Explore the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum and trace the paths from rural blues, country and gospel to the sounds that made Memphis famous. Exhibits bring together recordings, stories and objects from the musicians who shaped rock and soul.

The museum looks beyond celebrated performers to the racial and economic barriers many artists faced. It places the music in its social setting, showing how creative exchange across communities helped produce sounds heard around the world.

See a live performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the long-running show that helped bring country music to a national audience. Settle in for a programme that may feature established names alongside rising performers.

First broadcast in 1925, the Opry remains a living part of country music rather than a tribute to its past. The shared anticipation of a live audience and the range of artists onstage capture a tradition that continues to evolve.

• 4 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)

• See a live Performance at the Grand Ole Opry
• Nashville: The famous Nashville Sound comes alive this morning as RCA’s Studio B reveals the legends of Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves and Roy Orbison. ‘Dive into Culture’ and gain insights into the life and music of Johnny Cash during a private performance of original Cash tunes with one of Johnny’s family members.
• Nashville: You’ll gain insights into the life and music of Johnny Cash during a private performance of original Johnny Cash songs with one of Johnny’s family members. This is a unique opportunity to not only hear a family member play his music but to also have a private experience with them one on one to ask questions and connect.
• Nashville: See a live musical performance at the Grand Ole Opry – the show that made country music famous. The Grand Ole Opry is dedicated to honouring country music’s rich history and dynamic present, showcasing a mix of country legends and the current chart-toppers who have followed in their footsteps.
• Nashville: The famous Nashville Sound comes alive as guests learn about the country music legends, such as Jim Reeves and Roy Orbison, at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on a self-guided tour. The museum helps to “preserve, celebrate, and share the important cultural asset that is country music.” 
• Nashville: Visit the Johnny Cash Museum which features the world’s largest collection of Johnny Cash artifacts and memorabilia in the world. Walk through the life of the ‘Man in Black’ through interactive exhibits, films, and displays.
• Memphis: Memphis is the home of blues, soul, and rock n’ roll music. Enjoy a Music city tour including Beale Street, a National Historic Landmark and one of the most iconic streets in U.S. filled with restaurants, live music venues and shops – right in the heart of downtown Memphis.
• Memphis: Explore the lavish mansion and private retreat of Elvis Presley and get an intimate look into his Rock N’ Roll life.
• Memphis: Take in the historic Sun Studios on a guided tour led by a local musician. Opened in 1950 this storied studio is where Elvis got his start, along with many other all-time greats.
• Memphis: Take a trip to the Memphis’ Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum and explore the birth of rock and soul music. The museum tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world.
• Natchez: Discover how they preserve their Mississippi Delta cotton plantation heritage with costumed guides at the Frogmore Plantation.
• New Orleans: Get to know the city with a Local Expert – from the Garden District to the French Quarter, Uptown to Treme, you’ll get to know and better understand what makes this vibrant city tick.

• Deluxe coach travel
• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• 4-star stays

Trafalgar

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over an included welcome dinner in Nashville. Share a meal and get to know the people who will accompany you through the musical heartlands of the American South.

Known as Music City, Nashville has drawn songwriters and performers for generations. The dinner offers a relaxed introduction to the city and to the stories behind the music you will encounter across the region.

Explore RCA Studio B in Nashville, where Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves and Roy Orbison recorded. Discover the studio rooms and equipment associated with the polished recordings that helped define the Nashville Sound.

Opened in 1957, Studio B became one of country music’s most influential recording spaces. Its intimate setting brings the work of singers, musicians and producers into focus, offering a closer look at how performances became records heard around the world.

Hear original Johnny Cash songs performed by a member of his family in a private Nashville experience. Listen to the music in a personal setting, with an opportunity to ask questions and gain insight into Cash’s life and work.

Cash’s unmistakable voice and storytelling crossed country, gospel and rock music. Hearing his songs from a family perspective adds a connection to the Man in Black beyond recordings and museum displays.

Explore the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on a self-guided visit in Nashville. Browse instruments, stage clothing and other memorabilia, including Elvis Presley’s gold Cadillac limousine and a tuxedo jacket worn by Jim Reeves.

The museum traces country music’s roots and its changing sound through the artists who shaped it. Its collections give familiar songs a material history, from the objects performers used to the recordings that carried Nashville’s music far beyond Tennessee.

Visit the Johnny Cash Museum in downtown Nashville to follow the singer’s life through recordings, films, interactive exhibits and personal memorabilia. The collection offers a close look at the career and public image of the Man in Black.

Cash’s songs drew on faith, hardship and compassion, reaching listeners well beyond country music. The displays place those themes alongside the objects and performances that marked his decades on stage and in the studio.

Join a Memphis music tour with a local musician and explore the heritage of Beale Street. Hear how performers and venues helped shape the city’s blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll sounds.

Beale Street has long been a gathering place for musicians and audiences, and is recognised as a National Historic Landmark. Its clubs and neon-lit streets remain part of Memphis’s musical identity, giving the stories you hear a setting you can see and experience.

Walk through the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis with a local expert. The museum incorporates the former Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, and examines the people and events of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Exhibits connect the struggle against segregation with continuing questions of equality. A guided visit offers space to consider both the courage of those who worked for change and the lasting significance of this site.

Visit Graceland, Elvis Presley’s Memphis home, for a glimpse into the private world of an artist who transformed popular music. Explore the mansion and its displays to see the surroundings associated with his life away from the stage.

Presley’s recordings brought together country, blues and gospel influences for a vast audience. Graceland preserves a strikingly personal side of that story, setting the scale of his fame against the rooms and possessions of his family home.

Tour Sun Studio with a local musician in Memphis and step into a recording space closely tied to the birth of rock ’n’ roll. Hear about the artists who recorded here, including Elvis Presley, and the sounds captured within its walls.

Producer Sam Phillips opened the studio in 1950 and recorded musicians across blues, country and early rock. Its modest scale makes the history feel immediate: a reminder that influential music can emerge from a small room and bold ideas.

Share a privately hosted dinner in a historic Natchez home, welcomed by local host Marsha Colson. Hear a piano performance by classically trained pianist Joseph Stone and enjoy Southern fare and backyard cocktails while your host shares stories of life in the area.

Natchez’s historic houses reflect a complicated Mississippi River past. Meeting a resident in her home offers a more personal perspective on the city, with conversation and hospitality at the centre of the evening.

Tour Frogmore Plantation and Gins near Natchez to examine the history and present-day workings of cotton production. See restored nineteenth-century structures, historic equipment, a steam gin and the operating cotton gin.

Guides discuss the lives of Natchez planters and, crucially, the role of enslaved people in Southern cotton production. Moving between historic buildings and modern machinery makes the visit a grounded look at both the industry’s technological changes and its human cost.

Discover New Orleans with a Local Specialist on a guided city tour that introduces its distinctive neighbourhoods and layered history. The sightseeing includes stops at City Park and an above-ground cemetery.

French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences have shaped the city’s architecture, customs and music. The cemetery’s elaborate tombs and the green expanse of City Park reveal different sides of New Orleans, beyond the lively streets for which it is best known.

Join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a farewell dinner in New Orleans. Sit down together to share reflections on the music, places and people encountered across the American South.

New Orleans provides a fitting setting for a final gathering, with its deep-rooted food culture and long tradition of bringing people together around a table. The hosted meal is an opportunity to reconnect with the group and close the journey in good company.

Explore the swamp and bayou landscapes of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve on an optional experience near New Orleans. Take in the waterways and wetlands that form a striking contrast to the city’s streets.

These ecosystems are part of the wider Mississippi Delta, where water has shaped both wildlife habitats and human settlement. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; the precise route and wildlife sightings may vary.

Watch a private cooking demonstration at the New Orleans School of Cooking, hosted by a local chef and focused on Creole flavours. See how ingredients and techniques come together in dishes associated with the city.

New Orleans cooking reflects generations of cultural exchange, with French and Spanish traditions meeting local ingredients and other influences. This hands-on look at the kitchen is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering a flavour-led way to understand the city.