New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Verve/UMe) As The Godmother of Rock & Roll Sister Rosetta Tharpe's highly-anticipated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Early Influences wing approaches, Verve/UMe is bringing the trailblazer's vaunted catalog into the digital age, making more than 200 songs available for download and streaming, most for the first time ever. The initiative, which includes seven long out-of-print albums and all 130 singles she recorded for Decca between 1938 and 1956, began on March 30 with the release of three albums: 1951's gospel hymns LP Blessed Assurance, originally on a Decca 10-inch LP and now expanded with three rare bonus tracks; an expanded edition of her acclaimed 1958 Decca collection, Gospel Train, with two rare bonus tracks; and her spirited 1960 self-titled album Sister Rosetta Tharpe, originally issued on MGM Records. Listen and purchase here:
Over these next two weeks leading up to her induction on April 14, four additional essential Tharpe recordings and her Decca singles, divided into five volumes, will be released. The albums include expanded editions of her pioneering 1956 album Gospel
Train (not to be confused with the 1958 Decca album of the same name), expanded with five bonus tracks including the non-LP single "When The Saints Go Marching In" and two previously unreleased performances, and her riveting 1959 live concert LP The Gospel Truth, bolstered by two unreleased tracks and two non-LP singles from the era, as well as the similarly named 1962 The Gospel Truth: All New! Her Greatest Gospel Hits, featuring brand new recordings of many of her best-known songs, and 1961's Sister On Tour; the latter two were recorded for Verve. All albums, except the original Gospel
Train (1956), are making their digital debut.
Following years of performing in churches across the country, first with her mother as traveling, singing missionaries when young Rosetta was a six-year-old guitar prodigy billed as a "singing and guitar playing miracle," and later on her own as the star attraction, Tharpe's recording career began in 1938 when she signed to Decca at age 23. Throughout the next two decades, the singer, songwriter and electrifying guitarist was incredibly prolific, touring incessantly and releasing a steady stream of 78s and 45s consisting of some of her most immensely popular and influential songs. While some of these songs have ended up on various CDs over the years, both official and unofficial, the majority of them have never been released digitally. The Complete Decca Singles Volumes 1-5 collects all of Tharpe's singles together for the first time and presents them in chronological order by release date with the corresponding B-side. An incredible 90% of these songs will be available digitally for the first time while only 13 of them overlap with the album releases.
Vol. 1, featuring tracks from 1938-1941, includes Tharpe's earliest recordings including "The Lonesome Road" and
Thomas Dorsey's "Rock Me," which established her as an overnight sensation and one of the first commercially successful gospel recording artists. Rolling Stone describes the song as a "transformed spiritual…recorded with her soaring held notes and sexy growls back in 1938 - when the latter-day King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, was still a toddler." Other songs include the well-known "This Train" and "That's All" and several featuring Tharpe performing with big band leader Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra on such secular songs as "Shout, Sister, Shout."
Vol. 2, with tracks from 1942-1946, includes her 1945 hit collaboration with boogie-woogie pianist Sam Price, "Strange Things Happening Every Day," the first gospel record to cross over and become a hit, peaking at #2 on Billboard's "race chart," now known as R&B. The song has been cited as an important precursor to rock and roll. Other sides include the jazzy "Two
Little Fishes And Five Loaves of Bread," "
Jonah" and the evangelical early blues of "Singing In My Soul," all with the Sam Price Trio. Vol. 3, covering 1947-1949, collects a number of bluesy spirituals made with Tharpe's contemporary Marie Knight and the Sam Price Trio such as "Up Above My Head I Hear
Music In The Air," "
Didn't It Rain" and "My
Journey To The Sky." Tharpe is joined by her mother Katie Bell Nubin on the gospel rave up "Ninety-Nine And A Half Won't Do." Vol. 4, featuring her Decca singles from 1949-1953 and Vol. 5, from 1954-1956, includes more collaboration with Marie Knight and The Sam Price Trio as well as vocal group The Anita Kerr Singers, quartet The Southwinds and country singer Red Foley, showcasing her eclectic career.
In his own Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech,
Johnny Cash called Tharpe one of his earliest heroes.
Elvis Presley named her one of his favorite singers and guitar players, and Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck and
Keith Richards all cited seeing her European tour with Muddy Waters in 1963 as a profound moment in their lives. And, well, she originated the windmill guitar stroke associated with Pete Townsend. Yet Tharpe is not a household name like those men. That's slowly changing and, over the years, as more has been discovered and written about her, she has been solidified as one of the early architects of rock and roll. Her long overdue induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will put her side by side in the Early Influences wing with fellow luminaries Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Bessie Smith and Howlin' Wolf. The 33rd Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place April 14 at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Upon the news of Tharpe's induction, Rolling Stone wrote, "No artist has been more overdue for recognition than Sister Rosetta Tharpe," adding, "A queer black woman from Arkansas who shredded on electric guitar, belted praises both to God and secular pleasures, and broke the color line touring with white singers, she was gospel's first superstar, and she most assuredly rocked." Born March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe defied expectations from an early age as a guitar prodigy. At six years old, her mother left her father to be a traveling evangelist and together they joined the exodus of poor black southerners heading north. They settled in
Chicago where young Rosetta encountered the music that migrants had brought with them - blues from the Mississippi delta and jazz from New Orleans. She began performing gospel music as
Little Rosetta Nubin with her mother at churches as part of a traveling Baptist roadshow. By the time she was in her 20s, she was a seasoned performer whose distinctive voice and unconventional style, filled with her signature feverish electric guitar playing, attracted many fans.
"She was there before Elvis,
Little Richard and
Johnny Cash swiveled their hips and strummed their guitars," NPR proclaimed in their feature of Tharpe. "It was Tharpe, the godmother of rock 'n' roll, who turned this burgeoning musical style into an international sensation… Through her unforgettable voice and gospel swing crossover style, Tharpe influenced a generation of musicians including Aretha Franklin,
Chuck Berry and countless others." Without Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock and roll would not be the same. As the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame said, "She is the founding mother who gave rock's founding fathers the idea," declaring, "No one deserves more to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame."
Blessed Assurance (1951): Expanded Edition
1. Blessed Assurance - with Lotte Henry
2. Amazing Grace
3. Rock Of Ages
4. Let The Lower
Lights Be Burning
5. In The Garden (single version)
6. There's A Fountain Filled With Blood
7. Throw Out The Lifeline
8. What A Friend We Have In Jesus
Bonus Tracks
9. God's Mighty Hand
10. Jesus Remembers - with Marie Knight
11. Somebody Needs Jesus - with Sam Price Trio
Gospel
Train (1956): Expanded Edition
1. Jericho
2. When They Ring The Golden Bell
3. Two
Little Fishes, Five Loaves Of Bread
4. Beams Of Heaven
5. Cain't No Grave Hold My Body Down
6. All Alone
7. Up Above My Head There's
Music In The Air
8. I Shall Know Him
9. Fly Away
10. How About You
11. Precious Memories
12. 99 1/2 Won't Do
Bonus Tracks
13. When The Saints Go Marching In
14. Can't Do No Wrong And Get By
15. Home In The Sky
16. O
Little Town Of Bethlehem (previously unreleased)
17. So High, So Low (previously unreleased)
Gospel
Train (1958): Expanded Edition
1. Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend
2. Jonah
3. Jesus Is Here Today
4. My
Journey To The Sky - w/Marie Knight
5. Down By The River Side - w/The Dependable Boys
6. Up Above My Head, I Hear
Music In The Air - with Marie Knight
7. Strange Things Happening Every Day
8. How Far From God
9. This Train
10. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? - with Marie Knight
11. When I Move To The Sky
12. Didn't It Rain? - with Marie Knight
Bonus Tracks
13. I Can Hear The Angels
14. Father Prepare Me
The Gospel Truth (1959): Expanded Edition
1. The Lord's Prayer
2. One Morning Soon
3. Things That I Used To Do (And I Don't Do No More)
4. It's Me
5. I Have Good News To Bring
6. Didn't It Rain
7. Bring Back Those Happy Days
8. Saviour Don't Pass Me By
9. Go Get The Water
10. Beams Of Heaven
11. Steal Away
Bonus Tracks
12. Let It Shine
13. Let's Be Happy
14. I'm Gonna Take A Trip On That Old Ship (previously unreleased)
15. Honor (previously unreleased)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1960)
1. If I Can Help Somebody
2. Walk All Over God's Heaven
3. I Believe
4. Take My Hand Precious Lord
5. Faith
6. Twelve Gates
7. I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray
8. He
9. If You Believe
10. Light A Candle
11. Bless This House
12. Without Him
Sister On Tour (1961)
1. Joy In This Land
2. God Is Wonderful
3. Just Keep Still
4.
Everything To Me
5. Take A New Look (Into That Old Bible)
6. Look In The Good Book Brother
7. With His Great Love
8. As You Sow, So Shall You Reap
9. There's A Hand Leading Me
10. Faith In God
11. Woman
12. The Lonesome Road
The Gospel Truth: All New! Her Greatest Gospel Hits (1962)
1. On My Way (Got On My Travelin' Shoes)
2. This Is A Mean Old World To Live In
3. This Train
4. I Heard My Mother Call My Name
5. That's All
6. Stretch Out
7. Nobody Knows, Nobody Cares
8. I Look Down The Road And I Wonder
9. Ring Those Golden Bells
THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES VOL. 1: 1938-1941
1. The Lonesome Road
2. Rock Me (1938 version)
3. I Looked Down The Line
4. God Don't Like It (1939 version)
5. My Man And I
6. That's All (1938 version)
7. Bring Back Those Happy Days
8. This
Train (1939 version)
9. Beams Of
Heaven - (1939 version)
10. Saviour, Don't Pass Me By
11. Rock!
Daniel - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
12. Trouble in Mind - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
13. End Of My Journey
14. Sit Down
15. There Is Something Within Me
16. Stand By Me
17. Rock Me (1941 version) - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
18. I Want A Tall Skinny Papa - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
19. Shout, Sister, Shout! - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
20. That's All (1941 version) - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe
21. I'm In His Care
22. Just A Closer Walk With Thee
23. Nobody's Fault But Mine
24. Precious Lord, Hold My Hand
THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES VOL. 2: 1942-1946
1. I Want Jesus To Walk Around My Bedside (1942 version)
2. Pure Religion
3. What He Done For Me
4. All Over This World
5. Sleep On My Darling Mother
6. I Want To Live So God Can Use Me
7. Two
Little Fishes And Five Loaves Of Bread
8. Strange Things Happening Every Day
9. Singing In My Soul
10. I Claim Jesus First
11. Jesus Is Here Today
12. Jonah
13. Forgive Me Lord And Try Me One More Time
14. Jesus Taught Me How To Smile
15. God Don't Like It (1943 version)
16. What Is The Soul Of Man?
17. Let That Liar Alone
18. What's The News?
19. Nobody Knows, Nobody Cares
20. The Devil Has Thrown Him Down
21. Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend
22. When I Move To The Sky
23. The Lord Followed Me - and Sam Price Trio
24. How Far From God - and Sam Price Trio
THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES VOL. 3: 1947-1949
1. Oh, When I Come To The End Of My
Journey - and Marie Knight with Sam Price Trio
2. This
Train - and Sam Price Trio (1947 version)
3. Didn't It Rain - and Marie Knight with Sam Price Trio
4. Stretch Out - and Marie Knight with Sam Price Trio
5. Beams Of
Heaven (1947 version)
6. Precious Memories
7. Everybody's Gonna Have A Wonderful Time Up There (Gospel Boogie)
8. My Lord And I
9. Teach Me To Be Right - with Sam Price Trio
10. Lay Down Your Soul - with Sam Price Trio
11. Up Above My Head, I Hear
Music In The Air - with Marie Knight
12. My
Journey To The Sky - with Marie Knight
13. Move On Up A
Little Higher - Parts 1 & 2
14. He Watches Me - and Marie Knight with Sam Price Trio
15. He's All I Need - and Marie Knight with Sam Price Trio
16. Down By The Riverside
17. My Lord's Gonna Move This Wicked Race
18. Ninety-Nine And A Half Won't Do - and Her Mother (Katie Bell Nubin) with Sam Price Trio
19.
Daniel In The Lion's Den (He Locked The Lion's Jaw)
20. Silent Night
21. White Christmas
22. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?
23. He Arose From The Grave
24. Ain't No Room In Church For Liars
25. Cain't No Grave Hold My Body Down
26. You Gotta Move - with Marie Knight
27. When I Take My Vacation In
Heaven - with Marie Knight
THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES VOL. 4: 1949-1953
1. The
Natural Facts - with Sam Price Trio
2. I Heard My Mother Call My Name (1947 version)
3.
Little Boy How Old Are You
4. Going Back To Jesus
5.
Heaven Is Not My Home
6. Family Prayer
7. I Shall Know Him - with Marie Knight and Jimmy
Roots Trio
8. I Was Healed - with Marie Knight and Jimmy
Roots Trio
9. I Want Jesus To Walk Around My Bedside (Before I Die) - with Marie Knight (1951 version)
10. Royal Telephone - with Marie Knight
11.
Milky White Way - with Marie Knight and the Sam Price Trio
12. His Eye Is On The Sparrow - with Marie Knight
13. Sin Is To Blame - with Sam Price Trio
14. I Thank God For My Song - with Sam Price Trio
15. Bells Of St. Mary's
16. Use Me Lord
17. There'll Be Peace In The Valley For Me
18. Near The Cross
19. Let's Go On - with Marie Knight
20. Never Let Go His Hand - with Marie Knight
21. Crying In The Chapel
22. There's Peace In Korea
23. Feed Me Jesus
24.
Smile It Through
25. Don't Leave Me Here To Cry
26. What Have I Done?
27. I'm So Glad - and Marie Knight
28. Sing and Shout - and Marie Knight
THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES VOLUME 5: 1954-1956
1. When Was Jesus Born
2. In Bethlehem
3. Shadrack - with Marie Knight
4. Nobody's Fault But Mine - with Marie Knight
5. Look Away In The
Heavenly Land
6. Stand The Storm
7. He Is
Everything To Me - with Sam Price Trio
8. Everytime I Feel The Spirit
9. Come Unto Me
10. Let's Talk About Jesus
11. In The Garden - with The Anita Kerr Singers
12. The Last Mile Of The Way - with The Anita Kerr Singers
13. When I First Sought The Lord
14. Tell Him That You Saw Me
15. I'm Bound For Higher Grounds - with Marie Knight
16. There Is A Highway To
Heaven - with Marie Knight
17. How Well Do I Remember - with The Southwinds
18. I Just Couldn't Be Contented - with The Southwinds
19. Pressing On - and Marie Knight
20. Old Landmark - and Marie Knight
21. All Alone With Christ The Lord
22. I'll Meet You Over Yonder - with the
James Roots Quintet
23. This Old House
24. Go Ahead
25. Have A
Little Talk With Jesus - Red Foley & Sister Rosetta Tharpe
26. Don't You Weep, O Mary, Don't You Weep
27. I've Done Wrong
