Shout, Sister, Shout!:
A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe

(M.C.)

First Appeared at The Music Box, October 2003, Volume 10, #10

Written by John Metzger

Sister Rosetta Tharpe may have passed away in 1973, but her spirit will live on forever, residing within the music made by the countless blues, rock, and gospel artists that she influenced. She began recording in 1938 at the age of 23, and quickly became gospel music’s first star, drawing immense amounts of both praise and controversy for blurring the boundaries of the genre and melding it with blues, jazz, and swing. Shout, Sister, Shout! revisits 17 of Tharpe’s songs as seen through the eyes of contemporary performers such as Michelle Shocked, Victoria Williams, and Joan Osborne. Like any tribute collection, the set has its share of ups and downs, though here the finer points do succeed in outweighing the bad. Highlights include Osborne’s shimmy through Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt’s uplifting My Journey to the Sky, Janis Ian’s haunted This Train, Sweet Honey in the Rock’s magical a cappella on Precious Memories, and Marcia Ball’s breezy I Want a Tall Skinny Papa. The rest isn’t bad either as it, at least, sheds a little light on an oft-forgotten legend.

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2003 The Music Box