House Music: A Survey of Musical Homes

They’re the iconic addresses of American music, where our heroes lived and created their songs. An increasing number are being preserved and even turned into museums. Here’s a look at several prominent domiciles, and some notes on what to expect if you ring the bell.

ADDRESS	HOME TO	DESCRIPTION	FUN FACT	CAN YOU VISIT?
Graceland 3765 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, Tenn.	Elvis Presley	Post-rockabilly antebellum, a surreal blend of tacky and opulent. The place is part mansion, part shrine, part yard-sale-gone-wrong.	As a grown man, Elvis and his pals raced slot cars in the Trophy Room.	Are you kidding? Admission: $27 (901) 332-3322
Big Pink West Saurgerties, N.Y.	Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes and The Band's Music From Big Pink	An otherwise ordinary suburban-style tract home that happens to have a salmon-colored exterior. Fortunately, the album wasn't called Music From Big Salmon.	Mall-order classical record company Parnassus once operated from the basement.	No.
Delta Blues Museum 1 Blues Alley, Clarkdale, Miss.	Muddy Waters' clan	A blues version of the Met's Temple of Dendur. This salvaged and reassembled wooden cabin, moved from Stovall Farms, can be visited inside the museum. The porch where Muddy was first recorded by Alan Lomax is still in storage, for space reasons.	ZZ Top made a guitar from the wood.	Yes. Admission: $7 (662) 627-6820
The Louis Armstrong House Museum 34-56 107th St., Corona, N.Y.	Louis and Lucille Armstrong, from 1943 'til their deaths.	Quiet-on-the-outside traditionalism; a two-story red-brick home in a working-class borough.	Lucille, a demanding and enthusiastic decorator, used wallpaper everywhere and made the Sub-Zero refrigerator turquoise to match the kitchen cabinets.	Yes. It's one of New York's best-kept secrets. Admission: $8 (718) 478-8274
The Dakota W. 72nd St. at Central Park 1., New York, N.Y.	John Lennon and Yoko Ono	A high-gabled, 19th-century brick-and-stone apartment building with a chilling Rosemary's Baby vibe.	Leonard Bernstein also lived here.	Not inside, but you can pay respect at the entrance where Lennon was murdered.
The Big House 2321 Vineville Ave., Macon, Ga.	The Allman Brothers Band	Laidback Southern-hippie Americana, an aging three-story Grand Tudor with 18 rooms, bay windows and a comfy front porch.	The views inspired Dickey Betts to write "Blue Sky" for his girlfriend, Sandy "Bluesky" Wabegijig	Soon, hopefully. A foundation is raising funds for rennovation as an Allmans museum. Meantime, a movie about the house, Please Call Home, is being released this year.