Sun Studio

Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the most historically significant recording studios in American popular music. Founded by Sam Phillips in 1950 as Memphis Recording Service, the small storefront studio became a birthplace of rock and roll when Phillips recorded Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash in rapid succession between 1953 and 1957 — a period celebrated as the Million Dollar Quartet era. The studio operated as an active commercial facility through the 1970s, and since 1987 has functioned simultaneously as a working studio and public museum, preserving its original equipment and decor. The guided tour, running approximately one hour, takes a maximum of 20 visitors at a time through the reception area and into the live recording room — the same 30-by-20-foot space where That's All Right (Elvis, 1954), Whole Lotta Shakin' (Jerry Lee Lewis, 1957), and Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins, 1956) were captured on tape. The original RCA ribbon microphone used by Elvis and the Sun artists is preserved and displayed in the room. Visitors can stand at the vintage microphone while the guide plays original recordings, creating an atmospheric experience of hearing the music where it was made. The tour covers archival photographs, vintage Ampex tape machines, and a condensed history of Sam Phillips's broader role in discovering and promoting Black Southern musical artists — including Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and Ike Turner — before the rock and roll recordings. A small cafe on the second floor overlooks the studio floor. Sun Studio is located 1.5 miles east of Beale Street and pairs well on a same-day Memphis music itinerary alongside the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the National Civil Rights Museum.