On Episode 13 of Just Bluffin’, we chatted with Meagan May of Backbeat Tours. A lifelong, fifth-generation Memphian, Meagan attended college at Delta State University, graduating in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in English. After being accepted and attending orientation at the University of Memphis law school, she decided to change course. She accepted a part-time job as a tour guide and in 2012 began giving ghost tours of Downtown Memphis with Backbeat Tours. Eleven years later, she is now the Vice President and Director of Sales at the same company.
On Just Bluffin’, Campfire Collective talked to Meagan about Elvis, Memphis history, and what makes Memphis the music capital of the world.
“There's a couple of different stories about how Elvis got that leg shake,” Meagan May said at the start of our conversation. “Before his foray into music, Elvis was an usher at the Ellis Auditorium where they had gospel revivals on Saturday night. And Elvis saw performances like The Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen Quartet. Big Chief, the bass player for the Statesmen, used to wiggle around on stage. Some people say that's where Elvis got it. And then the other school of thought is that he was just nervous.”
Meagan told the story about Elvis Presley’s first billed show, as part of a hillbilly hoedown at the Overton Park Shell:
“The crowd just loses their collective minds. Elvis runs off stage. And Bob Neal, the music promoter, very, very famously tells Elvis, ‘Son, I don't know what you did out there. But you need to go back out there and you need to do it again.’”
“When you think about Elvis – even I, as a historian and as a Memphian – tend to lose sight of the fact that he was a person,” Meagan added. “He's not that to a lot of people, even now. Elvis is kind of this idea. But when you go to Graceland, or when you watch the Elvis movie, or when you learn these little tidbits about his life, it humanizes him and you realize he's a person. You know, he's performing on a stage for people who probably weren't going to like his music. And he's out there, performing. I'd be scared. I'd be nervous. And that turned into his thing. You know, maybe it got a reaction and he realized that it got a reaction. And so he just leaned into that.”
About her work as a tour guide with Backbeat Tours, Meagan said,
“No two days are ever the same. You meet people from all over the world, every single day. I'm meeting people from Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, Germany. We've got a lot of French visitors coming in right now. Elvis is a big draw for a lot of people coming to Memphis, but he's not the only draw. People are fascinated by our contributions to American history as a whole. And it is my absolute pleasure to be the one who gets to introduce them to that, and to show them these historic places and say, ‘hey, we've saved these places for you.’”
Meagan’s own favorite Memphis memory lies closer to home:
“I'm a fifth generation Memphian. My daughter was born here. And I’m making sure that my daughter and the next generation don't take this history for granted. My daughter knows how important Elvis is to a larger conversation. She goes to Immaculate Conception Cathedral School and is probably the only fourth grader that knows that Priscilla went there. But I'm making sure that my daughter knows these stories and how they connect to the greater history of America. I want her to know that she lives in a really, really cool place that’s part of a bigger conversation. That's my favorite memory so far: getting to share all of these stories with my daughter and seeing it through her eyes.”
To listen to our full conversation with Meagan May, click here. And don’t miss any of our future conversations with Memphis leaders! Subscribe to Just Bluffin’ wherever you get your podcasts, and learn more about the team behind the mic at buildacampfire.com.
This blog was written by the Campfire Collective
About the Author
Campfire Collective is a Memphis-based marketing and communications agency that seeks to ignite creativity for community-focused organizations. Learn more at buildacampfire.com.
