Rosetta rocks

Somehow, I'd never heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe until yesterday, thanks to Al Tizon's emphatic you-must-hear-this endorsement in the current issue of Prism magazine. I remember seeing a snippet of the above performance in the movie Amelie, but I didn't know who that hard-rocking, middle-aged woman was.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Wikipedia entry above says, was "a pioneering Gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist," and she was certainly all that. But check out the solo in the above clip -- starting at about the 1:25 mark. She was also a rock star before there was such a thing. (This All Things Considered report includes a 1938 guitar solo that seems as impossibly ahead of its time as the Antikythera Mechanism.)

There's a handful of other Rosetta clips on YouTube, all worth checking out: See especially, "Down by the Riverside" and "When the Saints Go Marching In." And there's no video, but here's the audio for her song "This Train."

Tizon recommends Shout, Sister, Shout!, a tribute record featuring, among others, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Osborne and Victoria Williams. So that's one recommendation for it. Here's a second: Rosanne Cash says that Sister Rosetta Tharpe was her father's favorite singer. OK, then.

Comments

[Jon H]

Wasn't she in one of the clips Amelie watches?

Along with the horse racing the bicyclists, and the one legged guy dancing.

[daniel]

um...did you read the post, Jon H?

I remember seeing a snippet of the above performance in the movie Amelie, but I didn't know who that hard-rocking, middle-aged woman was.

[Baggas]

Brilliant clip. I loved it, including the solo.
But this would have been filmed well into the "rock-star" age. Judging by her Gibson SG guitar the earliest this could have been was 1961, probably later.
Regardless, it's a very impressive performance.

[spinetingler]

I first saw her in one of the episodes of American Roots Music, a multi disc DVD set that is fantastic and that I highly recommend.

[chris y]

Ah, yes, Sister Rosetta, the black woman who invented the rock guitar solo in 1941 (could have been earlier, but that's the oldest recording I know). Why is she not a household name? No, go on, you guess.

[Vermic]

Sure, she's good, but can she 5-star "Raining Blood" on Expert level? Oh, who am I kidding, of course she can.

[chaos_engineer]

Sooooo, Fred Clark, Evangelical Media Critic , says that we're supposed to enjoy Sister Tharpe but we're not supposed to enjoy "Left Behind"? How conveeeenient!

Are you willing to admit that any government that has the power to protect your right to watch media you like will also have the power to protect my right to watch media that I don't like? Probably not. Shame on you!

(I'm just practicing, carry on...)

[GailVortex]

Ummm, practicing what exactly, chaos_engineer? Your Scott impression?

[Marza]

I was just listening to Robert Plant / Alison Krauss's "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" and I wondered if it was the same Sister Rosetta - turns out it is. Not my favorite song on _Raising Sand_ but still pretty cool.

[Michèle]

Posted by: Marza | Nov 13, 2007 at 04:04 PM :: I was just listening to Robert Plant / Alison Krauss's "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us"

Is that duet any better than the one they play constantly on the radio? I can't even remember the title anymore; I must have blocked it in self-defense.

What I've heard so far of that album just annoys me. I have always been a huge Robert Plant fan, but that album sounds like both he & Alison were given the instrumental tracks and recorded their vocal parts separately, without knowing what the other was doing.

And, technically speaking, Robert's vocal tracks sound like they were recorded in a tin can.

Not that I have an opinion about it, or anything....

[Rusty Shackleford]

A white, 3-pickup SG Custom. Absolutely badass. She rocks.

[Marza]

Michele asked if "Sister Rosetta" was the RP/AK song that's getting all the airplay. I dunno, I haven't listened to the radio since before the album came out. But, from your comment about recording the vocal tracks separately (which, to me implies that the song you're thinking of is more duety), I doubt it. SR is almost entirely Alison Krauss with Robert Plant maybe Aaah aaahing in the background (could be anyone with approximately the same vocal range, really). There are a couple of tracks that'll make into my favorites playlist and a few more that'll go into some others, but there are quite a few songs I just skip.

[Toby]

Awesome clips. Truly, the world needs more shredding from middle-aged women in their Sunday best.

I find it disgraceful that she has not been on my list of music heroes until now.

[Edo]

\m/ \m/

That is all.

And oh yes: '61 SG. Very spiffy.

[LL]

Damn, she can wail and shred.

[Michele]

Michele asked if "Sister Rosetta" was the RP/AK song that's getting all the airplay.

Actually, I asked if SR was better than the duet that keeps getting all the airplay....

and actually, almost anything would be, even this.

ps. I have that album....

[Cuzco]

iTunes has a bunch of her stuff or those who are interested...

[Jon H]

"um...did you read the post, Jon H?"

Er, no. I bet I skimmed past that sentence, but saw it enough to give me the urgent need to reiterate exactly what I'd just read.

Doh!

[mmack]

Were she around today Sister Rosetta would fit in perfectly playing on a Saturday night at FitzGerald's in Berwyn or the late, lamented (especially by mrs. mmack and I) Chord On Blues in St. Charles, IL. After all, there's plenty of sinners to save in smokey dive blues joints on a Saturday night.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, Sister Rosetta.

[Jan Derrer]

I only discovered Sister Rosettas music a few years ago. She's wonderful, and her guitar playing is really great. Just recently I finished reading a biography about her. It's called "Shout, Sister, Shout!. It's a straight and informativ book and gives a good insight into her life.