City: Memphis, TN

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (901) 525-3655

Address: 119 and 123 South Main Street

Description: The Center for Southern Folklore (CSF) has devoted itself for more than 30 years to keeping the South’s music, crafts, and other traditions alive. One of the biggest draws is live music performances that feature such legends as the Fieldstones, barrelhouse-musician Mose Vinson, and Blind Mississippi Morris. Contact the center for a schedule, or check the center’s Web site. (Sometimes there is a cover charge for the live music.) The center also features works by many folk artists, both in the small gallery in the back and the Folklore Store in front, and it maintains extensive archives that are available to scholars. CSF has made films about southern folklore, which the staff will show to interested visitors. CSF expanded in 2004, moving its Folklore Store to a separate space in the front of the Pembroke Square Building and consolidating its other activities and resources in the Folklore Performance Hall in the back of the building. Both spaces have a colorful, funky ambience created by the handpainted folk-art designs on the walls, and the back area features a Delta-style front porch that serves as the performance stage. At the Folklore Store you can browse original folk art, CDs, and other products developed by the center; listen to authentic blues and other local music; and enjoy specialty coffees, beer, sandwiches, southern desserts, and other fare. You can find the Folklore Store right at the Peabody Place trolley stop on Main Street. For other CSF operations, including the performance hall, enter through the double doors nearest to Gayoso and go to the back of the lobby. Open seven days a week. You’re on your own for parking.