January 24, 2008

thursday cat blogging

Posted by dogpossum on January 24, 2008 2:15 PM in the category cat blogging

A little bit out of my sphere of interest, but it's Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and that's gotta be good.
I should really be putting this post under jeeeezus as well, as Tharpe is one of those big voice chicks who got it going on in revivalist shows originally.
Dancers know her for the stuff she did with Lucky Millinder (especially 'Shout Sister Shout'), but she had a big rep as a stage performer.
I think I remember reading somewhere about her having to retune her guitar for white audiences in the north - apparently the distinctive southern tuning she used didn't go down so well with the honkies. But this is a nice clip because it's not all that often we see a black woman with a jazz/blues rep playing guitar on stage... Yes, yes, I know this is a 60s clip, and she's playing gospel, but you know what I mean.

...I'm listening to a version of this song by Mahalia Jackson as I type... these chicks had freakin' BIG voices.

Posted by dogpossum on January 24, 2008 2:15 PM in the category cat blogging