God got the key and you can't get in

Thursday music corner: Electric guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-73) was an early acolyte of the distortion pedal, and her music had a profound effect on the development of the British blues explosion of the 1960s. She was also an early protagonist in the rise of pop-gospel music, and after her death was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Here she performs at the then-disused Wilbraham Road station in Manchester for Granada TV on a double-bill with Muddy Waters, which was seen by an estimated TV audience of 10 million.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Didn’t It Rain (Live in Manchester, 1964)

See also:

Music: Rich pickings at the Boston Tea Party, 14 February 2019

Music: Seasick Steve, 2 January 2013

Music: Long songs, 11 June 2008

We all have trouble being brave enough to turn the page

Thursday music corner: The multi-talented Merrill Garbus’ band Tune-Yards has released six albums since it was formed in 2006, including 2014’s Nikki Nack, which reached number 4 in the US Alternative charts and included a cappella contributions from the choir group Roomful of Teeth. Her most recent album, Sketchy, was released last month and Hold Yourself is its second single. 

Garbus says the song is about ‘feeling really betrayed by my parents’ generation, and at the same time, really seeing how we are betraying the future’. But don’t let that put you off listening to this extremely catchy number - love that sax - here performed on Stephen Colbert’s show, featuring Garbus dressed as, frankly, a great big baby.

See also:

Music: So hold me, Mom, in your electronic arms, 11 March 2019

Music: This time with a little dedication, 11 January 2018

Music: El chico con la espina en el costado, 26 February 2016

An esprit that hinted strongly of the boulevards

She had gone to Baltimore first to stay with a bachelor uncle, and there she insisted on being a debutante at the age of seventeen. She had a wild winter and arrived in the country in March, having quarrelled frantically with all her Baltimore relatives, and shocked them into fiery protest. A rather fast crowd had come out, who drank cocktails in limousines and were promiscuously condescending and patronising toward older people, and Eleanor with an esprit that hinted strongly of the boulevards, led many innocents still redolent of St Timothy's and Farmington, into paths of Bohemian naughtiness.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920

Taranaki from NZ5823