Editor's Note: Red & Black music beat writer Wil Petty will travel to Austin, Texas over the next few days to cover the music festival South by Southwest. Look for his musical coverage, including concert reviews and interviews, next week.

I really didn't want to leave Memphis, Tenn.

Part of me thinks that it’s because the city is the lone sign of civilization on a long trip, but it also has a charm to it. There is a history there, but it’s a different type of history.

Alas, the thing about Memphis is it has several elements of numerous different places and finds a way to make those elements its own.

Here are the things I experienced on the road in The River City.

Sun Studios:

This will be the best $12 you will spend in Memphis, or anywhere honestly.

Well, actually, you can go inside the building for free. The tour is $12.

Why does Sun Studio matter? It is in that building Elvis Presley cut his first record. Same with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and many others, who all cut a record there.

My tour was even more special when I realized the guide was a musician who had been signed to Sun Records. Randy Haspel, lead singer of Randy and the Radiants, was one of the last acts signed to the Sun label.

The tour takes you through the label’s start, rise to fame and the bar it set for future music.

After going through the history upstairs, you’re led downstairs to the actual studio where black tape shows where The King did his first recording. Along the walls there are records and instruments, along with pictures of moments captured in that room.

Perhaps the only way to put it, is the way Haspel did. You’re standing in a rock ‘n’ roll cathedral.

Beale Street:

What the best part of Memphis is for a college student is Beale Street.

It’s a weird combination of the boardwalks along the Jersey Shore and the music vibes received from Nashville, Tenn. or Austin, Texas.

What is also great is many of the businesses in the area are not corporately owned. I had my dinner at The Pig on Beale. The food was authentic Memphis barbecue and it was pretty reasonably priced, for being in a high tourist area.

Another thing, at night the city blocks off several blocks of Beale to make it pedestrian only, which means open containers are allowed.

Wandering the streets you’ll see numerous stands within restaurants, all offering to sell “Big Ass Cans.” While Athens has a closing time of 2 a.m., Memphis stays open until 3 a.m., which applied to Eastern time is 4 a.m.

Great food, semi-decent shopping and open containers, heaven right?

Other things to do or see:

Graceland — if you can afford it.

Mud Island — For an up-close look at the Mississippi River at all angles, the peninsula (not sure why they call it an island) has a park that navigates along the river banks.

National Civil Rights Museum — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in the city. The building has now been converted to a civil rights museum. Many facets of the building, including the sign, remain in place.

Also, that huge pyramid the city has by the river? Yeah, that’s about to be a Bass Pro Shop. At first that sounds weird, but when you think about that fact, it oddly makes sense.