Think rock and roll was invented by Elvis Presley? Think again.

Shout, Sister, Shout! tells the story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the gospel trailblazer who helped to invent rock and roll.

Beginning in the 1930s, Tharpe commenced a colorful career as gospel’s original crossover artist, its first national superstar, and the most thrilling and celebrated guitarist. People “complimented” Rosetta Tharpe by saying she played “like a man.” But, in fact, men played like her.

Drawing on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Rosetta Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout! traces Tharpe’s path from traveling gospel evangelist to star attraction at New York City’s Cotton Club, from gospel celebrity in the 1940s to idol of the European blues revival in the 1960s. It explores Tharpe’s likely romantic relationship with her her duet partner Marie Knight. And it documents Tharpe’s influence on scores of musicians, from Little Richard and Ruth Brown to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Isaac Hayes.

In recent years, Tharpe has received long-overdue attention. In 2018, she was inducted (as an “Early Influence”) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Csáky‘s 2011 documentary The Godmother of Rock and Roll and Cheryl L. West‘s musical Shout, Sister, Shout! are both inspired by Gayle Wald’s biography.

See what artists say about Rosetta Tharpe

“I talk about Sister Rosetta Tharpe all the time. She was black and queer and big, and invented rock and roll. And where is she?”

“Sister Rosetta Tharpe was anything but ordinary and plain; she was a big, good-looking woman and divine, not to mention sublime and splendid. She was a powerful force of nature–a guitar-playing, singing evangelist.”

“We have to give Black America their flowers for being the home of another foundational genre of American and contemporary music,” Yola says. “We take Sister Rosetta Tharpe out of history, there’s a gaping chasm that is left.”

“Sister Rosetta Tharpe created rock and roll as we know it.”

“I said, ‘Say man, there’s a woman who can sing some rock and roll.’ I mean, she’s singing religious music, but she is singing rock and roll. She’s … shakin’ man … She jumps it. She’s hitting that guitar, playing that guitar, and she is singing. I said, ‘Whoooo. Sister Rosetta Tharpe.’”

“She was playing rock’n’roll way before anyone else. That was way before Chuck Berry and all those guys. Nobody else had even come up with something like that.”

“The image of Sister Rosetta Tharpe with her guitar helped to make my dreams seem tangible …  She was one of the founding rock & roll stars!”