The road to racial harmony ...

I've been to Memphis twice, but I've never been to Graceland. Graceland is the secondmost toured home in the United States (the White House holds the number one spot). But for me, the Elvis mansion, his cars, airplanes, and meditation garden are an epilogue to the Memphis story. I'm still reading the early chapters.

There are two other places every tourist should visit in Memphis. One is the Sun Records studio at 706 Union Drive. This is the little hole in the wall where Sam Phillips recorded the first rock 'n' roll record in 1954. The other place is the Lorraine Motel at 450 Mulberry Street, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The building is now the heart and soul of the National Civil Rights Museum. The Sun Records studio and the Lorraine Motel represent two very different approaches to racial harmony.



In July 1954, Elvis Presley entered Sun studio, put his own spin on black recording artist Arthur Crudup's That's All Right Mama, and rock 'n' roll was born -- a fusion of black blues and white country music. Elvis Presley and other Sun artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison became famous by integrating white and black musical genres. Their music changed the entire fabric of American culture.

In all other respects, racial harmony was a distant dream. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which catapulted Martin Luther King Jr. to national attention, was still a year and half away. It was followed by a decade and a half of house bombings, church bombings, public beatings, jail sentences, and even intimidation from the FBI.



Fast forward to 1968. In most respects, segregation still ruled the day. Martin Luther King Jr. had consistently advocated a non-violent approach to civil disobedience, but on April 4, 1968 his opponents used lethal force to cut him down. As King lay bleeding on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the hopes and dreams of a segregated America were dashed. Riots ensued. Cities burned. Racial discord between blacks and whites reached all time highs.

Today, I wonder if the secret to racial harmony is more about recording studios and less about civil rights legislation. In Sam Phillip's studio, white and black cultures marinated with each other -- naturally, organically, spontaneously. By the late 1960's rock audiences made little distinction between black and white artists. In April, 1968, the month of King's assassination, Jimi Hendrix (another black American) was beginning the final recording sessions of his most famous album, Electric Ladyland, ranked by Rolling Stone as #54 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Hendrix played stages in the north and south to popular and critical acclaim from white and blacks alike. (He was playing in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the day of King's assassination.) His best-known sidemen, bassist Noel Redding and drummer John "Mitch" Mitchell, were both white.

The next time you find yourself at odds with someone, find a recording studio. Sit down, listen to each other play for a while, then try playing together. Chances are you'll make some beautiful music.