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Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Submitted by Roanman on Sun, 02/24/2013 - 08:41

 

Ever wonder what's the big deal about Rosetta Tharpe?

Ever even heard of Rosetta Tharpe?

Don't let it get you down, few have.

Born Arkansas in 1914, Tharpe was the daughter of Katie Bell Nubin, a popular touring gospel singer of the time. Alleged to have “mastered’ the guitar by the age of six, she was certainly performing with her mother by that age, mastery or not, and continued to earn her living performing for the next 50-ish years.

She signed with Decca records in her early twenties and immediately began making hit Gospel records. She would later cross over from Billboard’s Gospel charts to the “Race” charts on several occasions, a feat that to my knowledge had never been accomplished before and rarely since.

If you like Gospel Music and the Blues, two things we clearly love around here, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is well worth looking into.

You can start here.

This performance was recorded in Manchester, England in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival recordings of the early 60s, which we keep encouraging people to go out and buy mostly because we just love it.

Just sayin'.

This is Sister Rosetta Tharpe on her 1963 Gibson SG Custom guitar, which I don't think anybody even bothered to plug in.  I can't figure out anyone else in the band ... yet.

Didn't It Rain.

 

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