10 places in the US that every music lover should visit

The USA is a country in thrall to music. Over the past century (and a bit), it has watched the heady ascents of numerous stars – from B B King and Louis Armstrong through to Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry and Nirvana – in genres as diverse as blues, jazz, folk and rock.

So where to go to find echoes of your heroes? In truth, each American state has some sort of musical tale to tell. But you could certainly start your search in one of these 10 cities...

1. Memphis

The shadow of Elvis Presley looms over Tennessee’s largest city. His Graceland mansion (graceland.com), nine miles south of Downtown, is still a hive of well-wishers 40 years after his death, with visitors paying their respects at his grave in the grounds. But there is more to Memphis than The King.

South-east of the centre at 926 East McLemore Avenue, the Stax Museum (staxmuseum.com) keeps alive the flame of the soul label that released classics by Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding between 1959 and 1975.

Then there is Beale Street, oneof the spiritual playgrounds of the blues. Here, B B King’s Blues Club (bbkings.com) hosts nightly shows in tribute to the musical titan who died last year.

2. New York City

The Big Apple has long been a swirl of the coolest musical acts. The likes of the Velvet Underground, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Strokes and Wu-Tang Clan all emerged from its febrile environment, while Bob Dylan cut his teeth in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village in the early Sixties.

You can find traces of the great man in this much-loved part of Manhattan – Cafe Wha? (cafewha.com), where he played regularly in 1961, is at 115 Macdougal Street. Dylan was too late in arriving to share New York with Charlie Parker, but the city framed this virtuoso jazz saxophonist's career between 1939 and 1955. The National Museum of Jazz (jazzmuseuminharlem.org) in Harlem tells the trumpeter’s story.

3. Los Angeles

California’s biggest city is a place with serious rock credentials. The Rainbow Bar And Grill (rainbowbarandgrill.com), on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, has been a watering hole for a legion of guitar bands, including Guns N’ Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers – while Jim Morrison of The Doors used to prop up the bar at the nearby Whisky A Go Go (whiskyagogo.com).

And the Troubadour, on Santa Monica Boulevard (troubadour.com), has hosted artists from Radiohead to Elton John. Hip-hop has its say too. LA Hood Life Tours (lahoodlifetours.com) offers guided trips around Compton, where gangsta rap pioneers NWA concocted seismic LP Straight Outta Compton in 1988.

4. Seattle

If LA has long dealt in guitar-toting flamboyance, Seattle has stood for a glummer style of rock. Between 1989 and 1994, it was the epicentre of grunge, the gritty musical movement that produced groups such as Soundgarden and Pearl Jam – but most notably Nirvana.

Washington’s biggest city salutes Kurt Cobain and his bandmates at its fabulous EMP Museum (empmuseum.org), where Nirvana: Taking Punk tothe Masses laysout instruments,set lists, photos and testimony. Another exhibition in the building, Wild Blue Angel, celebrates another great Seattleite – Jimi Hendrix.

5. Detroit

The contribution of Michigan’s largest city to the American musical tapestry should never be underestimated. Acts as diverse as Eminem, the White Stripes and Iggy Pop all found their feet in this Midwest metropolis, while Madonna grew up in the suburb of Rochester Hills.

However, Detroit’s biggest gift to the world will always be Motown. The mould-breaking soul record label was founded here by Berry Gordy Jr in 1959, and was based in the conurbation until 1972. Its operational hub lives on at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, as the Motown Museum (motownmuseum.org) – twin townhouses where visitors can follow the footsteps of Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder into the legendary Studio A.

6. Nashville

The Tennessee state capital is one vast shrine to all things country music. Performers as diverse as Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Taylor Swift have all worked at their oeuvre in a city so obsessed with the genre that it has the Country Music Hall of Fame – an enormous museum of more than 2.5million artefacts (countrymusichalloffame.org).

Nashville is also the home of the Grand Ole Opry (opry.com), a weekly country stage show which has been broadcast since 1925. These days, this extravaganza largely takes place at the Grand Ole Opry House, a 4,000-seat arena. But it still pops up at the wonderful Ryman Auditorium, a theatre of exquisite acoustics that acted as Opry base from 1943 to 1974.

7. Chicago

While the blues was certainly born in the Deep South, it found fresh impetus in Chicago between the Thirties and Sixties, when the likes of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy were active in the Windy City.

The latter shows no sign of retiring despite turning 80 last year – and his name shines in neon above the door of Buddy Guy’s Legends (buddyguy.com), a suitably atmospheric club at 700 South Wabash Avenue in the central Loop area of the city, where younger guns try to live up to the master’s genius.

8. New Orleans

Louisiana’s most fabled city is renowned for its Mardi Gras carnival and the up-all-night atmosphere of its French Quarter – but it has also been a cultural birthing place. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it witnessed the dawn of jazz, this genre of skittering rhythms and clever invention emerging from New Orleans’s African-American community.

Louis Armstrong, arguably the finest ever jazz trumpeter, followed, born in town in 1901. “Satchmo” still lingers in town. The airport bears his name. The music lives on too, in Preservation Hall (preservationhall.com), at 726 St Peter Street. Although younger than it looks (it opened in 1961), this is a true jazz mecca, staging nightly shows.

9. Minneapolis

Even before his death in April at the age of 57, Minnesota’s biggest city was known as the home of the rock-soul legend Prince. He famously worked out of his studio complex Paisley Park (officialpaisleypark.com), 20 miles south-west of Downtown.

This was a secretive bunker during his lifetime, but from October the place where he masterminded albums such as Sign o’ the Times and Diamonds and Pearls will be open for tours.

Fans can also seek the great man at First Avenue (first-avenue.com), in the very heart of the metropolis where he played on several occasions. The searing guitar solo on his most vaunted track, Purple Rain, was recorded here during a concert in 1983.

10. Miami

The current decade has been dominated by EDM (Electronic Dance Music), a feverishly upbeat genre. But while this is an international form of music – a planet-bestriding colossus of superstar DJs and major hits – it has a symbolic heartland in Miami.

Florida’s brightest metropolis is always ready to party, and does so with aplomb every March in the form of its Winter Music Conference (wintermusicconference.com) – a bonanza that, while technically a record industry shindig, fills clubs along the Atlantic to capacity each night.