WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.740 I want you to close your eyes for just a second. 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:06.259 Picture the absolute undeniable pioneers of rock 00:00:06.259 --> 00:00:08.400 and roll. Right. The people who literally built 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.599 the foundation of the music we all listen to 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:12.939 today. Exactly. Who do you see? You're probably 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:16.300 picturing Elvis Presley swiveling his hips. Right. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.199 Or maybe Chuck Berry doing his famous duck walk 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.559 across the stage. Or a little Richard just hammering 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:26.850 away at the piano. Yeah. But what if the true 00:00:26.850 --> 00:00:29.570 architect of the genre, like the literal blueprint 00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:32.649 for all of those guys, was actually a queer, 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:35.549 black, Pentecostal woman. who was absolutely 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:37.969 shredding on a distorted electric guitar in the 00:00:37.969 --> 00:00:40.770 1930s and 40s. Yes. Today, we are taking a deep 00:00:40.770 --> 00:00:43.350 dive into a really comprehensive Wikipedia article, 00:00:43.609 --> 00:00:46.369 plus a stack of historical sources detailing 00:00:46.369 --> 00:00:48.329 the life of an artist who fundamentally altered 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:50.450 the course of modern music. It's an incredible 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:52.909 story. It really is. And our mission today is 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:56.130 to understand exactly how one woman bypassed 00:00:56.130 --> 00:00:58.770 every societal roadblock of her era to forge 00:00:58.770 --> 00:01:01.729 a sound that conquered the globe. We are, of 00:01:01.729 --> 00:01:04.439 course, talking about Sister Rosetta Tharp. The 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:07.370 undeniable godmother of rock and roll. undeniable. 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:10.209 And to properly analyze her impact, we really 00:01:10.209 --> 00:01:13.650 have to look past the standard kind of sanitized 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:16.069 timeline of music history, because this isn't 00:01:16.069 --> 00:01:18.769 just a biography. It's a master class in the 00:01:18.769 --> 00:01:20.930 collision of sacred religious traditions and 00:01:20.930 --> 00:01:23.989 pure secular rebellion. Right. We are essentially 00:01:23.989 --> 00:01:26.849 looking at the exact moment the genetic code 00:01:26.849 --> 00:01:29.310 of rock and roll was sequenced. I love that way 00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:31.510 of putting it. Yeah. But to understand how she 00:01:31.510 --> 00:01:34.370 changed the global musical landscape, we first 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:36.900 have to understand the hyper specific world that 00:01:36.900 --> 00:01:39.019 shaped her sound. Because you don't just wake 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:41.040 up one day and invent rock and roll in a vacuum. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.540 No, exactly. Yeah. You need the right elements 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:47.400 in the atmosphere. And for Rosetta, that atmosphere 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:49.859 was Cotton Plant, Arkansas. She was born there 00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:53.799 in 1915 as Rosetta Newbin, though some researchers 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.260 point to the birth name Rose their Atkins. Right. 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:58.480 The records from that era can be a bit scattered. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:00.900 Yeah. Her parents were cotton pickers, but the 00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:02.959 core influence in her life was her mother, Katie. 00:02:03.129 --> 00:02:06.310 Now, Katie was an evangelist, a deaconess missionary, 00:02:06.689 --> 00:02:08.930 and a mandolin player for the Church of God in 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:11.750 Christ. Widely known as Kojic. And what's fascinating 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:14.530 here is the specific theology and culture of 00:02:14.530 --> 00:02:17.590 Heuzeich. It operated entirely differently from 00:02:17.590 --> 00:02:20.310 the mainstream churches of the era. How so? Like, 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:22.169 what made it so different? Well, it was founded 00:02:22.169 --> 00:02:25.669 in 1897 by a Black Pentecostal bishop named Charles 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:28.870 Harrison Mason, and they didn't favor those subdued, 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:31.189 somber, traditional hymns you would find in more 00:02:31.189 --> 00:02:33.180 conservative denominations. They wanted something 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:35.479 a bit more lively. Oh, absolutely. They actively 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.439 encouraged visceral, rhythmic, musical expression. 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:41.120 Like, worship was a full body experience. They 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.599 incorporated dancing, syncopated clapping, and 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.639 this driving, propulsive beat. Wow. And more 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:49.599 importantly, Hugh's Ike was radically progressive 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.599 in its gender dynamics for the time. They explicitly 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:55.259 allowed women to preach, to teach, and to lead 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:58.270 the congregation in song. So you have this environment 00:02:58.270 --> 00:03:01.569 that is basically the perfect incubator for a 00:03:01.569 --> 00:03:04.310 musical prodigy. Exactly. It's loud, it's completely 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:06.969 rhythm driven, and it empowers female voices 00:03:06.969 --> 00:03:10.169 at the microphone. And Rosetta was absolutely 00:03:10.169 --> 00:03:12.729 a prodigy. By the age of six, she was playing 00:03:12.729 --> 00:03:14.830 guitar and singing with a level of mastery that 00:03:14.830 --> 00:03:17.889 just defied her age. It's hard to even wrap your 00:03:17.889 --> 00:03:19.889 head around a six -year -old doing that. Right. 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:23.180 I want you to think about modern... viral child 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:25.460 prodigies, you know, the kids you see on social 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:28.680 media flawlessly playing these complex solos. 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:31.479 Rosetta was doing that, but her stage wasn't 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:34.500 a scream. It was a traveling evangelical truth. 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:36.780 Traveling all over the American South. Yeah, 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:39.280 she and her mother delivered performances that 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.500 were part religious sermon and part full blown 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:45.159 concert. He was actually billed as a singing 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.800 and guitar playing miracle. And by the mid 1920s, 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.300 that traveling act brought them up to Chicago. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.879 They settled at the Roberts Temple Kuchak on 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:56.870 40th Street. Right in the middle of the Great 00:03:56.870 --> 00:03:59.349 Migration. Exactly. The Great Migration was in 00:03:59.349 --> 00:04:01.750 full swing, bringing southern blues and gospel 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:04.349 right into the urban north. And Rosetta just 00:04:04.349 --> 00:04:06.750 absorbed all of it. She developed massive fame 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:09.370 within this community. Which is pretty extraordinary 00:04:09.370 --> 00:04:11.310 when you think about the cultural landscape back 00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:14.310 then. Oh, it's unprecedented. In that era, prominent 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:17.170 black female guitarists were virtually nonexistent. 00:04:17.290 --> 00:04:19.670 The guitar was heavily, heavily associated with 00:04:19.670 --> 00:04:23.769 male musicians, particularly in the rough, secular... 00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:27.160 It was seen as a man's instrument. But here is 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.560 this young girl, mastering open tunings and complex 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:33.360 finger -picking styles, becoming a star in her 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.920 own right. Imagine being a churchgoer in Chicago 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.279 in the mid -1920s and witnessing that. You're 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.360 basically watching the future of music being 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.000 born right in front of the pews. You must have 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.860 been electrifying. But a talent that mass air 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:49.339 inevitably outgrows the four walls of the church. 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:53.079 The sheer force of her playing was bound to spill 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:55.259 over into the mainstream. And that transition 00:04:55.259 --> 00:04:58.699 really began in 1934 when she married a Kujik 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:01.279 preacher named Thomas Thorpe. Ah, so that's where 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.100 the name comes from. Right, that marriage is 00:05:03.100 --> 00:05:05.439 where she derived a version of her famous stage 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:09.060 name, Sister Rosetta Tharp. But the partnership 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:10.959 was pretty short -lived and very restrictive. 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:14.220 So by 1938, she leaves him, moves to New York 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:16.759 City with her mother, and completely disrupts 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:18.680 the recording industry. Just completely kicks 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:21.720 the door down. At just 23 years old, she signs 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.600 with Deca Records. And in October of that year, 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:27.959 she records four tracks, including Rock Me and 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:29.800 That's All. And these weren't just underground 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.829 hits, right? No, these were instant, massive 00:05:32.829 --> 00:05:35.689 smash hits. She became an overnight sensation 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.629 and really one of the very first commercially 00:05:38.629 --> 00:05:41.850 successful gospel recording artists. And almost 00:05:41.850 --> 00:05:45.189 immediately she brings this sheltered, holy sound 00:05:45.189 --> 00:05:48.230 directly into the grit of the mainstream. She 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:51.069 officially joins Lucky Milder's swing band. She 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:53.860 starts playing the Cotton Club in Harlem. alongside 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.920 Cab Calloway. Which is a huge deal. Huge. She 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.519 even plays John Hammond's famous Spirituals to 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.939 Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. Yeah. But okay, 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:04.680 let's unpack this because I struggle to see how 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:07.660 she survived. The backlash. The backlash was 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:10.459 severe. Right. Going from a sacred pulpit to 00:06:10.459 --> 00:06:12.379 singing gospel in front of audiences who were 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:14.639 drinking and dancing at the Cotton Club. Didn't 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.259 her core audience completely abandon her? That 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:19.600 kind of whiplash usually kills an artist's career 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:21.699 dead in its tracks. The friction was immense, 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:24.420 yes. And it severely damaged her standing with 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:26.339 the conservative religious establishment. I can 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:28.779 imagine. The divide between the sacred and the 00:06:28.779 --> 00:06:31.259 secular wasn't just like a stylistic preference 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:33.980 back then. It was viewed as a moral absolute. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:37.279 Performing gospel music for nightclub audiences 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:40.500 alongside blues and jazz musicians was practically 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:42.339 unheard of. Right, they must have been furious. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.360 The conservative gospel community shunned her. 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.279 They viewed her presence in those venues, often 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:51.980 performing near scantily clad dancers, as a profound 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:54.480 betrayal of the faith. But her career didn't 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.399 die. So how did she navigate that? Did she just 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:00.240 say, whatever, abandon the gospel crowd and lean 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.120 entirely into the secular fame? Not at all. She 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:05.720 navigated it by refusing to compromise her core 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:07.819 identity and that is the beautiful tension of 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:10.319 her career. She never actually left gospel music 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:12.399 and she never changed her lyrics to suit the 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:14.759 nightclubs. Really? So she was singing straight 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.660 gospel in these clubs. Exactly. Her philosophy 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:20.240 was deeply rooted in her theology. She believed 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.959 she was simply bringing her music of light into 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.459 the darkness of the secular world. She argued 00:07:25.459 --> 00:07:28.220 that people in nightclubs needed the gospel message 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:30.920 just as much, if not more, than the people sitting 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:34.420 in the pews. And in doing so, she single -handedly 00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:37.980 pioneered... She forced the secular mainstream 00:07:37.980 --> 00:07:41.279 to engage with spiritual music on a massive scale. 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:44.199 Yes, proving that religious fervor and undeniable 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.959 groove were not mutually exclusive. Okay, but 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:48.899 surviving those nightclub crowds didn't just 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:51.600 require a thick skin, it required a completely 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.519 different sonic weapon. You cannot gently strum 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.339 an acoustic guitar over a roaring swing band 00:07:57.339 --> 00:07:59.620 in a room full of people drinking and shouting. 00:07:59.879 --> 00:08:02.500 No, you'd be completely drowned out. Right. So 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.779 that physical necessity birthed a completely 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:08.079 new genre. It forced her to innovate both technologically 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.980 and stylistically. Her car style was already 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:13.500 this unique blend of melody driven urban blues 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:15.740 and traditional folk arrangements. Which is already 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:18.980 complex. Very. She utilized a heavy thumb picking 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:21.439 technique on the bass strings to keep a driving 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.220 rhythm while simultaneously plucking intricate 00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:26.519 melodies on the higher strings. When she added 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:28.839 the pulsating rhythm of big band swing to that 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.899 technique, she created a ferocious driving sound. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.700 Her guitar playing basically acted like the rhythmic 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:37.279 engine of a drum kit and the melody of a horn 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.759 section all at once. She was a one woman rhythm 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.860 section. Exactly. And to make sure that rhythm 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:43.860 section was actually heard over everything else, 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:47.100 she had to plug in. Precisely. Early guitar amplifiers 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:49.980 had very low wattage and limited volume capabilities. 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:52.779 To be heard over the brass sections of those 00:08:52.779 --> 00:08:55.700 big bands, Tharp had to crank the volume knobs 00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:58.639 on those early tube amplifiers literally all 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.519 the way up. Pushing them to the absolute limit. 00:09:00.590 --> 00:09:03.529 Doing so, push the vacuum tubes past their clean 00:09:03.529 --> 00:09:06.570 headroom, causing the audio signal to clip and 00:09:06.570 --> 00:09:08.870 distort. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:13.210 In 1944, she records a track called Strange Things 00:09:13.210 --> 00:09:15.820 Happening Every Day. with Deca's house boogie 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.840 -woogie pianist, Sammy Price. The track hits 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:21.460 number two on the Billboard race records chart, 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:24.159 and it is widely cited by music historians as 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.259 the very first rock and roll record. The very 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:28.480 first one. And because of those pushed amplifiers, 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:30.940 she is among the first popular recording artist 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:33.600 to deliberately use heavy distortion on an electric 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.360 guitar. We are talking about 1944. World War 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.919 II is still raging, and Sister Rosetta Tharp 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:43.039 is unleashing overdriven electric guitar tones 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.600 that wouldn't become mainstream until a decade 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.360 later. Her virtuosity was undeniable, and she 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:52.179 wielded it as a tool to dismantle the cultural 00:09:52.179 --> 00:09:55.100 norms of the music industry. How so? Well, during 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:58.340 this era, masculinity was intrinsically linked 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:01.039 to guitar skills, particularly in the blues and 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:04.320 emerging R &B scenes. As we mentioned, the guitar 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:07.299 was considered a man's instrument. But Tharp 00:10:07.299 --> 00:10:09.840 would regularly step into the hyper -masculine 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:11.899 arena of guitar battles at the Apollo Theater. 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:14.899 Oh wow, those are legendary. Yes, these were 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:17.559 ruthless cutting contests and she would absolutely 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.220 dominate them. I love that. The male musicians 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:22.340 would constantly offer her what they intended 00:10:22.340 --> 00:10:24.659 to be the ultimate compliment of the era they'd 00:10:24.659 --> 00:10:26.759 say she could play like a man. Which is just 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:28.980 a deeply sexist way of admitting she was blowing 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.340 every single male guitarist off the stage. Pretty 00:10:31.340 --> 00:10:33.399 much. It was their only frame of reference for 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.500 that level of aggression and skill on the instrument. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.639 And her influence on those male musicians wasn't 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:41.019 just abstract inspiration either. It was incredibly 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:43.340 direct. Give me an example. Take little Richard, 00:10:43.379 --> 00:10:45.659 for example. He actually referred to Tharp as 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:48.679 his favorite singer when he was a child. In 1947, 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:50.919 she heard him singing before one of her concerts 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:54.120 at the Macon City Auditorium in Georgia. She 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.080 was so struck by his talent that she invited 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.340 him on stage to perform with her right then and 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.299 there. Wait, really? And that was Little Richard's 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:03.659 very first public performance outside of a church. 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:07.759 It was, and crucially, After the show, she paid 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:10.700 him. Oh, wow. That moment receiving artistic 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:13.200 validation and actual financial compensation 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:16.019 from his absolute idol is what convinced Little 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:18.299 Richard to pursue a career as a performer. That's 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:21.039 incredible. She literally funded and mentored 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.279 the next generation of rock and roll royalty. 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:25.879 Johnny Cash and his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.700 induction speech explicitly named her as his 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:31.490 favorite singer growing up. Elvis Presley, Chuck 00:11:31.490 --> 00:11:34.710 Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, they all followed the 00:11:34.710 --> 00:11:37.509 sonic trail she blazed. So with that monumental 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:40.129 fame, she began navigating the music business 00:11:40.129 --> 00:11:43.490 with immense power, breaking personal and societal 00:11:43.490 --> 00:11:45.850 boundaries left and right. Yeah, she was unstoppable. 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:49.429 In 1946, she sees a singer named Marie Knight 00:11:49.429 --> 00:11:52.649 perform in New York. Tharp recognizes something 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:55.009 special, shows up at Knight's doorstep two weeks 00:11:55.009 --> 00:11:57.370 later and invites her to go on the road. Just 00:11:57.370 --> 00:12:00.370 like that. Just like that. They tour the gospel 00:12:00.370 --> 00:12:03.509 circuit for years, recording massive hits together 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:06.570 like Up Above My Head. And according to Thark's 00:12:06.570 --> 00:12:09.769 biographer Gail Wald, the two women also became 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:12.610 lovers, forming a deeply intimate partnership 00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:15.850 on and off the stage. They were an absolute powerhouse 00:12:15.850 --> 00:12:19.090 duo until about 1949. But a few things shifted 00:12:19.090 --> 00:12:21.610 the dynamic. Mahalia Jackson began to eclipse 00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:24.409 Tharp in popularity within the pure traditional 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:26.950 gospel world. Right. Mahalia was massive. She 00:12:26.950 --> 00:12:29.090 was. Plus, Marie Knight wanted to break out as 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:32.029 a solo pop act. And tragically, Knight lost her 00:12:32.029 --> 00:12:34.210 mother and her children in a devastating house 00:12:34.210 --> 00:12:36.269 fire, which severely strained their personal 00:12:36.269 --> 00:12:38.230 and professional world. That is just heartbreaking. 00:12:38.330 --> 00:12:40.610 It was devastating. But even as that partnership 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:42.950 dissolved, Tharp's ability to command an audience 00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:46.870 remained staggering. In 1951, for her third marriage 00:12:46.870 --> 00:12:49.409 this time to her manager Russell Morrison, she 00:12:49.409 --> 00:12:51.889 turned the wedding into a massive ticketed spectacle. 00:12:52.169 --> 00:12:54.570 I love this detail so much. She didn't just have 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.629 a wedding. She put on a literal stadium rock 00:12:57.629 --> 00:13:00.879 show. 25 ,000 paying customers attended her wedding 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.460 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D .C. Unbelievable. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.500 And the ceremony was followed by a full vocal 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:09.320 performance. You have to consider the audacity 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:11.759 and the immense cultural capital required to 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:13.940 pull off a commercial event of that scale in 00:13:13.940 --> 00:13:16.639 a segregated city. Exactly. She was navigating 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.279 race, sexuality and immense commerce simultaneously 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.399 in the 1950s, a time when the societal rules 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:26.320 for a black woman in America were incredibly 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.649 rigid and unforgiving. If we connect this to 00:13:28.649 --> 00:13:31.210 the bigger picture, look at her next major barrier 00:13:31.210 --> 00:13:34.610 -breaking moment just a year later. In 1952, 00:13:34.690 --> 00:13:37.450 she recorded a B -side duet with the white country 00:13:37.450 --> 00:13:40.009 singer Red Foley, a track called Have a Little 00:13:40.009 --> 00:13:43.200 Talk with Jesus. That's a huge deal for 1952. 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.039 It is. Music historians point to this as highly 00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:48.600 likely the first interracial duet ever recorded 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:50.860 in the United States. Wow. To give you context 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:52.700 on how far ahead of her time she was operating, 00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:55.340 the next notable interracial duet to hit the 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:57.919 charts didn't happen until 1968. Were you really? 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:02.480 Yes. 16 full years later with Billy Vera and 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:04.799 Judy Clay. She was living a decade and a half 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:08.129 in the future. But, you know, the 1950s eventually 00:14:08.129 --> 00:14:10.250 saw her popularity in the U .S. start to wane. 00:14:10.389 --> 00:14:12.990 Yeah, tastes were changing. Mahalia Jackson had 00:14:12.990 --> 00:14:15.309 definitively captured the traditional gospel 00:14:15.309 --> 00:14:17.830 audience, and the exploding rock and roll boom 00:14:17.830 --> 00:14:20.710 of the 50s was largely being credited to the 00:14:20.710 --> 00:14:22.950 young man Tharp had inspired. Which is an all 00:14:22.950 --> 00:14:25.929 too common story. Right. But just as the spotlight 00:14:25.929 --> 00:14:28.889 dimmed at home, the seeds she planted decades 00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:31.580 earlier suddenly blossomed across the Atlantic. 00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:33.899 This brings us to a crucial chapter in the global 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:37.559 expansion of rock music. In 1964, Thop toured 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:39.860 Europe as part of the Blues and Gospel Taravan. 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:42.379 And this is a huge tour, right? A massive undertaking 00:14:42.379 --> 00:14:45.559 managed by producer Joe Boyd. It featured legendary 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.899 roots musicians like Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry, 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.539 and Brownie McGee. Cousin Joe was introducing 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:53.200 her and accompanying her on piano. And the absolute 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.639 highlight of this tour was a May 1964 stop in 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:00.480 Manchester, England. The famous railway The visual 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.360 of this performance is just iconic. Granada Television 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.100 recorded the concert at a disused railway station 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:09.039 on Wilbraham Road. They set the band up on one 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.179 platform, and the audience was seated on the 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:13.460 opposite platform. Separated by the actual train 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:15.840 tracks. Exactly. Separated by the tracks. And 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.960 it was pouring rain. Tharp steps off a horse 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.240 -drawn carriage, walks down the wet platform 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:24.250 in a heavy coat, pulls out a white Gibson SG 00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:27.450 electric guitar, and launches into a blistering 00:15:27.450 --> 00:15:30.149 set. I can picture it perfectly. The contrast 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:33.470 of the bleak British weather and this fiery Arkansas 00:15:33.470 --> 00:15:36.370 gospel singer absolutely tearing it up on an 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:38.590 electric guitar. Me. And the ripple effect of 00:15:38.590 --> 00:15:40.850 that specific show on the British music scene 00:15:40.850 --> 00:15:43.940 is hard to overstate. It literally provided the 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:46.559 raw DNA for the British blues explosion. The 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.980 young musicians in the UK had been studying acoustic 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:51.879 Delta blues records, but seeing Tharp plug in 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:53.799 and deliver that aggressive, distorted, swing 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.179 -infused sound completely blew their minds. They 00:15:56.179 --> 00:15:59.580 hadn't seen anything like it. No. Young guitarists 00:15:59.580 --> 00:16:02.159 who would go on to become British rock royalty, 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.779 Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, they 00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:09.179 all cite this 1964 tour and Tharp's specific 00:16:09.179 --> 00:16:12.259 guitar technique as a massive influence. That's 00:16:12.259 --> 00:16:14.820 wild. Chris Lee, a scholar from the University 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:17.340 of Salford, noted that the Manchester show heavily 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:20.259 influenced nearly everyone who saw it. He even 00:16:20.259 --> 00:16:22.500 compared its cultural impact to the infamous 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:26.399 June 1976 Sex Pistols show at the Lesser Free 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:28.879 Trade Hall in Manchester. Wait, the Sex Pistols 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.340 show that supposedly sparked the entire Manchester 00:16:31.340 --> 00:16:34.419 punk and post -punk scene? The gig that inspired 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:36.519 the formation of Joy Division, the Buzzcocks 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:39.460 and the Smiths? That exact one. Lee argues that 00:16:39.460 --> 00:16:42.740 Tharp's 1964 rainy railway gig carried the exact 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:44.860 same cultural weight for the British blues and 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:48.340 rock explosion of the 60s. She exported the uncut, 00:16:48.539 --> 00:16:50.500 distorted energy of rock and roll directly to 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:52.519 the UK, showing them exactly how it was supposed 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:54.899 to be played. It is incredible how history moves. 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:57.360 An artist pushed to the margins in her own country 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:59.320 sparks a musical revolution across the ocean. 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:01.919 It really is. But sadly, we have to look at how 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:04.119 history ultimately treated the architect of this 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:06.980 entire sound. Yeah, the later years were tough. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.539 Her health severely declined. Her legendary touring 00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:13.859 schedule was curtailed by a stroke in 1970. She 00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:16.220 also suffered serious complications from diabetes, 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:18.339 which tragically resulted in one of her legs 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:21.259 being amputated. That's awful. And then on October 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:25.160 9th, 1973, on the very eve of a scheduled recording 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:27.440 session, she died in Philadelphia from another 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:30.160 stroke. She was 58 years old. And for a long 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:31.980 time, it felt like the industry she built just 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:34.500 moved on without her. Like her grave in Philadelphia 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:36.799 actually sat completely unmarked for decades. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:40.119 It's a profound injustice. It is. But the accolades, 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:42.460 though deeply overdue, have finally started to 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:46.079 pour in. In 2018, she was posthumously inducted 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:48.380 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:51.839 influence. Finally. Yeah. In 2023, Rolling Stone 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.160 named her the sixth greatest guitarist of all 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.990 time. There's a highly anticipated Lizzo biopic 00:17:56.990 --> 00:17:59.650 slated for 2025, and she is officially being 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:01.609 inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall 00:18:01.609 --> 00:18:04.700 of Fame in September of 2025. And much of this 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:07.339 recent resurgence is thanks to her great niece, 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:10.160 Tiana Atkins, who is an educator and historian. 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.000 She has been doing incredible work managing the 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.940 official family platforms and developing educational 00:18:15.940 --> 00:18:18.940 curricula to ensure this legacy isn't erased 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:21.299 from the history books again. That's so important. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:24.000 Because for a long time, the narrative of rock's 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.000 origins was entirely stolen, but Tharp herself 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.680 knew exactly what she had accomplished. When 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:31.559 she was asked about the massive rock and roll 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.980 explosion of the 1950s, She offered a brilliantly 00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:37.880 dismissive quote. I love this quote. She was 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:40.299 so casual about the hype surrounding those young 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:43.460 rock stars. She simply said, oh, these kids and 00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:45.700 rock and roll, this is just sped up rhythm and 00:18:45.700 --> 00:18:47.660 blues. I've been doing that forever. She knew. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.880 She had the complete self -awareness of her own 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:52.319 genius and her place in the timeline. So what 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:54.640 does this all mean? We started by asking you 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:58.019 to picture the pioneer of rock and roll. And 00:18:58.019 --> 00:18:59.940 I hope that picture has permanently changed. 00:19:00.140 --> 00:19:02.970 I hope so, too. You now know that rock and roll 00:19:02.970 --> 00:19:05.089 wasn't born in a Memphis recording studio in 00:19:05.089 --> 00:19:07.789 the 50s. It was bred in the tension between the 00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:10.369 Pentecostal church and the secular nightclubs 00:19:10.369 --> 00:19:13.869 in the 1930s and 40s. It was forged in the soul, 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:17.049 the rhythm, and the heavy tube distortion of 00:19:17.049 --> 00:19:19.640 Rosetta Tharp. This raises an important question, 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.759 though, right in the margins of all these sources. 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:24.980 In 2004, the U .S. Library of Congress selected 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:28.299 her 1944 track for the National Recording Registry. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:31.779 Right. Yet her grave sat unmarked until 2008, 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:34.460 when a fundraiser finally paid for a headstone. 00:19:34.809 --> 00:19:37.430 I want you to mull this over. Why does it take 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:40.410 institutions decades to officially document and 00:19:40.410 --> 00:19:42.509 honor what the musicians themselves, like Johnny 00:19:42.509 --> 00:19:45.349 Cash, Tina Turner, and Elvis Presley, always 00:19:45.349 --> 00:19:47.670 knew and openly admitted from the very beginning? 00:19:47.829 --> 00:19:49.869 That's a great point. What other foundational 00:19:49.869 --> 00:19:52.069 pioneers are currently sitting in unmarked graves 00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:54.730 of history waiting for us to catch up? A heavy 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:57.809 but necessary question to ponder. And the next 00:19:57.809 --> 00:19:59.809 time you hear a distorted electric guitar cut 00:19:59.809 --> 00:20:03.319 through a song, I hope you see Rosetta. Thanks 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:04.779 for joining us on this deep dive.