Sister Rosetta Tharpe on PBS American Masters Tonight

[MikeRivers]

Guitar slingin' gospel singin' chick, roots for the sounds of Elvis, Jerry, Lee, and Chuck. First showing on most PBS stations tonight, part of the American Masters series. I'm sure the video will be available for watching on your computer if that's your druthers.Check her out.

Hot

[panthalassa]

Thanks for the post! It's shocking how good she was - and criminally forgotten almost! Had it not been for Johnny Cash mentioning her in a Musician Magazine article in '89 I might be just as ignorant today.

 

A few years ago had a guitar student about my age who wanted to do some basic blues stuff. I rattled off a few names (the three Kings, T-Bone Walker, et al) and then I mentioned Memphis Minnie and Sister Tharpe. This guy later told me his mother happened to see the YouTube clip I forwarded him, to which she exclaimed "Oh, I remember HER!" It turns out she was in an all-black Baptist choir who had performed alongside Sister Tharpe back in the day. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall back then!

[MikeRivers]

I saw her perform at the Newport Folk Festival probably 1969 and she was just as hot then, just a few years before she died, as she was in her prime. I'm surprised that performance wasn't mentioned in thr PBS show. there was a lot of filming and recording going on by that time.

 

Oh, gosh, it was Newport 1967. The Staples Singers were there that year, too.

Here she is at a workshop:

 

Back in those days, a workshop at the festival was a pole stuck in the ground with a cardboard sign with a number, and a couple of chairs for the performer. No sound system, just gather around, listen, and ask questions.

[blue2blue]

She really rocked. Rocks.