Underappreciated Geniuses, Vol. 4: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

My good friend Mark introduced me to the music of Sister Rosetta Tharpe back when we were still in college. I believe his exact words were "You ought to check this out" as he cued up "Don't Take Everybody to Be Your Friend." Ought to check it out, indeed. Me and everyone else in the world.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a great gospel musician. In her day, she was tremendously famous, second among gospel artists maybe to Mahalia Jackson but otherwise to no one. She was a star of the New York jazz clubs and the church circuit alike, and for good reason: there was nobody else remotely like her, and few as good.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe's music will probably sound instantly familiar to you, and not because you've heard it before--few folks other than music geeks and listeners to weekend left-of-the-dial radio programs deejayed by music geeks have much opportunity to hear her music anymore. While many of her recordings are currently in print (thanks in part to the use of a performance clip in the movie Amelie), as often as not they are hardly available, or not at all.

But with its rat-a-tat-tat guitar playing, its bluesy singing, the absolutely electric energy of the performance… you will recognize this music because it is rock and roll, recorded well over a decade before anyone had ever heard of Elvis Presley, before anyone had coined the phrase 'rock and roll.' Listen to Sister Rosetta Tharpe play guitar and you hear the roots of Chuck Berry. Listen to her sing and you know whose shoulders Aretha Franklin stands on.

Her music is exhilarating and it is endlessly rewarding. It is full of passion and humor and, of course, faith. It is foundation music, the music I return to over and over, every time the most recent flavor of the month has lost its allure. You can check it out with the budget CD The Gospel of Blues or you can order up a bigger serving with the budget import box set Original Soul Sister. There's also an excellent biography of Sister Rosetta called Shout Sister Shout!. Start with the music, find your way to the book.

Check her out for yourself.