Lamplighter Lounge on Madison Avenue in midtown Memphis is the city's defining smoke-stained dive bar, with cheap beer, a pool table and a relentlessly local crowd.
Tip: Cash preferred. No food; the 03:00 close draws midtown when other bars shut.
Address: 1702 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
The Cove on Broad Avenue in Memphis is a pirate-themed late-night oyster bar with a wood pirate-ship bar and live music in the back, open Tuesday to Sunday until late.
Tip: Oyster happy hour 17:00. Live music most weekends. Closed Mondays.
Young Avenue Deli in Cooper-Young Memphis runs cold beer, deli sandwiches and live music until 03:00 daily, the city's defining late-night beer and sandwich room.
Tip: Late kitchen until 02:00 most nights. Live music in the back room weekends.
Itta Bena is a hidden upstairs late-night room above B.B. King's on Beale Street in Memphis, named for the Mississippi town B.B. King was born in, with Southern dishes.
Tip: Open daily 17:00 to 22:00. The unmarked Second Street door is the easy entrance.
B.B. King's Blues Club at 143 Beale Street in Memphis is the flagship of the B.B. King chain, with the Beale Street Allstars in residence and live blues seven nights a week.
Tip: Cover charge after 19:00 most nights. Sit upstairs for an easier view of the bandstand.
Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis runs live blues seven nights since 1985, with over 200 autographed guitars hanging from the ceiling and Cajun-Southern food.
Tip: Live blues from 19:00 nightly. The Beale Street Flippers usually take a stage break at 22:00.
Mr. Handy's Blues Hall on Beale Street in Memphis is the only original juke joint left on the strip, a tiny no-frills room with live blues and the rawest sound on Beale.
Tip: Tipping the band keeps the music going. The room holds maybe 40 people; get there early.