Memphis bills itself as the Home of the Blues, and markets Beale Street as “the street where blues was born.” But since the street’s redevelopment in the late 1970s and early 1980s, blues has been hard to come by on the street. The demolition of the Black residential area around the street destroyed its original customer base, and the redevelopment amounted to a white takeover of the street. Beale Street was taken from Memphis’ Black community, and made a destination for white people.
While most establishments have basically cover bands, on certain nights, Earl “The Pearl” Banks and his band The People of the Blues perform at Blues City Cafe’s Band Box on Beale Street, and provide really the only authentic blues experience in Memphis’s most famous tourist attraction. Banks is in his 70’s now, and his drummer Ralo Brown is not all that much younger, but on nights when they play, they offer a taste of what the old Beale Street must have been like.
On the night I was there, the young Memphis harmonica player Yellow P showed up to sit in with the band. He is an amazing and talented young man in his own right, and he is one-half of the duo Memphisippi Sounds with guitarist and drummer Cameron Kimbrough.
There are a few places in other parts of the city that feature live blues, but Banks is really the only traditional blues player on Beale Street, and is not to be missed.