phantombirds

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Track: Spike Island

Artist: Pulp

Album: More (2025)

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ROSETTA THARPE:

One of the REAL Pioneers of Rock N Roll 🎸

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm-and-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 Tina Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Tharpe was a pioneer in 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 1960s. Her European tour with Muddy Waters in 1964, with a stop in Manchester on May 7, is cited by British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards.

In 1934, at age 19, she married Thomas Thorpe, a COGIC preacher, who accompanied her and her mother on many of their tours. The marriage lasted only a few years, but she decided to adopt a version of her husband's surname as her stage name, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. In 1938, she left her husband and moved with her mother to New York City. Although she married several times, she performed as Rosetta Tharpe for the rest of her life.

Tharpe's biographer said in 2018 that "she influenced Elvis Presley, she influenced Johnny Cash, she influenced Little Richard". When asked about her music and about rock and roll, Tharpe is reported to have said, "Oh, these kids and rock and roll — this is just sped up rhythm and blues. I've been doing that forever".

On October 9, 1973, the eve of a scheduled recording session, she died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a result of another stroke. She was buried at Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia.

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Track: How I Love

Artist: Bungalow Collect

Album: Disco Rap Saved Me (2024)

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Track: LOCO (Single, 2025)

Artist: Bubba Graham

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Aretha Franklin celebrating her 35th birthday in 1977.

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Track: Love on the Line

Artist: Mon Rovîa

Album: Act 3: The Dying of Self (EP, 2024)

A gorgeous song about Harriet Tubman, also known as Araminta Ross, who in 1849 escaped the slavery she was born into and then used the Underground Railroad to free many more. She was an incredible woman who left a huge legacy of activism and resilience. The song is written and performed by Mon Rovîa, an Afro Appalachian folk singer who escaped civil war in Liberia.

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Ella Fitzgerald signing autographs at the concert series Jazz at the Philharmonic in Vienna in February 1954.

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Track: The Hurtin’ Kind

Artist: Orville Peck

Album: Stampede (2024)

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Chaka - Chaka Khan

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Spike Island - Pulp (2025)

I was born to perform It's a calling I exist to do this shouting and pointing

Thank god for old bands making new music to save this accursed year from being totally unbearable.

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Black like THAT, for me...

The inimitable, Donnie Hathaway and the best beloved, Roberta Flack.

Let's get it.

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owning objects is so powerful thank you criterion

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Track: Impeach the President

Artist: The Honey Drippers

Single: Impeach the President (A-Side) (1973)

Album: N/A

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Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. 1964