I went in 2015. It was a great experience, but I haven't been involved with the competition since.
What a story that was. It was an 18 hour drive to Memphis from Philadelphia, the first 9 hours were in a blinding snowstorm. That's 9 whole hours. I drove the whole way, my passenger lost his license for DWI. We were stuck behind really slow snowplows for the first 3 hours. They wouldn't allow me to pass. We barely made it on time. It was freakishly cold, like 9 degrees, the whole weekend.
GREAT food in Memphis. Nicest State troopers I ever got pulled over by (He couldn't read my license plate, it was covered in snow. He cleaned off my license plate. I nearly fell over in the snow, that would NEVER happen in Philadelphia)
Beale Street was dead by usual standards. We brought a knife to a gun fight that year. We were the only band in our venue that didn't have a horn section. I hit Graceland while I was there (more emotional and much smaller than I expected) and also Memphis Drum Shop (holy crap the cymbal room!) I drove by Sun and Stax Studios too. I'm pretty sure I saw Elvis too