Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe

This is an excellent account of the life of sister Rosetta and the music scene she was part of and grew out of. From her early years (6 years old) playing a too large guitar in the church of God in Christ ministry to the end where she was playing 50 dollar gigs in church halls ,fighting the effects of diabetes, th writer takes on a journey with sister all around the world. The author makes the convincing case that without Sister Rosetta Tharpe there would be no rock n roll as we know it. From Elvis to Chuck Berry to jimi,they all owe something to her for showing the world what it means to rock. Great read,great subject, worth the time.

This is one of the most remarkable rockers of all time. Her singing rivals an angry Mahalia Jackson but even more on fire. Her finger picking electric guitar is Chet Atkins meets Muddy Waters with touches of Buckethead and Yngwie Malmsteen thrown in. And this was 1950. I think she plays in tune but I don't really care. Her notes come from God or Satan and it does not matter. Listening to her is like listening to Chuck Berry for the first time or Scriabin or Charlie Parker or the Ramones. The music is in your face and keeps at you, maintaining its strict idiom but assaulting you to a higher artistically agitated, purpose. It's beyond addicting. It is pure art.

I came up across a YouTube video last year of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I was instantly obsessed. I grew up listening to Rock 'n' Roll, rockabilly, I'm half black, I'm Pentecostal, I'm a woman, and I'm learning to play guitar. Finding out about Sister Rosetta Tharpe was one of the best moments of my life! I've finally found a hero. I could relate to her in so many ways. I wanted to hear all of her music and I wanted to know everything I could know about about her. Discovering this biography was so exciting! Yes! I can read about my hero! While I appreciate that Wald took the time to write this book, because more people need to know about Sister Rosetta, this book was so very difficult to read. Wald is an English professor and it shows. I feel like I was having to grab a dictionary for every other sentence. For example, she used the word "lithesome" why not just say "thin"? Maybe it's just me, but when I read, I just want to read. I enjoy learning new words, but I don't want to have to reach for a dictionary multiple times just to get through a single paragraph. I've never felt so stupid before reading a book in my life. I feel at times the author mocks the Pentecostal faith. If you don't understand something, you shouldn't write about it. She refers to receiving The Holy Spirit as being possessed by The Holy Spirit. I've been in the Pentecostal faith my whole life, I've never heard of receiving The Holy Spirit as being possessed by The Holy Spirit, to me that phrasing just sounds entirely inappropriate. She makes us Pentecostal people sound stupid for believing in God, for different aspects of our faith. There's a lot of parts in here, that are not even about Sister Rosetta. More of a history lesson about music, the Pentecostal faith, black history, stuff that I am interested in, but I just want to read about Sister Rosetta when I'm reading a book about Sister Rosetta. I'd say that there's as much historic information in here as there is as about Sister Rosetta. For a 200+ page book, I still feel as if I don't know much about Sister Rosetta. There are lots of mentions of various photographs taken of Sister Rosetta that are not included in the book, that I've Googled and I can't find. I guess they couldn't be included because legal reasons or copyright reasons, but if you can't include them in the book, why even mention them? I've read a long description of a photograph that sounds beautiful, and I don't even get to view it?

Book was in great condition and was received ahead of the projected delivery date

As I have been looking forward to someone writting a book about Sister Rosetta Tharpe I was excited that one was on the market. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was sensitively written and with a lot of information about this neglected gospel star who pioneered so many trends in music and what she did on stage. A lot of what she accomplished she has not been given due credit by writters of popular music and this book seeks to balance this oversight. My only critisism was that there were not enough pictures of rosetta in the book and could of done with a fully discogrphy.

This book was pretty academic, and didn't begin to gave the thrill that was in the stage production, but it filled in a lot of gaps that I was happy to know about. Definitely worth a read (and see the play if you can!). Still need to listen to the recorded music!

Good Read about an artist I knew little about. I would recommend reading to expand your knowledge about American music.

Shout Sister Shout: Rosetta TharpeThe author annoyed me some in the book. But as they say, "you can't expect the dog to tell the cat's story right!" I think she did an okay job. I know better books will be written on this fantastic woman. I would recommend it for the simply reason that there aren't that many books out there about Mrs. Rosetta. At least with this book, you will get a basic introduction of this little known pioneer, guitar player and singer.Ms. Rosetta is really the pioneer of the Rock n Roll quitar. Everybody followed her style of playing. Also let's keep in mind that there is no such music as rock n roll, it is the Blues played with an electric quitar. Also keep in my that the rock appelation as with the term Latin music is a marketing tool to present African peoples music to white America, and is also an attempt to appropriate and distanced black folks from their creations. As with all popular and innovative forms of music worldwide, the creative geniuses are the descendents of Africans.Shout Sister Shout is worth reading. I would like to recommend folks read Leroi Jones' Blues People. See my review at Kissinashe.blogspot.com.This book is definitely worth reading.

This is an unusual book but then Rosetta Tharp was an unusual artist. She took gospel all over without boundaries with outrageous shows and her amazing electric guitar playing. The biography shows how the ups and downs of her career were affected by segregation and racism. By all accounts, she pioneered the use of a distorted electric guitar lead line before the rock and roll brigade ever did. This is musical history and social history all in one. A must read if you care about gospel and American music

Very enjoyable biography of one of the greatest female gospel to rock 'n 'roll singers

Great book, amazing life story.

Nice book!

Absolutely no problems