How to plan a Southern music road trip: itinerary, length, what to skip

Every few weeks someone writes to us with a map and a question: can I see Nashville, Memphis, the Delta and New Orleans in a week? You can drive it in two days. You can see it properly in about ten. Here is how we think about the route, after running it for nine years.

Go north to south, or south to north?

We usually go south, from Nashville to New Orleans. The music history runs both ways, but the mood works better downhill: you start with the polish of country music and the Opry, get rawer in Muscle Shoals and Memphis, reach the roots in the Delta, and finish with the party in New Orleans. Ending in a city with good flights everywhere also helps.

The other direction tells a different story, the Great Migration, when the blues went north with the people who played it. That is our Blues Highway tour, which starts in New Orleans and ends in Chicago on the train.

How many nights each place needs

Nashville needs two nights at the least, three if you want the Opry, the Ryman and a songwriter night without rushing. Muscle Shoals is a day; stay one night in Florence and you can see both studios without hurry. Memphis needs two nights: one morning for Graceland, one for Sun and Stax, and Beale Street in between.

The Delta is where people cut corners and regret it. The museums close at five, and the juke joints do not start until nine, so a day trip misses the music. One night in Clarksdale is the minimum, and on a weekend if you can. New Orleans deserves three nights at the end, and more if you have them.

The drives

Nashville to Muscle Shoals is two and a half hours, through hills and small towns. Muscle Shoals to Memphis is about three, by way of Tupelo, where Elvis was born. Memphis to Clarksdale is ninety minutes on Highway 61, the most famous road in the blues. Clarksdale to New Orleans is the long one, about six hours with stops, through Jackson.

None of these drives is hard, but they add up. On our road trip the van does about 700 miles in ten days, and no day has more than six hours on the road.

What to skip

Skip the idea that you need to see everything. Graceland takes half a day; if Elvis is not your thing, use the time at Stax. In New Orleans, Bourbon Street is worth one walk and no more. And do not book a show every single night: the best evenings are often the ones where your tour leader says, there is a band at the corner bar tonight, want to come?

When to go

Spring and autumn. From June to August the Delta and New Orleans are very hot and humid, and the long drives are tiring. April is the best month of all, with the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale and the festivals in New Orleans, and October is a close second. Winter is cheap and quiet, and the clubs are full of locals.