Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The music of the late Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of those buried treasures of Americana periodically exhumed to delight the previously unaware. Nominally a gospel singer, she was in fact a triple-threat performer: singer, guitarist, and composer. Of course, the respectful and tasteful covers by the all-female roster here reveal only Tharpe's compositional contributions. Festival staples like "This Train," sung byJanis Ian(with some snappy guitar picking of her own), and "Precious Memories," done in haunting but near tuneless fashion bySweet Honey in the Rock, are joined by spirited renditions of lesser known Tharpe originals like "Beams of Heaven" (taken to church byPhoebe Snow) and "Up Above My Head" (Maria Muldaur). Other contributors likeVictoria Williams,Rory Block,Odetta, andMichelle Shockedbring Tharpe's repertoire into their own stylistic realms. Tharpe's former singing partnerMarie Knightmost closely approaches the fervor of her late friend on "Didn't It Rain," with Jimmy Vivino hinting at Tharpe's guitar style. Thankfully the CD includes an MPEG of the Sister herself singing and rocking out on electric guitar with an energy unequaled elsewhere on the record. This video and her fascinating story as told by Gayle Wald in the extensive notes makeShout, Sister, Shout!a must-have.--Michael Ross