Sister Rosetta Tharpe
SCAN QR CODE TO DONATE TO SISTER ROSETTA THARPE STATUE CAMPAIGN
THE GODMOTHER OF ROCK AND ROLL
Sister Rosetta Tharpe pioneered electrified gospel, influencing rock and roll’s earliest sounds. Her induction affirms her rightful place in music history. In 2018 Sister Rosetta Tharpe was inducted into THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AS AN EARLY INFLUNCER. In 2017 shortly after Arkansas Highway and Transportation Division (AHTD) dedicated parts of Highway 17 as a Memorial Highway for Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A fundraising campaign was set in place by the Museums Founding Director, Angela Floyd Ryland, and the Board at that time, Clara Roddy Worsham, Junious Babb’s, Jr. Earnestine Davis and Dr. Sharla Smith to place a full Body Statue in the Birthplace of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cotton Plant, Arkansas. in 2024 these efforts were raised to a new height. A native of Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Thomas S. Tucker, Ph.D. became the Fundraising Campaign Leader with the goal of raising enough funds to have the statue erected late 2027 or early 2028. PLEASE JOIN OUR EFFORTS BY SCANNING THIE QR CODE or CLICKING THE GOFUND ME LINK TO DONATE TO OUR CAMPAIGN. https://gofund.me/3b46ea278
Defining Moments
From Gospel to Global Icon
Left: Woodruff County Judge Charles Dallas, Greg Spaldin, Angela Floyd Ryland, CPHM Founding Director, Steven Koch-Co Creator of Arkansaongs, Willard C. Ryland, Mayor- City of Cotton Plant, Senator Johnathan Dismang and ARDOT Representatives (2017)
ARKANSAS DELTA MUSIC TRAIL
The music of the Arkansas Delta is the music of America. With roots in gospel or “church music,” the blues, jazz, country, and rock ‘n’ roll flowed from the rich, fertile landscape bordering the lower Mississippi River and spread out across the country and the world. Follow the Arkansas Delta Music Trail to experience the sounds that shaped the land, its people and the nation.
Paid for by the Arkansas Humanities Council, National Scenic Byways, Cotton Plant Historical Museum, and state and regional tourism promotion funds.
www.deltabyways.com
Photo Collage tagline
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: singer, guitarist, songwriter, commercially successful recording artist, and major influence on early rhythm-and-blues performers and on many gospel, jazz, and rock artists. In 1998 the United State Postal Service issued a stamp in Sister Rosetta’s honor as part of its Legends of American Music series.
01
Gospel Roots
Tharpe’s early career was rooted in gospel music, performing with her mother in churches across the South, honing her distinctive vocal and guitar style.
Rosetta Tharpe, born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. She was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and recording artist .She began performing at age four, labeled as Rosetta Nubin, the singing and guitar playing miracle, accompanied by her mother, Church of God in Christ Evangelist Katie Bell Nubin. It is believed that her singing talent came from her father Willis Atkins, who could sing as well.
02
Electric Pioneer
Her bold integration of electric guitar into gospel challenged conventions, creating a sound that would later be recognized as foundational to rock and roll.
A pioneer of twentieth-century music, Sister Tharpe attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings that were a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and rhythmic/early rock accompaniment. She became gospel music’s first crossover artist and its first great recording star, referred to later as “the original soul sister”. She was an early influence on figures such as Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Biographer Gayle Wald, told a documentary film crew “When you see Elvis Presley singing songs early in his career, I think you should imagine, he is channeling Rosetta Tharpe”. Gordon Stoker, who led Elvis’ backing band, told the documentary crew that she did an incredible picking, and That’s what attracted Elvis to her, she was really unique as a guitar player. Elvis Presley liked her singing but he liked her picking first.
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Tours
Tharpe gained international acclaim through tours in Europe, captivating audiences and inspiring a generation of British rock musicians with her electrifying performances.
In 1938 Rosetta got a gig at a prestigious Cotton Club in New York, singing to an up market- all-white audience and they were thrilled by Rosetta’s sound and style. On songs like, “This Train,” “Rock Me,” “Shout Sister Shout,” and “Strange Things Happening Everyday.” Tharpe brought Delta blues swing, jazz and gospel music together, often to the annoyance of one group or another- too churchy for the secular world and too secular and showy for some of her church crowd, but as biographer Gayle Wald noted, “mixing Piety and pageantry,” she had no problem performing her gospel music in night clubs and other worldly venues.
1938 was a big year for Rosetta, she signed a contract with Decca Records, home of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald. Her first hit was “Rock Me,” The lyrics were “Jesus hear me Pray, but she sang “Won’t you hear me pray, next was “I Want a Tall Skinny Pappa” with Lucky Millender. She had a seven year contract and it stated that she would sing whatever they put in front of her. Her loyal followers got over the shock and continued to follow her.
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Hall of Fame
Her posthumous induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame cemented her legacy as the ‘Godmother of Rock and Roll’, acknowledging her profound influence.
Rosetta was inducted in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2012, she was inducted in the Arkansas Entertainer’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and placed on the Entertainer’s Wall of Fame in The Cotton Plant Historical Museum in 2014. In 2017 a memorial Highway was designated in her honor. In 2018 a Soil and Soul sign was placed in her hometown as part of the Delta Byways Arkansas Music Trail. In 2021 She was inducted into the Arkansas Women’s hall of fame. in 2018 Sister Rosettta Tharpe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Category- Musical Influence.