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Music
& Heritage of the Deep South
Fully Escorted Group Tour Sep 19- 28, 2011
Nashville, Memphis, Mississippi Delta, Lafayette,
New Orleans
Introduction
For
millions around the world Nashville, Memphis,
Mississippi and New Orleans first and foremost
mean music. Nashville is the Country Music Capitol
of the World, where music is inspired, created,
recorded and performed. The promise of Nashville
is to provide the ultimate musical entertainment
experience...celebrated throughout our diverse
cultural and entertainment offerings...and presented
in an authentic, unique, friendly and unpretentious
atmosphere
The
Blues were born in the Mississippi Delta combining
traditional African rhythms with the soulful cries
of the sharecroppers as they toiled in the scorched
fields. If Mississippi was the birthplace of the
Blues, Memphis became home to the music as aspiring
musicians headed north on Highway 61 to perform
their music on Beale Street. One of them traded
his first name Riley for “The Beale Street
Blues Boy” and today B.B. King still has
a club on the lively street, which is now the
premier entertainment district of the entire South.
And when the Presley family moved to Memphis,
Elvis Presley joined forces with Sam Phillips
at Sun Studio to revolutionize popular music and
Rock’n’Roll was born.
In
Lafayette we like to play as hard as we work.
So what's your pleasure? Cajun dancing and all
the fried catfish you can eat? Mellow jazz and
smooth martinis? Listening to a live Zydeco band?
Your options are open and endless. Our world famous
Cajun and Creole cuisine is just a tip of the
iceberg. Lafayette is also a place with a multitude
of historic attractions, majestic plantation homes,
vibrant gardens, leisurely swamp tours, and exciting
museums.
New
Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and the place
some of the world’s most popular musicians
- from Louis Armstrong to Lenny Kravitz
- have called home. A melting pot of musical
inspirations and innovations, New Orleans has
embraced music as an indelible part of its history,
an important facet of its identity, and one of
the most colorful threads in its cultural tapestry.
From street performers to intimate clubs, jazz
funerals to festivals, and symphonies to headlining
rock concerts, music continues to permeate -
and enrich - every day of life in New Orleans.
But
there is more than music. The Deep South also
means the mellow way of life. The South of mint
juleps and magnolia trees, of folklore and fable,
and warm hospitality. The South of Civil War,
where preserved battle sites and historic homes
bear witness to the tragedy of a nation torn apart.
The South of Civil Rights strife, where you can
trace the African-Americans’ enduring struggle
for freedom.
You
can elect to begin and end the tour in Memphis.
You will need to arrive at least one day early
and stay at least one extra day. The coach and
the tour escort will originate and end in Memphis;
so you can ride with them to Nashville to begin
the tour and return with them from New Orleans.
| Music
& Heritage of the Deep South Tour |
Single
Occupancy |
Double
Occupancy |
Triple
Occupancy
|
| Price
Per Person |
$2,315.00 |
$1,695.00 |
$1,545.00
|
Inlcuded
in the Price:
CITIES |
HOTELS |
Nashville
2 ngts |
GuestHouse
Inn Music Valley |
Memphis
2 ngts |
Heartbreak
Hotel |
Greenwood,
MS 1 ngt |
Hampton
Inn |
Natchez
1 ngt |
Eola
Hotel |
Lafayette
1 ngt |
Comfort
Inn |
New
Orleans 2ngts |
Bienville
House |
Detailed
Itinerary
Mon,
Sep 19 (Nashville)
Arrive Nashville and check-in the Club Hotel Nashville.
You will be greeted by your Sweet Magnolia Tours’
escort and motorcoach. Overnight Nashville.
Tue,
Sep 20 (Nashville)
This morning you will embark on a Nashville Sightseeing
Tour an enlightening and interesting narrative,
which will include the downtown area with some
of its colorful history, famous Music Row, the
Bi-Centennial Mall, The Ryman Auditorium, the
State Capitol, Nashville’s Parthenon, and
a drive through a residential area showing a few
homes of the stars.
This
afternoon you will tour the Country Music Hall
of Fame: Sing Me Back Home is the title of the
Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s
permanent exhibit, an exciting, multi-layered
journey through the life of country music. A self-guided
tour covering two floors of the Museum, Sing Me
Back Home tells the story of country music from
its pre-commercial roots in the nineteenth century
through its vibrant life in the twenty-first century.
Organized chronologically, the story moves through
large subjects such as  “Country
During the War Years,” for example, while
each glass artifact case has its own theme
as well. You can read about the music and its
makers if you like, or you can let the powerful
photos, instruments, costumes—and especially
the music—tell the story by themselves.
Sing Me Back Home is just what the title suggests:
an exploration of the power of music to make living
history and to connect us to our deepest feelings.
Later
you will tour the historic RCA Studio B - once
the recording home of popular music titans such
as Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, and
the Everly Brothers - first became known as one
of the cradles of the "Nashville Sound"
in the 1960s. A sophisticated style characterized
by background vocals and strings, the Nashville
Sound both revived the popularity of country music
and helped establish Nashville as an international
recording center. The storied studio's exterior
has been renovated and the interior has been returned
to its 1970s era prime as an analog "temple
of sound."
 Tonight
you will attend a performance of the Grand Ole
Opry, where you’ll catch today’s’
hottest stars, new faces, and Opry legends. Showcasing
the best in country, blue grass and more, the
Opry is an American experience like no other.
Located next to the Roy Cuff Museum and sharing
the parking lot of the Opry Mill mall and entertainment
center. Overnight Nashville.
Wed,
Sep 21 (Nashville to Memphis 210 miles
/ 338 kilometers)
Today you depart for Memphis. Upon arrival in
Memphis you will tour Graceland, the hom e
of Elvis Presley. The audio tour of Graceland
Mansion is full of music and interesting stories
about how Elvis lived in the home he loved so
much. You will see the largest privately owned
collection of gold records in the world and Elvis'
elaborate stage costumes and jewelry. The mansion
tour ends with a quiet visit to Meditation Garden
where Elvis and members of his family are buried.
You can also see Elvis' famous 1955 pink Cadillac
in the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum and climb
aboard his custom jet the "Lisa Marie."
Graceland plaza also offers fabulous shopping
and restaurants.
 You
will then check-in the Heartbreak Hotel and have
the evening free to explore Beale Street, one
of America's most famous streets where W.C. Handy
first penned the Blues music of the Mississippi
Delta. Located downtown stretching several blocks
east of the river bluffs. Nightclubs and restaurants
offer a variety of food and live music including
traditional Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, and
Rock'n'Roll. Shops and boutiques throughout the
district provide visitors with the opportunity
to purchase souvenirs, t-shirts, memorabilia,
and novelties. The world-famous street also features
a statue of W.C. Handy, a musical "Walk of
Fame," and Church Park, built by the South's
first Black millionaire, Robert Church. Visit
A. Schwab's Dry Goods Store at 163 Beale, a mainstay
on the street since 1876, Schwab's stocks everything
from voodoo potions to 99-cent neckties. Overnight
Memphis.
Thu,
Sep 22 (Memphis)
This morning you will tour the Stax Museum of
American Soul  Music:
Soulsville is a 17,000-square-foot museum on the
original site of Stax Records and houses more
than 2,000 cultural artifacts, celebrating the
music made famous by Otis Redding, Booker T. and
the MGs, Isaac Hayes, the Bar-Kays, Al Green,
Aretha Franklin, Earth, Wind & Fire and more.
In addition to Stax music and memorabilia, you’ll
also find exhibits dedicated to the artists of
Muscle Shoals, Motown, Atlantic and Memphis’
own Hi Records.
Next
you will tour Sun Studio, which is the birthplace
of Rock'n'Roll. Today the studio,  where
Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Rufus
Thomas, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins,
Roy Orbison, and many others launched their careers,
is open to the public for tours daily while still
operating as a studio by night. Sun Studio Cafe
is located next door to the studio. Above the
cafe is a new museum/gallery featuring hundreds
of rare recordings, memorabilia, photographs,
and vintage recording equipment.
 Next
see the famous Peabody Duck March, which began
in the 1930s, when the general manager placed
his live hunting decoys in his lobby fountain
and started a tradition. Today the Peabody Ducks
have become a world-famous symbol for The Peabody
and for Memphis hospitality. Every day at precisely
11 a.m., the ducks arrive marching on their own
red carpet to John Philip Sousa's "King Cotton
March." The fanfare repeats at 5 p.m. when
they retire to their penthouse pond. Throngs of
spectators gather daily in the mornings and evenings
to witness this charming tradition in the spectacular
Grand Lobby of The Peabody Hotel.
Spread
throughout your Memphis stay you will be treated
to a Memphis City Sightseeing Tour. Memphis is
the Gateway to the Old South. It is one of the
most beautiful cities in the Southern United States.
Filled with Southern charm, beautifully restored
mansions,  sculptured
tree-lined parkways, on a setting high on the
Fourth Chickasaw Bluff, this river city boasts
of glowing sunsets over the Mississippi, the world’s
finest BBQ restaurants, and the “Red, Hot
& Blue” sounds of the Beale Street Historic
Entertainment District. Come with us on this inclusive
tour to explore the city that is called, “The
City of Good Abode.” This tour will take
you to the Mississippi Riverfront and through
downtown Memphis where tradition and modern progress
collide to form an exciting modern city filled
with historic sites, fun & adventure. Sites
include the Mighty Mississippi River Front, Harbor
Town, the first residential community built on
the Mississippi in the last 100 years, Mud Island,
the Pyramid, Historic Cotton Row, Beale Street
& South Main Historic District, the National
Civil Rights Museum / Lorraine Motel, Sun Studio
and Victorian Village. Overnight Memphis.
Fri,
Sep 23 (Memphis - Greenwood, MS
130 miles / 210 kilometers)
As you leave Memphis and drive down legendary
Highway 61, you will realize that you are in the
true "Birthplace of the Blues". Out
of these fields came the original blues singers
who performed in local honky tonks and juke joints.
The best of these brought their talents to Beale
Street in Memphis. Highway 61 takes you through
the heart of the Mississippi River Delta, which
is the world’s richest farmland. Our first
stop will be in Clarksdale. From the 30's on through
the 50's Clarksdale was a major blues town. John
Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, Little Junior Parker and
Sam Cooke were born here. Robert Nighthawk, Bukka
White, "Gatemouth" Moore, Eddie Boyd,
Son House, and Charley Patton all once lived in
the area. Clarksdale became the center of the
blues world by virtue of its location smack in
the middle of the Delta and Delta blues still
come from this source.
You
will get the opportunity of touring the Delta
Blues Museum, which is dedicated to creating a
welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value,
and perspective by exploring the history and heritage
of the unique American musical art form of the
blues. Across the street from the museum is Ground
Zero Restaurant, a replica of a juke joint owned
by the actor, Morgan Freeman. The intersection
of Hwy 61 & Hwy 49 is a famous location for
blues music fans. This is where the most famous
bluesman of all time, Robert Johnson, is said
to have sold his soul to the devil.
 Next
you will continue on down historic Hwy 61 to B.B.
King’s hometown of Indianola, where you
will tour the outstanding new B.B. King Museum
& Delta Interpretive Center, which is dedicated
to creating a welcoming place where visitors find
meaning, value, and perspective by exploring the
history and heritage of the unique American musical
art form of the blues. It also tells the story
of B.B. King’s life from a kid without anything
but the dream in his heart and a destiny that
would take him around the world. Against all odds
the kid became the King of the Blues. Then continue
to the lovely town of Greenwood and check-in the
Hampton Inn. Overnight Greenwood.
Sat,
Sep 24 (Greenwood to Natchez 155 miles
/ 249 kilometers)
Today we continue through the rich Delta farmland
to the famous river city of Natchez. En route
we will stop in Vicksburg and tour the Old Courthouse
Museum, Vicksburg's most historic building, constructed
by slaves in 1858, has hosted such great Americans
as Jefferson Davis, Theodore Roosevelt, John Breckinridge,
Booker T. Washington, William McKinley, and U.S.
Grant. Here the U.S. Flag was raised and the Confederate
lowered on July 4, 1863. Artifacts help tell Vicksburg's
story in the National Landmark structure, which
also has a gift shop.
 Next
we will jump on the famous Natchez Trace Parkway,
which stretches from the Mississippi River in
Natchez through the Shoals area in Alabama and
across the Tennessee Valley to Nashville. The
Old Trace was first trod by buffalo, then American
Indians. In the early 1800's it was the main return
route for Ohio Valley traders who, rather than
fight the Mississippi currents, sold their flatboats
for the value of their timber in Natchez and walked
home via the Old Trace. By the mid-1820's, steamboats
made the dangerous trek unnecessary, and the Old
Trace disappeared into the trees. Today, the 444-mile
National Scenic Byway and All-American Road has
emerged as one of America's most important examples
of our nation's natural and cultural heritage.
Administered by the National Park Service, the
road's non-commercial environment coupled with
a wide variety of historic sites, wayside exhibits
and beautiful venues make it a memorable destination
for an unhurried trip that both reveals and explains
a unique time in our country's history.
You
will stay at the historic Natchez Eola Hotel in
the heart of downtown Natchez. There will be free
time this afternoon to walk around downtown Natchez
and enjoy its many quaint shops. Tonight you can
walk to Natchez Under-the-Hill, which was the
most dangerous landing on the entire Mississippi
River. In its day, 165 years ago, Natchez-under-the-Hill
was the most notorious river landing on the entire
Mississippi. From 1785 until about 1820 Under-the-Hill
was the departure point for frontiersmen and their
last chance to "whoop it up" before
their long trek home on the Natchez trace. Overnight
Natchez.
Sun,
Sep 25 (Natchez to Lafayette 147 miles
/ 237 kilometers)
This morning you will depart for Lafayette, but
first you will tour the beautiful antebellum home,
Monmouth Plantation. Monmouth is listed as a National
Historic Landmark. A 'Breathtaking beauty' marks
both the 'lovely grounds' and 'magnificent' 1818
Greek Revival estate, built by John Hankinson
in 1818, Monmouth was purchased by General John
A. Quitman, a hero of the Mexican War, in 1826
and remained in his family for nearly a century.
En
route to Lafayette you will stop at Angelle’s
Whiskey River Landing for some authentic Zydeco/Cajun
music and dancing. Located on the levee overlooking
the Atchafalaya Basin swamp, it has been named
one of America’s top 50 bars. Very few tourists
every find this spot where you can learn the beer
drinking, foot stomping Cajun dance from the locals.
This is real Americana. Then continue on to Lafayette
and check-in the Comfort Inn. Overnight
Lafayette.
Mon,
Sep 26 (Lafayette to New Orleans 137
miles / 220 kilometers)
 Before
you depart Lafayette you will visit Acadian Village,
a folk life museum that offers an authentic vision
of Acadian society in South Louisiana during the
19th century. Period homes of Acadian architecture
have been restored to their original appearance
and furnished with antiques native to the area.
En route to New Orleans we are going to drive
through Cajun back country and make a stop at
Avery Island and tour the one and only original,
Tabasco Factory. Your next stop will be near Houma
for a Cajun Man’s Swamp Cruise operated
by a real Cajun character, Black Guidry, who is
not only a singer, but a former army green beret
and Louisiana state trooper.
We
will continue on to New Orleans and check-in the
Bienville House located in the French Quarter.
Tonight is free to explore the famous French Quarter.
At the heart of New Orleans' enduring allure are
the hundred-odd squares of the French Quarter.
Alive with history, myth, music and a joie de
vivre, the Vieux Carre attracts visitors from
around the world to its time worn streets. For
jazz, for food, for history or for frivolity the
French Quarter is a legendary destination. Overnight
New Orleans.
Tue,
Sep 27 (New Orleans)
This morning you will enjoy a New Orleans City
 Sightseeing
tour, where you will visit one of its historic
cemeteries, referred to as "Cities of the
Dead," and learn about this unique above
ground burial system. Marvel at stories of voodoo
and piracy on Bayou St. John, the waterway used
by Jean Lafitte and his band of pirates, as we
make our way to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
View the longest bridge over water in the world,
the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Follow the path
of the St. Charles Avenue streetcar, the oldest
continuously operating passenger railway system
in the world (until service was disrupted by Hurricane
Katrina). See the homes of former Kings &
Queens of Mardi Gras, stately mansions and the
world-famous, exclusive Garden District.
Your
final night in New Orleans promises to be really
special. Enjoy an evening as a native New Orleanian
and meet people from around the world on this
intimate tour of dining and music in the French
Quarter! The evening begins with a three course
dinner at Tujague's Restaurant, a New Orleans
tradition since 1856 and the second oldest restaurant
in New Orleans.
Your tour guide will then lead you on a stroll
along world famous Bourbon Street on your way
to a local nightclub to enjoy native jazz music.
Enjoy a complimentary cocktail as you listen to
the sounds of New Orleans music. The evening winds
down with another local tradition - Café
Au Lait & Beignets (chicory coffee and French
doughnuts). You'll feel like a true native New
Orleanian as your tour guide escorts you through
a "Crescent City Night". This tour includes
dinner & gratuity, admission to nightclub,
cocktail, coffee & beignets, and souvenir
Mardi Gras beads.
(You must be 21 years of age or older to take
this tour.) Overnight New Orleans.
Tue,
Sep 28 Depart for Home
It is time to bid a sad farewell to your many
new friends made along the way and head back home.
Terms
& Conditions
Terms
& Conditions: All prices are the total costs
for the number of adults occupying the room in
existing bedding. Rolloways are not included &
may be at an extra charge if available. We
accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover & American
Express. A $250.00 per person deposit is required
to hold your space. Deposts are fully refundable
until July 19 after which they are non-refundable.
Full paymen is due August 19 and is non-refundable
after that.
Contact
Us:
Postal
Mail:
Sweet Magnolia Tours
P.O. Box 753548
Memphis, TN 38175
Telephone:
1-901-369-9838
Toll
Free:
1-866-320-5295
FAX:
1-901-369-9839
E-mail:
memphis@sweetmagnoliatours.com
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