Entry No. 42 — the Memphis file — filed under: blues
Wild Bill's
Wild Bill's is a low cinderblock building on Vollintine with long communal tables, meaning you don't get a table so much as a seat at somebody else's. The Juke Joint All Stars — a rotating pool of pro players who also work Beale — hold the room down, and the beer program is refreshingly unsubtle: 32-ounce cans run $6 to $8 and a bucket goes for $22 domestic, $25 import. The kitchen is not an afterthought; catfish platters land around $10 to $15, wings scale up to a 30-piece, and every other Sunday brings a soul food menu with chitterlings, ox tails and pot roast plates. The venue bills itself as a bar, restaurant and blues museum in roughly that order, and the walls back it up.
→ Three more underground music & performance in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
Wild Bill's sits at 1580 Vollintine Ave in the historic Vollintine-Evergreen district, roughly five minutes from Beale Street — a distance the venue cites as an argument rather than a location. Its own copy calls it "a live blues dive bar and museum" and "the Midsouth's #1 Juke Joint," and claims that "over the past 25 years some of the South's biggest names in authentic southern blues have cut their teeth within our walls." The exterior is unpromising, a fact visitors state plainly in their reviews and then immediately recant. Inside, the seating is long communal tables: you don't get a table so much as two seats at somebody else's.
The music is held down by the Juke Joint All Star Show & Band, which is less a band than a pool — over 100 professional musicians, represented by Bandstand Entertainment, most of whom also work Beale. The venue advertises "live entertainment from 6 until LATE" and describes the result as a Las Vegas style live blues show, which rather undersells the Sunday-afternoon jam, where anyone who can play guitar, drums or tambourine has a decent chance of ending up onstage whether or not that was the plan.
The cooler and the kitchen are not afterthoughts. Thirty-two-ounce cans run $4.50 for a seltzer, $6 for a Corona, Heineken or Modelo and $8 for a Bud Light — the imports are cheaper than the domestics, and nobody there appears troubled by this. Buckets are $22 domestic and $25 import, and there is a $10 BYOB fee if you'd rather bring your own. Catfish comes fried, grilled or blackened at $9.99 to $14.99, wings scale from three pieces to thirty at $52.99, and the Soul Food Sunday board runs $14.99 to $21.99 a plate with cornbread and two sides, ox tails included. The blues museum, for its part, is a photo booth: get your picture on the wall, under the house line, "You never know how good you look until you get your picture took."
What it's like
Closed Mondays. Posted hours start at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. Friday and Sunday, all of it listed as running to 5 a.m. — but doors opening is not the band starting, and on a Friday or Saturday the room doesn't really begin until around eleven. Call 901-409-0081 first: the venue explicitly asks out-of-towners to say they're coming, and it's the only dependable way to learn who is actually playing. Park with some sense; it's a residential-ish stretch of Vollintine. Bring cash. Then expect to be seated with strangers at a long table, expect the band to work the room rather than face front, and expect the DJ shift to decide how late you're actually out.
The move: Get there around 11 on a Friday or Saturday, buy the $22 bucket, and take the two open seats at whichever long table has them — introducing yourselves to strangers is the format, not an accident. Split a catfish platter while the All Stars set up, stay for the full set, and let the DJ shift decide how late you're actually out.
📍 Before you go Closed Mondays. Posted hours: Tue-Thu and Sat from 6 p.m., Fri and Sun from 11 a.m., all listed as running to 5 a.m. The band doesn't start when the doors open — this is a late room, so plan for 11 p.m. or later. The venue explicitly asks out-of-towners to call ahead at 901-409-0081 or use the contact form so they know you're coming; do that, both because they ask and because it's the only reliable way to confirm who's playing. It's a residential-ish stretch of Vollintine, so park with sense. Bring cash.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1580 Vollintine Ave, Memphis, TN 38107
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Cozy Corner BBQ — Two miles south on N Parkway and closed at 8 p.m., which makes the Cornish game hen the correct way to fill the four hours between dinner and the band actually going on.
- The Green Room at Crosstown Arts — A mile and a half down the road and the exact acoustic inverse — a seated, treated, deliberately bar-free 7:30 jazz set that ends in time to drive over and do the opposite.
- Earnestine & Hazel's — The downtown counterpart: another building doing bar, kitchen and unofficial museum at once, and the other place in Memphis where the room's history is the reason you stayed past midnight.
More weird in Memphis
Good to know
When does the music actually start?
The venue advertises live entertainment "from 6 until LATE," but the band going on is a separate event from the doors opening. Plan on 11 p.m. or later on a Friday or Saturday. The Sunday session is the outlier — doors at 11 a.m., and the afternoon jam is the one where audience members get pulled up.
Do I need to call ahead?
They ask you to. The site requests that out-of-town visitors call 901-409-0081 or submit the contact form to let them know you're coming, and the form won't be processed without a phone number. Do it anyway, because the lineup isn't posted anywhere reliable.
What am I going to spend?
Beer is the main line: 32-ounce cans $4.50 to $8, buckets $22 domestic and $25 import, plus a $10 fee if you BYOB. Food runs $9.99 to $14.99 for catfish, $6.99 to $52.99 for wings depending on how many, $24.99 for the Wild Bill's Platter, and $14.99 to $21.99 for a Soul Food Sunday plate with cornbread and two sides. Bring cash.
What's the seating like — can I get a table for two?
No. The room runs on long communal tables, so you take whichever seats are open and introduce yourselves to whoever is already there. That is the format rather than an accident, and it is a large part of why people come.
How does this compare to Beale Street?
It's about five minutes away and considerably less managed — no long lines, no expensive cover, and a house band drawn from over 100 players who work Beale during the week. Reviewers who tried Beale first and ended up here tend to say so at length.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
📷 We made a card for this one on Instagram →
last checked: 2026-08-26