The Blues Foundation’s
Blues Hall of Fame Museum
Hours
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm
Sunday – Monday: Closed
Cost of Admission
Students: $10
Adults: $15
Kids 12 & under: FREE
Blues Foundation Members: FREE
Location
421 S. Main Street
Memphis, TN 38103
901.527.2583
Proud Partner of:
Overview of The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum
Opened in May of 2015, The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum is a Memphis gem for both serious blues fans and casual visitors. With robust exhibits and in-depth history, the museum exposes, educates, and entertains visitors with all that is blues culture while highlighting over 400 inductees in five key categories: Performer, Individual, Album, Single, and Literature.
Our visitors will enjoy 10 individualized galleries with interactive touchscreen displays along with three master databases where they can hear the music, watch videos, and read the stories of each of our inductees. In addition, each gallery houses one-of-a-kind memorabilia to include such iconic pieces as
- Pee Wee Crayton’s Fender Stratocaster Guitar
- Donald “Duck” Dunn’s Lakland Electric Bass
- Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s McHugh Guitar
- Bettye LaVette’s Kennedy Center Honors Performance Outfit
- Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Performance Kimono
You will enjoy viewing hard-to-find album covers and photographs, important awards, unique art, musical instruments and costumes, tour jackets, and other special items that can only be seen at The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum.
Our upstairs, Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise Gallery hosts traveling exhibits that rotate every four months, offering the visitor a new experience every time you walk through our front doors.
The museum was built through the generosity and support of Blues fans so that it would serve all four components of The Blues Foundation’s mission: preserving history, celebrating excellence, supporting education, and ensuring the future of the music.
CURRENT EXHIBIT
Legends of the Blues
by Kelvin Baldwin
Kelvin Baldwin is a self-taught artist who developed a love of art at an early age through his watercolors and portrait sketches of the local “characters” he encountered in his hometown of Camden, Alabama.
Baldwin went on to develop distinctive approaches to color, texture, and movement in his paintings. Regardless of whether he is depicting ordinary people from his everyday life or interpreting legendary blues artists like those on display here, Baldwin’s work is always seeking to capture what he calls the “soulful character” of his subjects. By doing so, he hopes viewers can find their own personal connection to the emotions driving his subjects and enter their world for a brief moment in time.
Baldwin’s work has been featured in art shows, music festivals, and galleries across the country over the past 20 years. He has been commissioned for pieces by businesses, restaurants, and office buildings both nationally and internationally. Most recently, his work has been exhibited at the Landers Centers in Southaven, Mississippi, and the Renasant Convention Center and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
Art inquiries: baldwinart@hotmail.com
IG: artbykelvinbaldwin
On exhibit: Spring – Fall 2024
The upstairs gallery of The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum is sponsored by the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise.
Blues Hall of Fame
2025 Inductees
The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame honors those who have made the Blues timeless through performance, documentation, and recording.
Jessie Mae Hemphill
Performer
Jessie Mae Hemphill cut a unique and colorful figure as queen of the North Mississippi Hill Country blues scene. A three-time winner as traditional female blues artist of the year in the 1987, 1988 and 1994 W.C. Handy Blues Awards (later renamed the Blues Music Awards), Hemphill came from a long line of musicians dating back to her great-grandfather Dock Hemphill and including her parents and aunts as well as her grandfather, Sid Hemphill, who recorded for Alan Lomax and Lewis Jones in 1942. Her rhythmic, rough-hewn music was spirited and gritty–unadorned, in contrast to her sequined apparel, wigs, cowboy hats, and other bold accoutrements.
Henry Townsend
Performer
Henry Townsend, a key contributor to the St. Louis blues sound of the pre-World War era, enjoyed one of the longest careers in blues history. He recorded in every decade from the 1920s through the 2000s and was preparing to perform at a festival when he died on September 24, 2006, at the age of 96. A few months later he shared a posthumous GRAMMY Award for the album “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas,” recorded alongside fellow veterans Robert Lockwood, Honeyboy Edwards and Pinetop Perkins.
Blind Willie Johnson
Performer
Blind Willie Johnson never recorded the blues, but the Texas guitar evangelist’s music has enraptured a multitude of blues fans and musicians for nearly a century. His genre has come to be called “holy blues” for its similarities to the blues format, its intensity and the superb slide guitar technique. “The Soul of a Man,” an episode in Martin Scorsese’s documentary series ”The Blues,” was named after a 1930 Johnson record and featured bluesman Chris Thomas King portraying Johnson—and actor Laurence Fishburne voicing Johnson in the scripted narration. And when the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes were launched in 1977, they each carried a recording, “The Sounds of Earth,” with audio tracks including Johnson ’s “Dark Was the Night—Cold Was the Ground.”
William Bell
Performer
William Bell, best known for his pioneering work at Stax Records in Memphis, has kept that honored legacy alive during his long career as soulful singer, songwriter, producer and label owner. Bell’s music has also encompassed gospel, doo-wop, jazz, R&B, blues, reggae, funk, disco and collaborations with rappers, and in recent years he has been a perennial contender in the soul blues categories of the Blues Music Awards.
Bob Stroger
Performer
Bob Stroger, still actively touring at the age of 94, is reaping the rewards for his decades of laying the foundation for countless blues bands. No performer has ever been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at an older age. He was also the 2024 recipient of the Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist – Bass, the fifth time he had earned the honor.
Stroger had been a journeyman bassist with several small blues, R&B and jazz groups in Chicago before he became a steady, recognizable fixture on the international blues scene, initially thanks to his work behind Otis Rush starting in 1975. Even then, his surname (pronounced STRO-jer) was so unfamiliar to fellow musicians (and record producers) that the first times his name appeared in album credits he was listed as “Bob Strokes,” the way Rush and Sunnyland Slim knew him.
Thank you to those who contributed to Raise the Roof and helped build The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum
Assisi Foundation of Memphis
Friend of The Blues Foundation
Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise & Cruisers
ArtsMemphis
Kathy Bolmer & Andy T
Daniel Tallman
Jim Allchin
First Tennessee Foundation
Hyde Family Foundation
Plough Foundation
Robinson & Maites
Daniel Tallman
Paul S. and Leigh S. Tischler
Steve & Shirley Adams
Hagar Family Foundation
Tripp Hopkins & Laura Dupuy
Steve Miller
Janice Johnston
Michael Kisber
Mick & Molli Kolassa
Eric & Sue Simonsen
Yvonne & Michael LaFramboise
Calvin & Amy McKenzie
Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau
William Howard Thie Foundation
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Luther Allison
Martin & Krista Babinec
Blues Festival Guide
Thomas W. Briggs Foundation
Canal Bank Shuffle
The Majestic Grille
George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Kerby & Judith Confer
Mike Donahue
FedEx Corporation
Grinder, Taber, & Grinder
Scott Haasl
Big Llou’s Hall of Fame Tribute Jam
Jay & Priscilla
Kevin & Haden Kane
Bob Trenchard
John & Laurie Tucker
Stefan & Amy
Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston
Memphis Blues Society
Meg Ramos
Jim Robertson
Joey & Claudia Sichting
Washington Blues Society
Bill Wax & Sheila Jaskot
Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation
Acadiana Blues Society
Dave & Deb Allen
Donovan Allen
American Dream Foundation
Mike & Karen Ancona
Steve & Jane Andrews
Atlanta Blues Society
Dusty Baker
Badnews Barnes
Beale Street Merchants Association
David & Liz Berntson
Blue Mountain Artists
Blues Society of Omaha
Robert Bopp
Erik Boyd & Kirsten Thien
Tim & Michelle Burge
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Keven Campbell
Canadian Polar Bear Blues Showcase
Central Iowa Blues Society
Cindy Canup
Paul Cimbala
Robert Clarke & Helen Jenks Clarke
Craig Coffield
Colorado Blues Society
Danny Cox
Zach Cross & LeAnne Clay
CrossCut Records
Crossroads Blues Society
DC Blues Society
Kristen Dahl
Nick Dahl & Bobbie Hullermann
Delta Groove Music
Dr. Wu Music
ProjectBlues
Charles & Lori Ragsdell
Jeff & Shelly Rainwater
Marnie Ring
Pat Robertson
Curtis Salgado
Marty Salzman
Saskatoon Blues Society
Sheila & Tim Drevyanko
Kevin & Deberah Erickson
Darren Jay Fallas
Reuben Farris & Kathy Seney
Horst-Dieter Fischer
Michael Foster
Ricky & Kathy Freedman
Michael Freeman
Richard & Shannon Gallet
Phil & Linda Gatz
Nancy Gaydos
Thomas & Karen Geelan
Joe & Jeanette Geraghty
Great Northern Blues Society
Elliott Gross
Denny Hachenberg & Sheila McCoy
Michael J. Hannan
Chris Hardwick
Mary Ann Haskell
Steve Hecht
C. Damon Hecker
Houston Blues Society
Tony TFJ Howitt
Intrepid Artists Int’l
Christopher Jaeckel
Ken Johnson
David & Tracy Jones
Maureen & Tony Juodis
Kalt Family Foundation
Sergio Kapfer & Daphna Krim
Thomas & Helen Heron Karnes
Becky & George Scully
John Sheppard
Gail Singer & Mark McGrath
Smoky Mountain Blues Society
Patricia & Corky Solum
Janie Soong
South Florida Blues Society
Southwest Florida Blues Society
Dave Keyes
Tommy Keys & Donna Malerba
Kids for the Blues
George & Betty Klein
Cynthia Kosciuk
Tom Lafreniere & Donna Mellquist
Lellyett & Rogers Company
George Lord & Sarah Hurley
Lucerne Blues Festival
Scott & Beane Lynema
Tim & Sherry May
Gary & Becky Mayo
Charles McCarthy
Thomas McCoy
Wes and Fain McDaniel
Roger Meeden
Cathy & Michael Miller
Kathy Minke & Bob Sekinger
Clint Morgan
Susan Murrmann
Nick Nixon
Northern Arizona Blues Alliance
Greg & Charlotte Nuckles
Karen Nugent
John & Cynthia Olsen
Ottawa Blues Society
Panama Blues
Ron Partain
Phoenix Blues Society
Bob & Linda Porter
Joe & Tracey Powell
Tall City Blues Fest
Earl Thomas
Hal Thompson
Bonnie & Art Tipaldi
Brian & Julie Tresnak
Jimmy & Annette Trujillo
Lynette Webster & Jeff Wagner
David Walker
Holly & Barry Walter
Allen Wiltz
Wired! Band
Dan & Maureen Woodard
Wyoming Blues & Jazz Society
Stephen & Linda Zenuh
2 Blue Shoes
2 Left Feet Blues Festival
Kenny & Susan Acosta
Gaye Adegbalola
Mark Alestra
Michael Rece Allen
Scott Allen & Jen Taylor
David & Catherine Almvig
Eric Ambro
Larsen & Michelle Anderson
Connie & Brad Appier
Keith & Mary Archer
archimania
Carles Gatell Arimont
Armadillo Music
Paul & Janet Averwater
Susan Baker & Jim LaPlante
Glenn Bauer
Carl & Linda Beauregard
Deborah Bell
Marc & Lisa Biales
Billtown Blues Association
David Lee Bishop
Louis & Kathy Blackwell
Paul Blackwell & Mary Dellorto
Robert Blake
Maureen Block & Tommy Castro
Blues Kids of America
Blues Lovers United of San Diego
Blues Mob of San Francisco Bay
Blues Society of Central Pennsylvania
Blues Society of Tulsa
Marla & Kris Boehmer
Spencer & Marilyn Bohren
Jerry Bowdren
John Brazell
Joe & Elizabeth Brown
Peggy Burke
Thomas Calk
Cindy Canup
Cape Fear Blues Society
Capital Area Blues Society
Laura Carbone
Sean Carney’s Blues For A Cure
Cascade Blues Association
Phil & Lynn Casciotti
Ray & Louise Cassidy
Charlie & Courtney Ciaramitaro
Barbara & John Claire
Wayne Clark & Kim Laramy
Buddy & Sandy Cleveland
Michael Cloeren
David & Sachiko Clough
Connecticut Blues Society
Beth Cooper
Carl Cox
Bruce Cozadd & Sharon Hoffman
Bob Crattie
Dam Blues Festival
Darwin’s Burgers & Blues
Michele Davis
Carrol Deen
Kyle Deibler
Rich & Lisa Del Grosso
Detroit Blues Society
Dion DiMucci
Mindy & Bobby Dollar
Albert & Pamela Dollear
Michael & Elaine Dortch
Kathleen Doyle
Elizabeth Drewry
Ted Drozdowski & Laurie Hoffma
Ron Duke
Ronnie Earl
William Cole Early IV
Donald Ebenstein
Bill Eberle & Dagney Ernest
Edmonton Blues Society
Steven & Jennifer Edwards
Ellersoul Records
JoAnn Engel
Marc Engel
Len Entrabartolo
Jack Everitt
H. Wayne Ferguson
Sam & Freida Fillingane
Brett & Dolores Fleming
Karl Schmed
Gloria Schmed-Scott
Layne & Pat Schoonover
Self Foundation
Shacksdale USA
Donna & John Shelton
John Shelton
Charles & Nino Shipp
Diana Shonk
Richard Silbert
Phyllis Sigal & Bruce Wheeler
Robert Simpson & Cindy Look
Barbara Singer
Lynn & Tim Sinnett
John Skovmand
Ted & Jo Slowik
Soul Fixin’ Foundation
South Sound Blues Association
Karen Spacek
Scott & Patti Sparks
Hal Spergel
Pam & Bill Spry
Standard Builders
Rod Stark
Thomas Starno
Leah Starr
Anna Stashower
James & Rita Stearns
Rick & Ellen Foster
Doug & Inez Frank
Michael Frank
Lynn Frankowski
“Mr. Charlie” Frazier
Amy Friedman
Jed & Patricia Friedrichsen
Joey Fulkerson
Wolfgang Fundinger
Hap & Brenda Gagne
Craig & Cindi Garrelts
Barry Gebler & Linda Bronsdon
Mike & Kalli Genest
Georgetown Fats
Thomas Gettelfinger
Chris Gill
Mike & Oscar Glenn & Jacinda Norton
Golden Gate Blues Society
Mark Goodman
Grafton Blues Association
Grand River Blues Society
Granite State Blues Society
Great Lakes Blues Society
Great Northern Blues Society
Ken Grosh
Kris Gyorke
Raymond Hall
Emily Hallock
Barbara Hammerman & Amanda Gresham
Adrianna Marie Hansen
Zac Harmon
Bradley Harned
Bob & Donna Hastings
Cam Hayden
Robin Heard
Matt & Judy Heiter
Georgia Helmick & Bob Pace
Andy & Linda Henry
Heritage Music BluesFest
Hernandez family
HighJohn Records
High Water Records
Jeff & Linda Hillman
Mike Hodson Family
William Hogue & Erica McPhillips
Bonnie Hollabaugh
Lou Holscher & Suzanne English
Dietmar Hoscher
House of Blues Entertainment
Drew Howie
David & Sherree Hughes
Robert Hughes
Inland Empire Blues Society
J.P.’s Shellfish Company
Kathleen Kelso Jack
Jimmy Jacobs
Greg & Cindi James
Jennifer Janes
Stacy Jeffress
Powell & Harriette Jenkins
Jeff Jensen
Chris & DeForest Johnson
S. Berry Jones Architects
Mark & Chris Jordan
Barb & Geno Kabes
Karen & Doug Keller
Bridget Kelly Band
Harrison Kennedy
Judith Kerr
Kinder Family Foundation
Candy King
Steven Kinney
Michael Kinsman
Bob Kissel
Kitchener Blues Community
Wayne & Gail Klahs
Brandon Knight
Lisa Kubiske
Dan Kubiske
Fran & Joan Kulle
Leslie Landreth
Greg & Kendra Langdon
Jim LaPlante & Susan Baker
Brian LaPrade
Cyndi Lauper
JT & Marion Lauritsen
Ben & Janet Lawson
Hans Lebuser
Goran Stensrud & Bitten Svendsen
Ricky Stevens
Steve & Teri Stoerger
Trish Stypka & Jane Kreinberg
Suncoast Blues Society
Jenipher Sutherland
Michael & Linda Sweeney
Howard & Ilene Swidler
Sydney Blues Society
SYLA Presents
Bonnie Tallman
Nancy & Jimmy Tashie
Tater Red’s
Carol & Otis Taylor
Cassie Taylor
Phil & Martha Thien
Alex Thomas
Thunder Bay Blues Society
Connie Thyng
Time Out Pub
Topeka Blues Society
Toronto Blues Society
Trento Family
Jessica & Donald Truax
Tim Tully
Susan Turner
Avril & George Twyman
Kathi & Dirk Vandever
David Lee
Leland Blues Project
Alan & Barb Leo
Mark & Ellen Levine
Stefan Levy
Don & Rosemary Lewis
Buck & Malinda Lewis
Mildred Lincoln
Albert & Barbara Lindsey
Charlie Lockard
Long Island Blues Society
Deb Lubin
Lugar Foundry
Attila, Robert & Cecilia Lukacs
Pat & Patti Lynch
Doug & Patti Joy MacLeod
Maine Blues Society
Mike & Starla Mammon
Bill & Helene Mandras
Michael Maness
Ben Marcolin
Rick Massuch
James McMenis
Bill & Draughon McPherson
Alex & Tina Merrifield
Bruce H. Meshell
Scott & Judy Miller
Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola
Janice Monti
Darwin Moore
Warrick Moore & Maxine McNeil
Pat Morgan
Chapman & Chip Morrow
Peter Mullins
Olga Wilhelmine Munding
Music Maker Relief Foundation
Covedog Myers
Byron Nesbitt
James & Gweneth Newborn
Lan & Nel Nichols
Northeast Ohio Blues Association
Orange County Blues Society
Lee Oskar
Scott Owen
Eric Packer
Peter Parcek
Sista Monica Parker
Roger Patterson
T-Bird Pattison & Linda DiTullo
Pemigewasset Blues Crew
Holger Petersen
Henry Phillips
Chuck & Jolie Porter
Robert Posch
Tracey & Joe Powell
Dave & Cindy Power
Prairie Crossroads Blues Society
Smokey Pratt
Andy & Jill Pressler
Dale & Koko Preston
Leo Priest
Rick Rabe
Diane Rahkonen
Stephen & Cathy Rayner
Marshall Reavis
Darlene Rector
Willie Reinders & Christine Keffeler
Rick & Terre Renninger
Robert Riesman
Sally & Keith Riggs
Riverwalk Blues & Music Festival
River City Blues Society of Virginia
Robert & Carline Roach
Terri Robbins
Frank Roszak
Evelyn Rubio
Nick & Louise Ruf
Glenn Ruff
Nancy Ruff & Jim Connell
Peter, Michelle & Estelle Ryan
W. Michael Ryan
Julie Rybacki
Chris Sabie
Sacramento Blues Society
Santa Barbara Blues Society
Ralph Sarayusa & Laura Griffin
Bob Scales & Mary Keefe
Vicksburg Blues Society
Carol & Kurt Viegelmann
Jim & Yati Vogan
Jennifer Weaver
Marcia Weaver
Janet M. Webb
Little G Weevil & Brandi Szucs
Ronald Weinstock
Lynn Orman Weiss
Donna Weitzel
West Virginia Blues Society
David Whillock
Don & Michele Wilcock
George Willett
Ron & Brenda Williams
Miss Jackie Wilson
Roger, Linda, Jaclyn & Julie Winkelman
Dana Mae Winter
Marsha Wooten
Working Law Firm
Katie Wright
Yellow Dog Records
Mike Zito
Zaida Zoller
Andy & Susan Steele
Jill & Ken Steinberg
Luis A. Viada
Brad Vickers & His Vestapolitans
Become aVolunteer Docent at The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame
Docent responsibilities are easy and fun:
- Greet visitors and make them feel welcome
- Demonstrate how to use the individual gallery interactive touchscreens and the museum’s master databases
- Share basic information about the Blues Hall of Fame with visitors
- Tell visitors about the other programs and good works done by The Blues Foundation
- Pass along recommendations for other attractions and restaurants
- Help staff keep a watchful eye on the space
The docent volunteer time commitment is aminimum of twice a month for a 4 hour shift. The Blues Hall of Fame is open 5 days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Expertise in blues music is not required butenjoyment of music, history, and interacting with people is a must!
For information contact Ashley Linsey, 901-527-2583 ext 20 or emailashley@blues.org.
Our Sponsors and Partnerships
Help us fulfill our mission and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form.
Become a part of our museum experience as a volunteer docent! Volunteering is easy and fun.
Keep up to date on the latest blues events and become a part of history as a part of our voting body.
From clubs to radio shows to publications, explore our catalog of the living art of the blues.