Though we planned on the walking tour, a last-minute injury flair up made a bus tour the best option for us; we booked online the night before (good thing, b/c day-of was sold out for all tours) and met at the [well-marked and conveniently-placed] meeting spot a bit before the tour. We added Sun Studio to our package and it was a great way to get out to the Studio and back.
A pretty hot, early-summer afternoon, we boarded the (completely full) bus with our tour guide Shikayna (sp?) and lovely driver Larry. After boarding, unfortunately, we learned that the speaker wasn't working; after ten minutes of fiddling with the equipment and chords, Shikayna and Larry agreed it wasn't going to work (and apparently going mic-less wasn't an option, though that puzzled me b/c it's not a huge bus). After was felt like too much time sitting there, in the heat, learning more about how the mic wasn't going to start working, Larry (our unsung hero) ran [somewhere] to grab a new speaker. Of course equipment fails sometimes, my only real complaint is the fifteen minutes we spent watching them troubleshoot (fourteen of which felt unnecessary to me); there really should be a readily-available backup plan and an equipment-check before we loaded the bus.
After that first hangup, I was ready for a poorly-orchestrated ride but was pleasantly surprised to find a very well-scripted and genuinely fun tour. We saw several sights (from all different decades) that I wouldn't have thought to pick out for myself, all over Memphis; from St. Jude's, the Peabody, Johnny Cash's apartment and Elvis's pre-fame family place, we hit a great assortment of mostly music-focused stops. Larry was a fantastic driver, and Shikayna was a very personable, enthusiastic tour guide.
Despite a that first hiccup, it was a good tour and I would recommend giving it a shot if you have a free afternoon and interest in Memphis music.