Sister Rosetta Tharpe ‎– Live In Paris, 1964

The Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a true pioneer. She helped shape modern popular music, was one of the few black female guitarists to ever find commercial success and the first artist to blend gospel with the secular. She inspired legends such as Jonny Cash and Little Richard, yet sadly, she seldom receives the recognition she so richly deserves in musical history.

It’s just over a century since Rosetta Nubin was born in Arkansas, the daughter of cotton pickers. Her mother was heavily involved in the Church of God in Christ as a preacher, gospel singer and mandolin player. She encouraged her little girl’s obvious musical talents and, by the age of six, Rosetta was performing in a travelling evangelical troupe, singing and playing the guitar to audiences all over the American South.

Rosetta and her mother moved to Chicago in the mid-1920s and the duo continued to perform in their local church and also at religious events around the country. Rosetta was soon hailed as a child prodigy, attracting huge followings amongst church and gospel communities. 

Chicago exposed her to the sounds of jazz and blues, and it wasn’t long before Rosetta began to incorporate these styles into her gospel music. In 1938, following a brief marriage to a preacher named Thomas Thorpe, from whose surname she would craft her stage name, she and her mother moved to New York. There she recorded her music for the first time, becoming the first gospel artist to be recorded by Decca Records.

Rock Me, That’s All, My Man and I and The Lonesome Road were huge hits and catapulted Rosetta to stardom, making her one of the first commercially successful gospel artists. The influence of jazz and blues can be heard in these early recordings, especially in Rosetta’s guitar solos, and she was backed by “Lucky” Millinder’s jazz orchestra rather than a traditional gospel band. The mixture of gospel lyrics with such up-tempo, worldly-sounding music, shocked and alienated many of Rosetta’s more orthodox followers. Secular audiences, however, loved it.


Tracklist:
1 - Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air - 4:04
2 - Jesus Is Everywhere - 2:50
3 - Precious Memories - 3:40
4 - Go Ahead - 3:24
5 - Two Little Fishes, Five Loaves Of Bread - 3:02
6 - Down By The Riverside - 2:45
7 - This Train - 4:38
8 - Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air - 3:23
9 - Take My Hand Precious Lord - 4:39
10 - That's All - 2:09
11 - When The Saints Go Marching In - 3:25
12 - How It Rains - 3:35
13 - Just A Closer Walk With Thee - 4:03
14 - Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho - 3:53

Sister Rosetta Tharpe ‎– Live In Paris, 1964
(192 kbps, cover art included)