Woman was made to play guitar. Shout, Sister, Shout!

I like to think I'm pretty knowledgeable about the roots of rock and soul, but I had never heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Thank the gods for NPR, because this woman was 

BAD.  ASS.

Tharpe was a self-taught guitarist, and she strutted around a stage strumming windmills decades before Chuck Berry or Pete Townsend. Her 1945 crossover hit "Strange Things Happening Everyday" was later covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, and admired by Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Bob Dylan.

In the pantheon of mod'ren music, I don't think it's a stretch to say she was the Hera to every rock god that came later.







Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Etched In Stone At Last : NPR Music