Original subtitles

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(light music)

- Our journey begins in Memphis,

a thriving modern city with a complex past.

Here, we visit Beale Street, birthplace of the blues

and the cradle of soul music

and glimpse Graceland, the extravagant

former home of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll.

Continuing on our journey, we discover Shiloh,

site of one of the bloodiest battles

in the American Civil War and a haunting

monument to its fallen before traveling

to the Rattle and Snap Plantation

amongst the most lavish of the Southern estates.

Finally, we reach Nashville,

better known as Music City, and its extraordinary

Grand Ole Opry, one of America's most famous live venues.

In the state of Tennessee,

on the banks of the Mississippi, is Memphis.

(gentle music)

It's one of the busiest cities in the American South,

and a place that's changed the world with music.

This is the home of the blues,

the cradle of soul music

and the birthplace of rock and roll.

Founded in 1819, Memphis has blossomed

into a modern center for culture, commerce

and international carriage

as a world-leading hub for air cargo.

And today, we find history taking flight.

This is a Hawker Sea Fury.

It was commissioned by the British Royal Air Force

during World War II, but by the time it was ready,

the war had ended, and propeller planes had

been overtaken by modern jets.

The Hawker found a new lease of life

as the perfect plane to fly from aircraft carriers,

being small, lightweight and maneuverable.

It was made for the Royal Navy and renamed the Sea Fury.

More than 800 were built over 10 years

for Britain and Allied armed forces.

It has a top speed of 460 miles per hour

and a wingspan of almost 12 meters.

Today, only a few remain airworthy,

still flown by daring enthusiasts

as heritage and racing aircraft.

(light music)

Memphis is named after the town in Egypt,

so perhaps it's not surprising to discover

in its heart a mirrored pyramid.

Since 1991, it's been a focal point

of the city's skyline.

At almost 100 meters, it's taller

than the Statue of Liberty.

This is one of the largest pyramids on the planet.

After years of disuse, it's being redeveloped

as a mega store for sporting goods

as well as incorporating a hotel,

restaurants and a bowling alley.

Memphis is on the Mississippi Delta,

a warm, humid climate with rich soil,

ideal for growing cotton.

But the crop needs labor,

and like much of the pre-Civil War south,

the city's early wealth was build on the slave trade.

Ever since, this has shaped Memphis.

It was a vital battleground in the conflict

between the northern and southern states

in the mid-19th century.

Later, racial minorities made the music

for which the city is now celebrated.

And in the 1960s, Memphis became the front line

in the struggle for civil rights.

Though divided, Memphis has flourished.

Crossing the Mississippi connecting

the state of Tennessee with Arkansas

is the Hernando de Soto Bridge

and one of the city's busiest thoroughfares.

It's named after the 16th century Spanish

conquistador who explored this stretch

of the Mississippi River.

Despite being built in 1973,

it's still called by locals the new bridge.

Each day, it carries more than 50,000 cars and trucks.

But Memphis is known for a more genteel

mode of transportation, the paddle wheeler steamer.

This is the Island Queen at almost 25 meters long.

She was the first all-steel passenger ship

on the Mississippi.

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Today, she gives tourists an extraordinary ride

on one of the world's great rivers,

but steamboats like this were vital

in Memphis's economic development.

Their steam paddles allowed them to sail

upstream against the strong current of the river.

And their shallow draft lets them navigate its muddy waters.

But as railway companies were building tracks

across the growing United States,

the slow steamboats fell from favor.

Today, they continue to cruise the Mississippi

as a reminder of the city's past.

Overlooking the river is the Memphis Cotton Exchange.

Founded in 1873, this was once the center

of the world's cotton market,

an economy that transformed the fortunes of America

and shifted the balance of world power.

It now houses a museum of the cotton industry.

Memphis's other great export is music.

(blues music)

And here's where it comes from, Beale Street.

This is the birthplace of the blues.

In the 1860s, traveling black musicians,

some of them freed slaves, began to come here to play.

The street was bought up by Robert Church,

America's first black millionaire,

who developed it as a music hotspot.

Louis Armstrong, W.C. Handy, Muddy Waters

and B.B. King all played here,

making the music known internationally

as the Memphis Blues.

In 1966, Beale Street was declared

a National Historic Landmark.

Today, it's a major destination for tourists.

But it still has the bars, cafes and clubs

that built its reputation.

Leaving behind Beale Street,

we pass the FedEx Forum,

home to the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies,

before reaching this unassuming building,

the home of Sun Studios.

If Beale Street can lay claim to the blues,

this is the birthplace of rock and roll.

In 1954, a young vocalist walked

in off the street to record himself singing.

He wanted the recording as a gift for his mother.

His name was Elvis Presley.

Sun Studios producer Sam Phillips wrote a note.

Good ballad singer, hold.

(early rock music)

Nearby is the Stax Museum,

once one of America's most successful soul labels,

Stax was also a model of racial harmony

in a divided Memphis.

Here, black and white people worked together

from top management to star bands.

Today, it's a museum.

In a nod to rivals Motown, which called itself

Hitsville, Stax called its studio Soulsville USA.

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Our journey continues now

to the National Civil Rights Museum,

built around the Lorraine Motel.

It was here that Martin Luther King

was assassinated in 1968.

He had come to Memphis to speak to striking

sanitation workers protesting the city's unfair pay.

The assassination of King outraged America.

And it was against this backdrop that the country

passed the historic Civil Rights Act

outlawing racial discrimination.

On the outskirts of Memphis,

we find another memorial to the civil rights movement.

In 1968, this large green space was renamed

the Martin Luther King Riverside Park.

Today, it has a nine-hole golf course,

lake, marina, playgrounds and great views

across the Mississippi.

Visitors to the city who come from around the world

will seek out the most famous landmark

in Memphis, the home of one

of the world's best-loved musicians, Graceland.

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This is where Elvis Presley lived

and a monument to his inimitable sense of style.

He had been born in a humble, two-room shack

to a working-class family.

In the spring of 1957, age 22, and fresh

from the success of "Heartbreak Hotel,"

he bought this house and its grounds.

Elvis spent a fortune rebuilding it to his designs,

including wrought iron front gates

shaped like sheet music.

Set in almost 14 acres, the house is built

traditionally in the colonial style.

Elvis remodeled the interior to include

yellow vinyl walls, a green shag carpeted ceiling,

a fake waterfall and a shooting range.

In 1977, Elvis Presley died here,

and today, it stands as a museum

to the King of Rock and Roll.

Each year, it's visited by more than 600,000 people,

making it, after the White House,

America's most visited private house.

Graceland's grounds include a museum across the street

from the mansion, containing many Elvis artifacts,

such as his famous Las Vegas jumpsuits,

awards, gold records and his pink Cadillac.

Alongside the museum are Elvis's private planes.

The largest was customized to include

a penthouse bedroom with queen-sized bed

and gold-plated bathroom fittings.

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These planes no longer have engines,

but the noise of jets can still be heard

because less than a mile away

is Memphis International Airport.

This is the busiest cargo airfield in the United States

and the home of the FedEx Global Superhub,

one of the world's most important centers

for international trade.

In a single night, this facility can sort,

process and dispatch up to 19 million packages.

At its busiest, flights take off here

every 90 seconds, carrying cargo across the world.

FedEx is also one of the city's most important employers,

with almost 30,000 people working directly in this facility.

One in five employees in Memphis

works in air transportation.

Our journey now takes us eastwards and back in time

to the American Civil War and the Shiloh battlefield.

In 1862, this was the site of one of the bloodiest

conflicts, fought over two days in April,

between the slave-owning Confederacy of the south

and the Union forces from the north.

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The Union Army, commanded by General Ulysses Grant,

was attacked by the Confederates

under Generals Johnston and Beauregard.

Johnston was shot in the leg and bled to death

as he led the attack.

Beauregard, who now assumed sole command,

decided not to press home the assault,

as his troops were tired.

This was, perhaps, a fatal error

as overnight Grant's army was reinforced to 45,000 men.

The next day, they attacked the unsuspecting

Confederate Army and forced them to retreat.

Grant was later criticized for not following up

his attack on the enemy,

but he felt his troops had done enough,

and they were exhausted.

The cost in human life of this battle was frightful.

The two sides suffered over 23,000 casualties,

more than in all of America's previous wars combined,

though this was soon surpassed a year later

at the Battle of Gettysburg,

with around 50,000 dead and wounded.

In 1866, a year after the Civil War,

Herman Melville wrote a series of poems

called "Battle-Pieces and Aspects of War"

to the memory of those killed in the conflict.

One of them was "Shiloh: A Requiem."

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Skimming lightly, wheeling still,

the swallows fly low over the field in clouded days

the forest-field of Shiloh.

The church so lone, the log-built one,

that echoed to many a parting groan

and a natural prayer of dying foemen mingled there.

Foemen at morn, but friends at eve

Fame or country least their care.

What like a bullet can undeceive!

But now they lie low,

while over them the swallows skim,

and all is hushed at Shiloh.

Today, the vast fields are a monument

to the soldiers who lie buried here.

To the north and witness to the Civil War,

was the Rattle and Snap Plantation house, built in 1845.

This is considered to be the greatest

example of Greek Revival architecture in Tennessee.

And the plantation house is an example

of the lavishness and wealth of many southern slave owners.

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Legend has it that its name

comes from the high-stakes gambling game

played with beans called rattle and snap,

in which the house was won.

Built by slave labor, its 10 portico columns

were shipped from Cincinnati by boat

then pulled by hand and oxen-drawn wagon to this site.

Today, the plantation house,

a National Historic Landmark, is a tourist attraction.

Nearby in Franklin is the Carnton Plantation.

Built in 1826 in what is known

as the Federal style by a former Nashville mayor,

it quickly grew to become one

of the area's most important farms.

During the Civil War, this was the site

of a major battle, and the house was used

as a field hospital.

A staff officer wrote the wounded in hundreds

were brought to the house during the battle

and all the night after.

And when the noble old house could hold no more,

the yard was appropriated until the wounded

and dead filled that.

At one point, the bodies of four Confederate generals

lay on Carnton's back porch.

Even today, after 150 years, it's said that the floor

is still stained with their blood.

In the 1970s, the house and immediate grounds

were donated to the Carnton Association

and opened to the public.

Our journey continues now to the city of Nashville.

This is the capital of the state of Tennessee

and the center of the world for country music,

giving Nashville its name, Music City.

(gentle music)

This place has always been known for music.

Its first celebrity, King of the Wild

Frontier Davy Crockett, was known

for his skill with the fiddle.

In the early 20th century, it became famous

for its honky-tonk hillbilly sound.

And by the '50s and '60s, this had developed

into the slick Nashville sound.

In the center of the city is the state capitol,

designed by Architect William Strickland

in the Greek Revival style.

It was begun in 1845 and took 14 years to complete,

using commercial, convict and slave labor.

Since it opened, visitors have been able

to enter the chambers to watch state representatives

fighting over new legislation,

although with less vigor than at LP Field,

home to the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

It was here in 2000 that the Music City Miracle

took place, when the Titans won a playoff match

with just seconds to spare.

In the heart of Nashville is a monument

to its origins, Fort Nashborough.

The city was founded in 1780 by James Robertson.

He built this to shelter his settlers

against attacks by Native Americans.

This is a reconstruction of the original fort,

which was built in 1930 and then rebuilt

in 1962 using original log cabin techniques.

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Today, it's dwarfed by the city it fostered.

Nearby, the vast Fort Negley was built

during the Civil War by the Union.

It was built largely by newly freed black slaves

who fled to Nashville once it was captured by Union forces.

After the Civil War, this fort was a meeting place

for the white supremacists the Ku Klux Klan

until they were driven underground and stamped out.

Nearby is this extraordinary full-scale replica

of the Athens Parthenon.

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Since the 1850s, Nashville, with its many schools,

universities and theaters, has been known

as the Athens of the South.

This Parthenon was built in 1897

as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition,

the 100th anniversary of Tennessee's entry

into the United States.

The celebration lasted only six months.

Originally, this building was set to be demolished,

but the people of Nashville were so proud

of their Parthenon that it was reconstructed

in concrete, and it has endured ever since.

Today it serves as the city's art museum

and has a collection of important paintings

by 19th and 20th century American artists.

But this is the art for which Nashville is best known.

(country music)

The Country Music Hall of Fame is dedicated

to educating audiences about this particular genre.

It honors legends Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan,

Kenny Rogers, as well as more recent stars.

A new addition is the Taylor Swift Education Center.

It's literally built to showcase music,

and from above, it's in the shape of a bass clef.

The windows are made to look like piano keys,

and the discs around the radio mast

represent the different size records

used for country music.

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Nashville is also home to one of the finest

guitar makers in the world.

This is the Gibson factory and museum.

Founded in 1902, many of the earlier instruments

are highly collectible, including the world-famous

Les Paul electric guitar.

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Visitors get a chance to see instruments being made

as the factory is open for tours.

Finally, our journey takes us to the Ryman Theater,

once home to legendary radio show

"The Grand Old Opry."

This has been called the home of American music,

and the country's most famous stage,

hosting stars like Elvis Presley,

Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Patsy Cline,

making this theater, with its unique blend

of music, heritage and history,

the perfect place to end this journey.

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