Sun Studio
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
1 September U2024
Chapters: Achtung Baby Live • Concert Videos • General Admission • Zoo Station at the Venetian • The V-U2 Experience • Sphere Experience and Postcard from Earth • Vegas Legends • Venetian and Tao Beach • Vegas, Baby! • Epilogue: Sun Studio
When in Memphis, Tenn., taking the Sun Studio tour is a must. With any luck, you'll have Graham Winchester (one-half of the Memphis rock duo called Turnstyles) as your tour guide. He's a working musician, a tour guide and a music history buff. A triple threat.
The Studio Tour and the Drums
It's a walk through history both literally and figuratively. Explore a museum filled with rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, soul and so much more.
Then step through the office where Sun's secretary, Marion Keisker, greeted a complete unknown by the name of Elvis Presley. Perfectly setting the stage and adding to the atmosphere, background music for my tour was supplied by Graham at the piano.
Step into the studio. There's a rather conspicuous drum kit near the entrance. What's it doing there? It's taking up so much space. These are my thoughts as I made my way around it and watched Graham jam away on the piano.
Then the information came. Nothing in Sun Studio is under glass. It's all there to be used. It's a very vibrant and in-demand studio today.
And those drums? They're from U2's Rattle and Hum sessions in 1987. Larry left the drum kit for other musicians to use and it's been a fixture of the studio ever since. Larry also set a tradition. Other artists who've recorded there have left their own mementos and instruments for the next acts to enjoy.
So, of course, the video ends with me taking a seat behind Larry's drums. Oh what a feeling!
The Microphone
Befriended by hundreds of music legends through the decades — and even kissed by Mick Jagger — this microphone was in Sam Phillips' private collection and he personally returned it to the studio for use and display provided it was not kept under glass. That was only weeks before Sam died in 2003.
Who was Sam? He was a legend in his own right. Music producer. Sun Records founder. Sun Studio founder. And he — thanks to the goading of Marion Keisker — gave that kid named Elvis a chance to record a song.
The rest is rock 'n' roll history.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tour.
I Go There With You...
U2
Mattopia Jones covers the world's loudest folk band:
5 continents • 19 countries
39 cities • 11 tours • 48 venues
77 shows • 1 Sphere
3 special appearances
6 boys dreaming out loud
0 restraining orders
Bono: Author, Actor, Factivist
The Stories of Surrender one-man theatrical stage show was conceived as a promotional book tour for Bono’s phenomenal “MEmoir” and the tour expanded into an extended series of shows on Broadway.
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