Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Forgotten Mother of Rock-and-Roll »

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Tribute, Sep 13, 2016.

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  1. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    Sister Rosetta deserves more attention. This is a great article to start a thread. I'll add more later.

    Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Forgotten Mother of Rock-and-Roll »

    I know there was another thread, but it didn't seem to attract much attention. Maybe with her tag as the Mother of Rock and Roll, more people will join a discussion
     
  2. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    This can never be posted enough times. If making the argument that she is, as you suggest, the "Mother of Rock 'n' Roll", just show this clip and rest your case.

     
    Chris DeVoe, Tanx and fingerpoppin like this.
  3. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    I don't have access to iTunes at the moment to check if the deal is still there, but about 3 years ago, after watching a BBC documentary about her, I bought a 40 song collection called "40 Big tracks" for about £7, some really great stuff on there and well worth checking out!
     
  4. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    She's not forgotten by me!
    Listen to this an you won't forget her either - for good reason...

     
    highway chile and mrgroove01 like this.
  5. ash1

    ash1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    bristol uk
    Like is not enough. That is a fantastic clip, always comes up when she's mentioned and rightly so.
     
  6. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  7. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  8. TimB

    TimB Pop, Rock and Blues for me!

    Location:
    Colorado
    From what little I have seen and heard of her in the past, I would say she really was the template from which rock and roll was cut from. Outstanding performer in every way...
     
  9. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    The UK dealer that posts on Amazon USA marketplace, and offers new copies of Fremeaux label Rosetta Tharpe at FAR LOWER prices than any other dealer is avatarmusic.

    I find them to be extremely reliable and faster than most European dealers in shipments to US. If they do not list a title, it means it is temporarily out of stock, and will return at their great low price. Don't pay inflated prices, just be patient.

    Be smart, buy them all
     
  10. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    Do they know who the father is?
     
  11. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    A good play on words, because even DNA testing cannot tell who the father was. But it was definitely someone who came before Chuck Berry, Little Richard and others often mentioned. I do think it is a stretch to pin it on Robert Johnson (maybe one of several great grandpa's). I'll just accept that no one knows
     
  12. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    She's famous in the Gospel, Blues & R&B world.

    Also, grow up with this legitimizing of African American artists pre-1955 by saying they are the 'architects of Rock'
    BULL!
    Lotsa players 'Rocked' before Rock, anyone who knows anything about old music knows this.
    Memphis Minnie was a better guitar player than Tharpe but we don't have film of her (just a couple hundred records!) so I guess she doesn't get to be an 'Godmother' of Rock, oh no.
     
    Mark J likes this.
  13. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    Be absolutely sure to check out her guitar solo at about 1:25 of the above film clip
     
  14. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Good link. But some R&R fans don't like to hear about church roots.
     
  15. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  16. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  17. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    Now here is a photo

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    All great artists have intense eyes. I often will buy a CD just from seeing the cover picture of the artist's eyes, and it is almost always very rewarding.

    [​IMG]
     
    boyfromnowhere, zebop and ruben lopez like this.
  19. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

    "All this new stuff they call rock ’n’ roll, why, I’ve been playing that for years now…. Ninety percent of rock-and-roll artists came out of the church, their foundation is the church."
    SISTER ROSETTA THARPE, 1957
     
    highway chile likes this.
  20. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  21. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

  22. Maranatha5585

    Maranatha5585 BELLA + RIP In Memoriam

    Location:
    Down South
    Sister Rosetta was very important to the full story of Gospel, Blues, R&B, and Rock.
    Little credit is given to this wonderful musician, guitarist, and faith inspired woman.
    She was really groundbreaking, a strong black woman, way ahead of her time.
    She had a rough time of it on the road.. Her strong faith, and will would catapult her to a much deserved status..
    As she wanted to spread her wings and reach out to the world, her believer fans often turned on her.
    But like Rev Howad Finster, the famed southern folk artist... she believed that she would reach more people with God by going out in to the world.
    She certainly was head strong, and did as she saw fit.. Ever the faithful believer, but she struggled with personal relationships, was married several times.. and was thought by some to have lead an open life style. She suffered terribly with health problems towards the end.
    Her music, and fine electric guitar playing continue to delight fans today. She has been a fave of mine for years.
    I finally found an authentic signed paper, elaborately framed with an original photo, it's one of my best pieces...
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2016
    mrgroove01 and Tribute like this.
  23. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I absolutely adore Rosetta Tharpe, in particular her earliest '30s recordings and the stuff she made in the early '40s with the Sam Price trio with and without Marie Knight. But I'm not sure she's "forgotten" or "unsung." Maybe you could have made that claim 15 or 20 years ago but in recent years with an American Masters documentary, a full scale biography by Gayle Ward and articles like those linked to here, I think that's no longer so much the case.

    However, on the other hand, I do think gospel music generally is kind of "forgotten" or "unsung," particularly with regard to its role in shaping rock and roll. I mean, it's the kind of shout rhythms of COGIC gospel, and the kind of ecstatic Pentecostal energy that's at the heart of rock more than R&B and blues to my ears. And much of the greatest gospel of the golden age is either hard to come by or poorly anthologized (I mean, for example, the work of R.H. Harris with the Soul Stirrers in the '30s and '40, some of the best, most important and most influential American music ever recorded, which left an almost incalculable stamp on the development of soul music, has almost never been fully anthologized though some poor transfers can be assembled from some Document issues or can be found on a P-Vine CD set from a few years back that's the only comprehensive collection I know of).

    Rosetta, besides being a great singer, guitarist and show person with a great body of recordings, was instrumental in secularizing gospel of course -- she took it out of the church and into nightclubs when she joined Lucky Millinder's big band in the early '40s, and the Lomax's found her records side by side with the likes of Louis Jordan and Duke Ellington on jukeboxes in the south in juke joints when they did their surveys in those years. She was a full-on star even outside of the world of gospel long before things like the TV Gospel Time clip of her playing the SG which rock fans love (and which is great, but you know, catches her decades after her prime years of influence). I don't think she can be celebrated too much. So, any Rosetta threads are great. But thankfully I don't think she's forgotten or unsung, at least not anymore.
     
  24. Maranatha5585

    Maranatha5585 BELLA + RIP In Memoriam

    Location:
    Down South
    Tribute,
    I whole heartedly concur... Thanks for the thread bra!

    [​IMG]
     
    highway chile likes this.
  25. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member Thread Starter

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