Friday, March 20, 2026

0:00It is the 20th of March, 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm Dan Van Vores. On the list of things I would prefer not to do, become a Christian recording artist and then attempt a crossover in secular music. Nope, no thank you, whether it's switch foot or POD or Amy Grant, I've read the stories and know it's rarely done without criticism. But the story of sacred music and secular pop music is as old as modern pop music. Hence the woman we might call the godmother of rock and roll was the religious and religiously named sister Rosetta Tharp. Now if that name rings a bell, it is very hard for me to talk about the hymn O Little

1:00Town of Bethlehem without getting excited and telling everyone you need to hear sister Rosetta Tharp's version on the Hammond B9 organ. You can however skip silent night. So who was this woman, not a nun but called sister? She was born Rosetta Nuban on this 20th of March in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, to Willis Atkins and Katie Bell Nuban. Little is known of her father except that he was likely a cotton picker and may have been an evangelist, we have one record of him leaving the family as a traveling evangelist and then never returning. Her mother was known as Mother Katie, an early gospel singer in their local church, one affiliated with the new Pentecostal movement and the Church of God in Christ. Rosetta would tour the holiness circuit with her mother from the age of four and was built as a child prodigy singer, guitar player and evangelist.

2:02She and her mother left Arkansas during the Great Migration and settled in Chicago at the Robert's Temple on 40th. She would become a staple on the gospel circuit by the time she was 12. Like Tommy Dorsey, the godfather of modern gospel music, we have a weekend edition on him in May of 25. She too had an affinity for blues-based music but struggled with the body-ness of much of the genre and its reputation in the saloons and dance halls. She would marry Thomas Tharp around 1934 and Rosetta Nuban became sister Rosetta Tharp. Even after divorcing Thomas, she would keep the name. She would make waves in the 1930s when she decided to take her music from the church to the clubs and bars of New York City where as an African-American woman who played the guitar like she did and with that religious moniker, she became famous fast.

3:03Chuck Berry, little Richard and Elvis, counted her as an influence and her later electric guitar played alongside blues man muddy waters, wasn't influenced on Eric Clapton. She signed with Deca Records and recorded some of Tommy Dorsey songs, always trying to walk that line. You might be unsure what Rocket is all about until you hear, rock me in the cradle of your love, then take me to your blessed home. And frankly, you might still be unsure, but this was the line that she and Dorsey walked. She toured nationally and recorded singles through World War II. One of her biggest hits, strange things happen every day now that might not sound religious, but very much is with lyrics like Jesus is the holy light who drives the darkness away. Rosetta met Madame Marie Knight who had been touring with Mahalia Jackson and the sister and the Madame teamed up and recorded standard blues records, both to the chagrin of those

4:05who wanted something more gospel and others who wanted more of that guitar-based rhythm and blues. She could have gone gospel, she could have gone rock and roll. But by choosing the blues, she would suffer the relative obscurity of that genre. Rosetta would remain popular in that niche. She was a musician's favorite musician, but that didn't make her famous. She would suffer from diabetes and would die in 1973 after a stroke. She had something of a renaissance in the last decade with her work finally being recognized. She was posthumously inducted into the rock and roll Hall of Fame in 2018. And there's a roadside marker in Cotton Plant, Arkansas that commemorates her as the godmother of rock and roll, a godmother and that she isn't in the direct lineage, but helped popularize blues-based guitar riffs and also was a godmother in her spiritual role, the sister from the Church of God in Christ and the place of gospel music and

5:09hymns in her repertoire. Born on this day, she died in 1973, sister Rosetta Tharp was 58 years old. The last word for today comes from the daily lecture and let's get wild. This is from Revelation 11. Do with it what you will. The seventh seal sounded his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven which said, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small and for destroying those who destroy

6:14the earth. Then God's temple in heaven was opened and within his temple was seen the ark of the covenant and there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20th of March 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. This show is produced by a man who has heard of the man skipping out for cigarettes or milk, but not usually as an evangelist. He is the non-itinerant. Christopher Gillespie, the show is written and read by a man who knows what happens when you see the ark of the covenant, opening, Oh yeah, scary stuff, I'm Dan VanVoris, you can catch us here every day. And remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true. It's going to be okay.