guides have TOO many choices and are long-winded, while the visual elements double... more

Note we took this tour the day after the National Civil Rights Museum. Where the NCRM had room after room of information & displays, this museum had like 4 rooms total. Lots of pictures on the walls with factual information. The headset walks you through. Liked the video at the very beginning and the one or two videos throughout. But... more

While my family enjoyed the Graceland and Sun Studio tours, this one was a snoozefest. I also feel like this museum intentionally downplayed the influence of Elvis and some others by focusing mainly on the soul aspect. Very little rock here. It was almost laughable the way a single afterthought wall display mentioned the Beatles at the end. I wouldn't... more

I agree with previous posts, this is the place to start. The museum does a great job of chronicling the history of rock and soul. Easy to understand and you travel at your own pace. more