ROCK, ROSETTA, ROCK! ROLL, ROSETTA, ROLL!

From Cotton Plant, Arkansas, to the Cotton Club and beyond, a tribute to rock and roll’s founding godmother.

Pairing hot licks of free verse with hip-shaking images of a charismatic performer pouring out her heart, occasional collaborators Bolden and Christie take Sister Rosetta Tharpe (“Little girl. / Big guitar”) from local church services to international stardom—deftly capturing echoes of the way she united a “rhythm-bound Gospel sound” with “beats from Gospel’s / Cousin Boogie-Woogie, / Cousin Jazz, / Cousin Swing, / Cousin the big, bad Blues” and changed popular music. Though Elvis joins young Chuck Berry and Little Richard in one scene as stand-ins for the many musicians she influenced with her “fiery-fierce-feisty picking and plucking,” figures in the illustrations are predominantly dark-skinned. Christie’s vibrant paintings pulse with energy, perfectly conveying Tharpe’s commanding musical presence. A closing note and timeline fill in the details of her extravagant life and career (including mention of her multiple marriages and affairs with men and women both) from birth to scandalously tardy induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A profile as bold and vivacious as the singer herself.