CMT Blog: Archive

Even though the building itself is fairly modest, a visit to the landmark Sun Studio in Memphis can be an overwhelming experience. After all, this is the place where an 18-year-old Elvis Presley asked a secretary if he could record a song for his mother's birthday. When our tour paused in the actual studio, our upbeat tour guide pointed at an "X" on the floor, about an inch from my feet, and told us that Presley stood in that precise spot during his sessions. And when our guide cranked up a cool rockabilly tune, one woman on our tour -- an international visitor who talked to her friends in a language I didn't recognize -- couldn't contain herself and started dancing right there in the studio.

The guided tour goes upstairs first to tell the story of Sun founder Sam Phillips and his early recording sessions with the likes of B.B. King, Ike Turner and Howlin' Wolf. Although he was a devotee of the blues, Phillips' Memphis Recording Company's motto was unbiased: "We Record Anything -- Anywhere -- Anytime." That included the Prisonaires, five black men from the Tennessee State Penitentiary System. Presley had read a story about the recording, which prompted his first visit to 706 Union St.

It's astonishing to consider that Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Charlie Rich all recorded in that same room as part of the Sun roster. Their black-and-white photos hang from the acoustic-tiled walls, which have essentially been untouched since those early days. At the end of the tour, you can have your photograph taken with the vintage microphone that Phillips donated to the studio when it opened as a tourist attraction. In addition, Sun also remains active after-hours, just in case somebody forgets to buy his mother a birthday present.