Godmother of Rock and Roll

By Albert DeSimone

I remember hearing a dialogue long ago between two musicians, one Black and one white.

The white musician said: “We should all thank the Black folks for giving us the Blues.”

The Black musician said: “I think it’s the other way around.”

Long before Pat Boone made a mockery of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti,” white shoes and all, there was a group called “Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats.”

This group, which included Ike Turner (as in Ike and Tina Turner), is credited with creating the first rock and roll song, “Rocket 88.”

Nope. Though the song appeared Number 1 on the Billboard Top 50 R&B chart in 1951, history gives us the true “Godmother of Rock and Roll.”

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, in 1915. Her 1944 song "Strange Things Happening Every Day" is actually the first rock and roll song. Her use of the electric guitar and associated distortion techniques influenced many musicians. Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, and Johnny Cash are among the greats she influenced.

In reference to all the great players she influenced, she said: “All this new stuff they call rock 'n' roll, why, I've been playing that for years now.”

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Albert DeSimone is a retired University of Georgia information technologist who resides in Bishop.