Music tour category
The magic of a great record is partly the room. On our recording studio tours you stand in it, while the guide plays the song back.
Engineers will tell you every studio has a sound: the wood of the floor, the height of the ceiling, the echo chamber in the attic. Many of the rooms that made American music are still there, and several still record.
RCA Studio B in Nashville, where Elvis and Dolly Parton recorded, keeps its original console. Sun Studio in Memphis records bands at night. FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound in Alabama host sessions most weeks. Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit has Studio A as Motown left it, its floor worn by the musicians' feet.
We add the backstage tours of the big stages: the Ryman, with its old stage floor, and the Grand Ole Opry House, with the dressing rooms and the circle cut from the Ryman stage.
Studio visits move around sessions, so we confirm times two weeks ahead. The guides are often people who worked in the rooms, and their stories are the best part.
FAME, Muscle Shoals Sound and Sun still record.
At RCA Studio B and in Hitsville's control room.
At the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry House.
5 tours
Nashville and Memphis
Nashville, Memphis
Our most booked trip: three nights of country in Nashville, then down I-40 for rock and roll at Sun, soul at Stax and a night on Beale Street.
From $2,790 per person, double room
See the tourNashville, Muscle Shoals, Memphis, Mississippi Delta and New Orleans
Nashville, Florence, Memphis, Clarksdale, New Orleans
Ten days down the road from Nashville to New Orleans, with the studios of Muscle Shoals, Sun and Stax, two nights in the Delta and three in the jazz city at the end.
From $4,890 per person, double room
See the tourNashville
Nashville
A long weekend that does Nashville properly: the Opry live, a backstage morning at the Ryman, Studio B, and a songwriter night away from Broadway.
From $1,890 per person, double room
See the tourDetroit and Cleveland
Detroit, Cleveland
Five days from Hitsville U.S.A. to Lake Erie: Motown's Studio A, a jazz night at Baker's, and a full day at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
From $2,390 per person, double room
See the tourMuscle Shoals
Nashville
A long day south to the two studios where Aretha, Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones recorded, with lunch in Florence and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
From $295 per person, lunch included
See the tourLand prices per person sharing a double room.
Top destinations
Questions
At the Alabama Music Hall of Fame there is a booth to sing over a backing track. Private sessions at the studios can be arranged for groups.
We move the visit to another day or another room, and tell you in writing.
Yes, in most rooms, without flash.
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Write to a travel advisor with the tour, the date and whether you want us to book flights. We answer within one business day with seats and the exact price. Nothing is charged until you decide.
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