1282 Airways Blvd.
Located just below the highway.

Gandys_Prime_Time
2160 East Person Avenue
In the Castalia Heights Neighborhood

Big "S" Grill and Lounge opened it's doors in the 1960s.
Located in a residential neighborhood just down the road from STAX Records.
1179 Dunnavant Street

Bottoms Up Lounge
2014 Lamar Avenue
South of the Cooper-Young neighborhood

Earnestine & Hazels
531 S. Main Street
Located in downtown Memphis.
Around the corner from the infamous Lorraine Motel.
Formerly a Brothel in the 1930s.

The bar is covered in records and posters of local musicians such as Patsy Cline, Elvis and BB King.

As you approach the stairwell to the second story, a reminder has been painted on the fuse box by the management.

The upstairs rooms, formerly used by the ladies of the Brothel, are filled with left over furniture. This room comes with a defunct 1950s refrigerator, a gutted Seeburg jukebox and a pinball machine depicting movie and television stars from back in the day.

The long corridor leads to a myriad of rooms with left over furniture and bathtubs.

1580 Vollintine Avenue
Located in a residential neighborhood.
Wild Bills was opened in the 1960s by Willie Story, who passed away in 2007. When the new owners took over, they repainted the sign to honor it's founder, Willie.

A cork board hangs in the club with snapshots of patrons celebrating New Years Eve in 1999.

Old black and white photos of Willie, various receipts and bills are pinned to the wall.

Leron, a loyal and longtime patron of Wild Bills, sits next to a photo of himself from twenty years earlier.

Friday 7p.m.
Customers start drifting in after work for a game of cards with friends and a 40 oz. beer. Leftover birthday decorations hang from the ceiling. The Christmas lights are a permanent fixture at the bar.

'Cowboy' celebrates his birthday at his favorite watering hole.

MC of Soul, Charles Cason.

Shirley comes out to celebrate the owners' 50th Birthday.

Friends of the new owner, Michelle, come out to celebrate her 50th Birthday.

The Diva, Joyce Henderson, and the Wild Bills Band.

Saturday 2am, patrons drinking 40s and dancing to the Wild Bills Band.

Saturday 3am, friends of the new owner, Michelle, come out to celebrate her 50th Birthday.

BLACK AND BLUE

“Searching for the last of the Delta Juke Joints”

I can remember the first time I stepped foot into a juke joint in Memphis, Tennessee. It was an unassuming, red wooden storefront in a residential neighborhood, with a hand painted sign above the door that read “Wild Bill’s Live Entertainment”. Little did I know how this would change my perception of the blues forever.

Juke joints date back to the mid 1930s. They sprung up along the Mississippi Delta after the emancipation and catered to the rural workforce, black plantation workers who were barred from white establishments. They were a gathering place set up in ramshackle buildings where people came to drink, eat, dance and listen to blues music.

Memphis is no stranger to these informal social clubs. It’s the home of places like Big S Grill, Bottoms Up Lounge, Earnestine and Hazels, Gandy’s Prime Time, His and Hers Lounge and the quintessential juke joint, Wild Bill’s.

Wille “Wild Bill” Story, opened his first club, in a suburban neighborhood, in the 1960s. He relocated to North Memphis in the 80s. When the new owners, Michelle and Ray, took over a few years ago, they repainted the sign and added a mural of the infamous owner, who had just passed away.

When you step inside, you can expect a cloud of cigarette smoke glowing red from the Christmas lights, along with red painted walls that are covered with snapshots of Willie, posing with friends and patrons throughout the years. You can grab a 40oz beer or mixer, and listen to the band until 3am. Most importantly, you’d better leave your hang-ups at the door, because you’ll most likely be asked to dance by a stranger, who will probably not take ‘no’ for an answer.

Many of the original juke joints in Southern Tennessee and the Mississippi Delta have shuttered. Some of the original owners have passed away but, others closed due to a significant shift in society. Namely, the elimination of segregation laws that initially forced people into these hole-in-the-wall clubs.

Today, less than a handful remain open in the Memphis area. Luckily for cultural historians like myself, most of them are still sitting on their respective street corners with faded hand painted signs and the faint smell of chicken wings.

(Originally published in US of America Magazine, Issue no.3)