A Spotlight on Texas and the Deep South

On our tour, we explore the Deep South, renowned for its gracious hospitality, spicy Creole and Cajun cuisine, charismatic southern drawl and of course, the most popular music genres of the 20th century – jazz, rock n’ roll, the blues and country, all combined with a fascinating journey through Texas, the lone star state.

Atlanta, Georgia

Your journey begins in the laid-back city of Atlanta, Georgia, site of the 1996 Olympic Games, which really put the city on the map. In Memphis visit The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, an engaging cultural attraction of America’s historical milestones. Atlanta has a lovely laid-back southern charm and is the perfect start to a fascinating tour.

Nashville, Tennessee

Travel through the rolling rich farmland of Tennessee, enjoying a true slice of unspoilt 50’s America, calling in at the legendary Jack Daniel’s Distillery to learn how this world-famous whisky is produced. Stay two nights in Nashville, affectionately known as ‘Music City USA’, the centre of the huge country music industry - where aspiring artists come to start their careers, songwriters try out their new songs and where anyone can walk into one of the myriad of live music venues and hear some of the best music-making in North America.

Memphis, Tennessee 

Not too far down the road lies another of America’s great musical cities - Memphis. Home of the remarkable Sun Studios that launched Elvis’ stratospheric rise to fame and the site of his sprawling home, Graceland; Memphis also played a pivotal and tragic role in the civil rights movement as the place where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Hear the echoes of Elvis as well as a host of other music legends at the RCA Studio B. Enjoy a live country music show and soak up the ambience of a honky-tonk bar – or two! In Memphis a guided tour round 1950’s Sun Studio and a visit to the iconic Graceland mansion will provide a fascinating insight into the life of Elvis, the ‘King’ of rock n’ roll and you’ll learn more about one of the USA’s most historical milestones at The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was shot. 
 

New Orleans, Mississippi

We stay three nights in New Orleans, ‘The Big Easy’ with its motto ‘Laissez les bons temps rouler’ – let the good times roll, depicts exactly what makes this city such a rewarding place to visit. Its famously progressive spirit and liberal attitudes date back to its French roots, when convicts were freed on condition that they settled there. Then it became an unruly smuggling enclave ensuring its rebellious streak continued to thrive. Always pushing the boundaries, it was inevitable the exceptional French, Spanish, American and African cultures fused so harmoniously producing a unique city which has given birth to jazz and its most famous son, the remarkable Louis Armstrong. It was also home to some of the greats of American literature such as Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams, who famously said that ‘America only has three cities, New York, San Francisco and New Orleans. All the rest are Cleveland!’
 

Alamo, Texas

Our extension into the ‘Lone Star State’ of Texas includes a visit to the very soul of Texas – the Alamo, where in 1836 an estimated 183 men were killed by Mexican troops trying to prevent Texas from gaining its independence. As the second largest US state, Texas is unbelievably almost three times the size of the UK, and has a proud cowboy tradition dating from the 19th century. We discover this almost legendary western heritage during our visit to a working cattle ranch learning how the life and back-breaking work of cowboys evolved into the sport of rodeo, next we see the Fort Worth stockyards, in their heyday the world’s largest.

Houston, Texas

Admire the sweeping vistas of the Southern Texas Plains and visit the Johnson Space Centre and NASA’s ‘Mission Control’ in Houston. Who can ever forget the excitement, hope and sheer exhilaration the US gave the world during the 1960s and ‘70s at the height of its space program, the moonshots and those immortal phrases ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ and of course probably the world’s most famous understatement, ‘Houston, we have a problem!’ We’ll tour the Johnson Space Centre and NASA’s ‘Mission Control’ from where the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew was saved from almost certain disaster by the innovative thinking of some of the best scientists and engineers in the world. It does not seem so long ago, but would you believe the return trajectory through the earth’s atmosphere was calculated using a ‘slide rule’ – how the world has changed! The space centre is still used today to train astronauts and develop the new technologies for future manned missions to Mars.

Dallas, Texas

Finally it’s Dallas, which during the 1980s was the setting of the world’s most watched TV programme! However probably more famously, in 1963 the ’Big D’ was propelled to world attention when (allegedly!), Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, for whatever reason we shall ultimately never know and after which it seemed the entire planet went into mourning - especially so when his son poignantly saluted his father’s coffin. We see the ‘grassy knoll’ and learn all about the events of that famous day.