Without Sister Rosetta Tharpe, we wouldn’t have rock and roll as we know it now. Her pioneering guitar virtuosity was fueled by the gospel swinging, shouting, holy-spirit energy of the evangelical church and the blues she heard on Chicago’s Maxwell Street, which crossed each other like crackling live wires in her hands – and boom, we’re at the beginning of the revolution that would later be widely and wrongly attributed, almost entirely, to the white teens and young men who emulated her. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]
Tharpe’s first recording session in 1938 included a recording of Thomas A. Dorsey’s “Rock Me.” A gospel song, sure, but it contains the template song form, guitar runs and vocal attitude for the rocking and rolling that followed.
Featured Image, Michael Ochs Archives | Getty Images OCHS
Full article @ NPR
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