If Memphis is the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, it spent its adolescence along U.S. Highway 67. Know today as Rock ’n’ Roll Highway 67, it runs from Newport, Arkansas, to the Missouri border. It is here that the first rock ’n’ rollers honed their skills, playing the small towns along the two-lane road.

Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins— Sun Records’ “Million Dollar Quartet” —These were just a few of the young musicians who performed their music in the school gyms, honky-tonks, and clubs that dotted Highway 67 with such colorful names as Bloody Bucket, Silver Moon, Porky’s Rooftop, and the Skylark Drive In Theater.

In these pages, author Vicki Pasmore takes you on a guided tour of the Rock ’n’ Roll Highway to meet some 20 of the entertainers who gave it its name.