Sister Rosetta Tharpe

• Live in 1960 [Org Music, 2020] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Live in 1960 [Org Music, 2020]
Just on demographic grounds, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "Early Influence" Tharpe deserves her legend. Born in 1915 to two Arkansas cotton pickers, a singing father who was soon gone and a mandolin-wielding Church of God in Christ evangelist who taught her to play guitar when she was four and put her onstage at six, Rosetta had married the man who provided her stage surname by 1934. But they split circa 1938, the selfsame year she began her recording career with four songs that included one called "Rock Me," which is quite a coincidence Hall of Fame-wise even if the lyric does continue "in the cradle of our love." If you want a full dose, it's out there--the 60-track The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection cost me not much more than this modestly priced 12-track concert recording, and was worth it. But rock pioneer though Tharpe incontrovertibly was, I've never found her compelling, mostly because she lacked muscle as both a singer and a guitarist. On this unaccompanied live job, her voice is more raggedy sometimes, but it's fuller as well, with the roughness adding flavor and excitement. The guitar is louder. And as happens with live ones, the dozen selections are long on fan favorites. These do include some slow ones--spare me the five-minute "Two Little Fishes." But when I feel like hearing Sister Rosetta, it's what I'll pull out of the T's. A-