You could be forgiven if you've never heard the name Sister Rosetta Tharpe—or if you're surprised to hear that to many, she's considered “the Godmother of Rock and Roll."

Sister Rosetta might not be a household name; however, as a young woman during the 1940s through the Sixties, her recorded music and live performances played a highly significant role in the creation of rock, with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Little Richard and Chuck Berry citing her as an inspiration.

As a musician, she was simply ahead of her time. Maybe even by several decades.

Born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe developed her distinctive style of singing and playing at age 6, when she was taken by her evangelist mother to Chicago to join Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. At 23 she left the church and moved to New York. While performing there, she was signed by Decca Records. For the following 30 years she performed extensively to packed venues across the U.S. and Europe and recorded more than a dozen albums.

. . .