If you're going to Memphis, do two things: Visit Sun Studios and go to Beale Street on a Sunday afternoon. Everything else, the barbecue joints, Graceland, etc. are worth seeing, but if you do those two things, you'll have had a trip to Memphis worth remembering.
I spent a couple weekends there a little bit ago. Here's what I saw:
Beale Street
I checked out Beale Street twice while I was there, the first time on a Sunday afternoon and the second on a Saturday night. Saturday night was fun, lots of drinking and craziness ensued, but going on a laid back Sunday afternoon was the best way to do it. I spent most of my time at Mr. Handy's Blues Hall, which from outward appearances, seemed to be the last real juke joint on Beale Street. Everything else looked like it was catering to the same Crocs and jort-wearing schlubs I saw at Graceland the day before.
For the most part, it was just me, the bartender and a blues band. Every now and again someone would stop in for a moment, including at one point a group of Asian tourists. When they told the bandleader that they were from Alabama, the band ...