And I'll be right here. But for now it is time for the Way Black History Fact. And today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by an underground beach club from the streets to the beach. For the latest in beachware, visit Underground Beach Club dot com. And today we are talking about Sister Rosetta Tharp. Now this is a two part way Black history fact. Okay, some people know that rock and roll was invented by black people. Not everyone
knows that. But you know, it's Women's History Month. And the reason, probably the primary reason why rock and roll got so popular is due to a black woman. So I'm gonna share a little bit about rock and roll from Wikipedia, and then I'm gonna share a bit about Sister Rosetta Tharp from Wikipedia. So you're feel free to verify, all right, This from the Rock and Roll page For most lovers of the genre, rock sprang up with Bill Haley and Elvis Presley in nineteen fifty four through fifty six.
But why would rock be called rock when played by whites and rhythm and blues when it was played by blacks? According to the usual cliches, rock's roots lie deep in a muddled amalgam where blues and rhythm and blues were necessarily mixed with country music in order to be dubbed rock and thereby gain entrance to history and legend, the
official history that is. Yet, African American rock anticipated Bill Haley's first isolated hit Rock the Joint in nineteen fifty two by a long way, as shown by its rare original version by Jimmy Preston in nineteen forty eight. This black rock would discreetly coexist with the first right white rock hits, but there are still a clear tendency to relegate African American rock to the genre's prehistory, which would be to say that it is not a part of
the genre. Consequently, and despite their landmark recordings tiny bradshaw Wine on E Harris, I hope I'm saying that right, Roy Brown, Smiley Lewis and others have been really erased from our mint memories, leaving the official title of pioneers to the subsequent generation Eddie Cocker and Elvis and their like, even though they appeared only five or ten years later.
Two black artists still appear amongst the official inventors of rock. However, the undisputed giants named Little Richard and Chuck Berry, who had both started singing and playing in the very early fifties. But African American hits like Saturday Night Fish Fry by Lewis Jordan with its electric guitar and it was Rocking chorus in nineteen forty nine would still be seen as something like the work of prehistoric men who were ineligible
for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay wanted to share that bit before talking about Sister Rosetta Thark, who was born in nineteen fifteen and lived through nineteen seventy three. She was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She gained popularity in the thirties and forties with their gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics
and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of God music and was among the first gospel musicians to appear to rhythm in blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as the original Soul Sister and the Godmother of rock and roll. She influenced early rock and roll musicians including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and also later guitarists such as Eric Clapton. Tharp was a pioneer on
her guitar technique. She was among the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on her electric guitar, opening the way to the rise of electric blues. Her guitar playing technique had a profound influence on the development of
British blues in the sixties. Her European tour with Muddy Waters in sixty four, when a stop in Manchester on May seventh, is cited by British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards And she was willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her music of light in the darkness of nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind. Ain't her so? That is? Sister Rosetta Tharp