Performed By: Sister Rosetta
Report: Johnathan Grahm
Website: https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/forgotten-guitar-hendrix-elvis-and-chuck-berry-there-was-sister-rosetta-tharpe
MY COMMENTS:
Mrs. Rosetta Tharp a.k.a. as Sister Rosetta is another one of my picks for African American History Month 2018. Sister Rosetta set a break away standard, for TRUE individualism, that was governed and always included GOD! Although she was condemned by her congregation for the alluring sexual over tones in some of her hit songs. It was this break through by which Sister Rosetta came into an understanding with God by which "HE IS MANEUVERING HER" and it is with this maneuvering that he is guiding her, to carry on the name of the Lord in new and "sinsiter" environment! There is much room for the lord, among those who have sin and have accepted the Jesus as their savior! (( John 5:11-12, Psalms 143:10)). It would be the likes of many outside Sisters Rosetta's congregation to insult her faith,by which they are not the creator nor the provider of the "Living Thing" that exist in Genesis 2:7. Sister Rosetta followed her heart, soul and opened the liberty door of musical performance for many African Americans during her time. She also was an inspiration, by which many did find their faith in the mornings after, knowing that an Angel was indeed amongst them, that not only performed Blues/Rock and Roll: but also Faith Based classics.
You could be forgiven if you've never heard the name Sister Rosetta Tharpe—or if you're surprised to hear that to many, she's considered “the Godmother of Rock and Roll."
Sister Rosetta might not be a household name; however, as a young woman during the 1940s through the Sixties, her recorded music and live performances played a highly significant role in the creation of rock, with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Little Richard and Chuck Berry citing her as an inspiration.
As a musician, she was simply ahead of her time. Maybe even by several decades. Born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe developed her distinctive style of singing and playing at age 6, when she was taken by her evangelist mother to Chicago to join Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. At 23 she left the church and moved to New York. While performing there, she was signed by Decca Records.
For the following 30 years she performed extensively to packed venues across the U.S. and Europe and recorded more than a dozen albums. Sister Rosetta died in 1973, and very little video footage exists of her today. However, what is around is not to be missed. The clips below, which were shot in the 1960s, feature Rosetta armed with her '62 Gibson Les Paul Custom (renamed SG in 1963).
In the top video, she's playing “Up Above My Head,” a reimagined church standard with an added guitar solo, while a full gospel choir claps their hands in time to the music. In the second video, Rosetta plays “Didn't It Rain.” It was recorded under the eaves of an abandoned train station just outside Manchester, England, in 1964. Rosetta’s remarkable musical legacy is undoubted by those who know of her impact on modern music.
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