Our Sense of Place visit to Memphis moves away from Soul music to the place where the seminal albums of American power-pop were created. Ardent Studios is where the Memphis band Big Star made the three albums that define the genre.

We meet the blue collar heart of Memphis, the band Lucero, today on the World Cafe. Lucero has their own history with Ardent studio. Today we hear a stripped down session with the band recorded in Ardent Studio A where they worked on their breakthrough album 1372 Overton Park.

Our World Cafe Sense of Place trip to Graceland makes a stop on Elvis Presley Blvd to visit the humble home of The King. You can view our special tour as we linger in the Jungle Room here. In this session we hear from Elvis’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, It Came From Memphis author Robert Gordon, Kevin Kern, the Director of Public Relations for Elvis Presley Enterprises, and Kevin Kern, the Director of Public Relations for Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

Memphis Tennessee – Soul music, Barbeque and Elvis Presley. Today’s show focuses on Sun and Graceland. For Sun, we have an interview with none other than Sam Phillips, the founder of the famed studio! Recorded in 2002, a year before the accomplished producer died.

As part of our Sense of Place series on Memphis, we dug into the World Cafe archives and pulled out a 2003 interview with Stax Records' best-selling artist, the late Isaac Hayes.

As part of World Cafe's Sense of Place series on Memphis, Tenn., we've dug up archival interviews with two legendary Stax Records performers: guitarist Steve Cropper and organist Booker T. Jones, both of Booker T. & The M.G.'s.

Memphis Tennessee – Soul music, barbeque and Elvis Presley. World Cafe is spending this week getting the vibe of Memphis, Tenn., a city that — like New Orleans — has had an undeniable influence on all of American culture.

January 11, 2013 - Listen to an in-depth interview with the lead singer of the beloved jam-rock band Phish.

January 10, 2012 - More than 30 years have passed since the British band Graham Parker and the Rumour called it quits. While Parker never left music, he's always dismissed talk of a reunion with The Rumour — until now. The group is back with a new album, tour and high-profile film appearance.

January 9, 2012 - Scott Walker is best known for a song he did early on in his career as the front man for The Walker Brothers, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” that couldn’t be more different than what he is doing now. Walker has evolved from a singer in a pop band that vied with The Beatles for popularity in the UK in the mid-sixties into an avant-garde music maker who has built an influential solo catalog owing to his always inventive and elaborate compositions.