Up Above My Head - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Godmother of Rock & Roll

[appalachiablue]

- Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head (I hear music in the air). Unknown performance date (appox. around the 1960's) on the show TV Gospel Time with the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Choir an amazing performance with a Gibson Les Paul SG custom with (polar white finish?)
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – Oct. 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, & recording artist. She attained popularity in the 1930s & 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics & electric guitar that was extremely important to the origins of rock & roll.

She was the first great recording star of gospel music and among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm & blues and rock & roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" & "the Godmother of rock & roll".

She influenced early rock and roll musicians, including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Tharpe was a pioneer in her guitar technique; she was among the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on her electric guitar, presaging the rise of electric blues. Her guitar playing technique had a profound influence on the development of British blues in the 1960s; in particular a European tour with Muddy Waters in 1964 with a stop in Manchester on 7 May is cited by prominent British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, & Keith Richards... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Rosetta_Tharpe

[viva la]

1. I love this podcast episode about Sister Rosetta

It's in the History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs podcast.
https://500songs.com/podcast/rosetta-tharpe-and-this-train/

[appalachiablue]

2. What a terrific, comprehensive collection. Thanks

and I'll check these out.

[viva la]

3. He points out that Sister Rosetta

Actually pioneered rock guitar.

[appalachiablue]

4. Absolutely, & Sister Rosetta was the influence

for so many other artists. I like what she said about R & R, that she'd been doing rhythm and blues and jazz for a long while, (wiki). Tharpe's biographer said in 2018 that "she influenced Elvis Presley, she influenced Johnny Cash, she influenced Little Richard".

When asked about her music and about rock and roll, Tharpe is reported to have said, "Oh, these kids and rock and roll — this is just sped up rhythm and blues. I've been doing that forever".