Studio looking for new location

" 315 Beale Recording Studios is looking for a new home after it was announced the new Hard Rock Cafe would be taking over the space at the corner of Beale and Hernando. "

Staff Report

Growing pains are not uncommon on Beale Street.

You will always have the purists who decry that there is an Irish pub, and you will always have the realist who say all types of entertainment are necessary.

For one business, though, Beale Street's latest growth is causing an ever-growing pain. 315 Beale Recording Studios is looking for a new home after it was announced the new Hard Rock Cafe would be taking over the space at the corner of Beale and Hernando. 315 Beale is best known as the recent studio-of-choice by producer Jim Gaines. He has made records there for Luther Allison (which earned Allison several W.C. Handy Awards), Lonnie Brooks, Coco Montoya and Debbie Davies, among others.

Elizabeth Johns, the owner of 315 Beale, is looking for a new location after the initial shock of being told she had 30 days to leave the building. Johns has complained there was not enough notice before the Hard Rock announcement, or enough time to move.

"Memphis Sound Productions (which owns the building) was formerly in the recording studio business, so it knows that it takes considerably longer than 30 days to move an entire studio," Johns says in a press statement. "In order to continue to provide the studio quality my clients need, we'll need to locate a building that can support a recording studio, have it constructed by special carpenters and wiring experts, and move all of our very delicate and costly studio equipment, which has to be relocated by special technicians. We can't do this in 30 days."

Johns asked for more time, but Memphis Sound Productions said no.

Representatives of the Hard Rock Cafe were unaware of the situation and said they would be talking to the studio to see if they could help.