MUSIC

Jerry Lee Lewis to open Mississippi home for tours

Bob Mehr, and Ron Maxey
The Commercial Appeal

The Killer is once again opening his home to the public. Rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis has announced that he will be offering up tours of his Nesbit, Mississippi, ranch starting this weekend.

The Lewis Ranch will be open starting Saturday, with small private group tours by appointment only taking place each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are $30 per person. Ticket are available at the Lewis Ranch website, thelewisranch.com.

The ranch is at 1595 Malone Road in Nesbit, south of Memphis in DeSoto County. Lewis spends some time at the Nesbit ranch but has another home nearby where he lives with his wife Judith.

Lewis' son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, said Thursday the public tours resume a practice from the 1990s and early 2000s.

"That's when I was just a kid," Lewis III said. "It was something my mom and dad were doing, and it just kind of ended because they reached a time where they were getting a divorce, and dad wasn't able to maintain it. So he closed down and was waiting for a better time."

In a statement announcing the new tour plans, the 81-year-old Lewis said, "I love all my fans. When they look back on me I want 'em to remember me not for all my wives, although I've had a few, and certainly not for any mansions or high-livin' money I made and spent. I want 'em to remember me simply for my music."

Lewis III, who will guide some of the tours, added in the statement that the tours will give fans a deeper insight into one of rock's great wildmen, a performer “who is both rowdy and religious, famous and humble, who came from simple roots and worked hard to make it in music."

In the summer of 2016, Lewis held an estate sale and discussed plans for tours of his property. The family says that the public will be able to get a look at Lewis’ home, ranch grounds, cars, and rock and roll memorabilia as part of admission.

Although his schedule has slowed somewhat, Lewis continues to perform locally, nationally and internationally. This past New Year’s Eve he made a concert appearance at the Beale Street nightclub that bears his name, Jerry Lee Lewis’ Café & Honky-Tonk. On Friday, he will be in Indio, California, performing as part of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.

Earlier this year, Lewis’ manager Craig Ericson said that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was also contemplating a return to the recording studio to work on a follow up to his 2014 LP, “Rock & Roll Time.”