The thumping guitars of Elvis’ rock bangers, the twangy plucks of Conway Twitty, and the folky spirit of Bob Dylan’s lyricism has painted these folks as the origin of American rock ’n’ roll, country and blues. While they popularized these genres, they were not the pioneers of these sonic choices. What if told you that a black, queer woman from Cotton Plant, Arkansas influenced all of these sounds?

Story by Miles Eackles

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born on March 20, 1915 in a little town called Cotton Plant. What a befitting name it was for the Tharpe family as both of Rosetta’s parents were cotton farmers. Even though little is known about Tharpe’s parents, they were singers of the church. Being a member of the church in the South, Tharpe needed to find some duty to benefit her community. At the age of four, Tharpe began singing and playing guitar under her birth name, Rosetta Nubin. Members of her church characterized her as a musical prodigy.

Tharpe’s prepubescent years were spent traveling with her mother as a performer in an evangelical group. The shows were part sermon and part gospel concert, and Tharpe was called a “singing and guitar playing miracle” by attendees. As she grew up and developed her guitar skills, Tharpe began to take her music career more seriously. In the mid-1920s, Tharpe and her mother settled in Chicago where they continued to perform religious concerts. While in Chicago, people all around the nation started to discover Sister Rosetta Tharpe. During a time where a small amount of black people, most noticeably black women, were not in the spotlight for guitar skills, Tharpe stood out tremendously.

October 31, 1931 was perhaps the day that Tharpe became an overnight sensation. Tharpe recorded 4 singles for British label Decca Records, including “Rock Me.” The racing guitars and overall energy of the song influenced musical icons such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. When describing the track, infamous music critic Maurie Orodenker stated, “It’s Sister Rosetta Tharpe for the rock-and-roll spiritual singing.”

This new found popularity gave Tharpe a seven year recording contract. The records she released under this label caused much agitation due to its juxtaposition between religious lyrics and secular sounding sonic choices. This was not a problem for the general public, but the folks back home and in her church community did find it troubling. Due to the religious community’s conservative views on women playing “masculine” instruments like the guitar, Tharpe fell out of the religious community.

During the 1940s, in which Tharpe was well-known amongst many, she was criticized for her guitar playing skills. Backhanded compliments such as “play like a man” was a motif in Tharpe’s life. Even though these condescending comments were omnipresent, Tharpe did not let that stop. In fact, she was one of the only two gospel artists to record V-Disks for soldiers overseas.

Perhaps the most monumental thing that put Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the conversation of rock and roll was the release of her single “Strange Things Happening Everyday” with guitarist Sammy Price. It was the first gospel record to “cross over” and become a hit on the “race records,” which were charts catered to the African American community at the time. Due to its use of electric guitar played by Tharpe herself, it has arguably been declared the first rock and roll record.

Tharpe’s influence is not talked about enough in the conversation of rock and roll. Perhaps because during the time in which she was at her prime, racial and gender attitudes were not so accepting. And, unfortunately, Rosetta Tharpe’s story is a common theme in the music industry. Black musicians, especially women, are erased from the genres that they helped constitute. It unbelievingly took four decades after her death in 2017 for her to even be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence. Even though Tharpe’s story is unknown by many, her influence is heard by everyone today.