This year is Memphis' bicentennial, but while there's been Memphis music as long as there's been a Memphis, you can't listen back 200 years. As a result, our three-part Memphis Music Road Map is a de facto centennial (and a little more) of sound. We tell a story of Memphis music's evolution one song at a time, from early blues and the Beale Street sound to the golden age of Sun and Stax and on to the contemporary styles of rock and rap. This first part follows the trail from W.C. Handy to the dawn of World War II. 

Memphis Mojo Festival organizers say the event will include an entertainment and arts industry expo on Oct. 2-4, with concerts taking place Oct. 5 to 6.

A bizarre story in American music isn’t quite done unfolding, but in the middle of it all is Jocelyn “Jozzy” Donald, the songwriter who grew up in Memphis and helped author this cowboy-styled tale of musical redemption.

Miley Cyrus joined Marc Cohn for a rendition of "Walking in Memphis" as the rain fell over Tom Lee Park on the second day of Beale Street Music Fest.

Beale Street Music Fest took over the Downtown riverfront with performances by BlocBoy JB, Shinedown, Brandon Santini, Chvrches and Dirty Heads.

Memphis in May's new partnership with a social media giant includes live streaming from the Beale Street Music Festival and will carry over to the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

The North Mississippi Allstars will open the first half of the Levitt Shell's annual summer concert series on May 30. The free concert series will continue through late July, before returning again at the end of August. 

Volunteers answered the call from the Coliseum Coalition to help "pre-vitalize" the Mid-South Coliseum, turning out Saturday to clean up the storied Memphis landmark.

The state Senate has pulled $2.5 million from Gov. Bill Lee’s planned $10 million Memphis riverfront redevelopment grant, with plans to redirect the money to a Germantown Performing Arts Center amphitheater.

Omar Higgins, leader of reggae band Chinese Connection Dub Embassy and hardcore punk band Negro Terror, died April 18 at the age of 37.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Memphis-based Stax Records formed an alliance following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death here that allowed Jackson to use the record label as a platform to spread the spoken word.

The Weekly Memphian is a partial guide to things happening in Memphis, recommended by Daily Memphian staff. This guide covers April 10-16.

The Doobie Brothers returns to the Memphis Botanic Garden concert series in a lineup that also includes Lionel Richie, Toby Keith and Brett Young. 

Michigan-based pianist and lecturer Dr. Garik Pederson traveled to Memphis on Saturday to tell the story of a piano made specifically for recreation during World War II.

Would you buy tickets to a concert before you knew who is performing? Sofar Sounds, an entertainment company now in Memphis, thinks it might be the best way to fall in love with new music.

Musician Dale Watson has purchased the historic Hernando's Hideaway and has plans to reopen it in late March as a venue for local and touring roots musicians.

Singer, songwriter KIRBY, a Stax Music Academy alumna, is giving back to the institution, in a couple of ways. 

The 2019 Grammy Awards are full of nominees from Memphis or that are connected to the MidSouth. 

Bands and solo/duo acts from Memphis and Mississippi to the Mediterranean and all points in-between competed Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the annual International Blues Challenge on Beale. Competition continues through Saturday.

Memphis Slim House is officially its own nonprofit, after starting off as a program of Community LIFT. Its new director, Tonya Dyson, is thinking globally about the Memphis Slim Collaboratory. 

Statistically speaking, you've likely given up on your New Year's resolution. So Elizabeth Cawein of Music Export Memphis has a new one: Listen to more Memphis music in 2019 with the first of 12 playlists highlighting the best new songs by local artists.

Blues may be thought of as a genre of older performers, but during the International Blues Challenge, young blues musicians from all over the world meet in Memphis. 

Hometown rocker John Kilzer debuts a new album, the Harlem Globetrotters hit the FedExForum hardwood, the city honors MLK on Monday and more things to do in Memphis this week.

Five Memphis sisters, all members of the band JCKSN Ave, are working on their debut album. Soon they are departing to L.A. to work on the project with two acclaimed producers from Memphis. 

The Memphis-based Blues Foundation has announced nominees for its 40th awards celebration. The winners, recognized for achievements in performances, recordings, songwriting and sustaining the blues, will be revealed in May.