Sister Rosetta Tharpe played a distorted electric guitar in church in the 1940s -- decades before anyone called it rock and roll. A gospel singer who plugged a Gibson SG into a tube amp and played solos that were part blues, part spiritual, part something that didn't have a name yet. The congregation was scandalized. Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard were watching.

She was a queer Black woman from Cotton Plant, Arkansas -- a child prodigy on guitar who toured with her mother in a gospel troupe. When she crossed over to secular venues in the late 1930s, the church community felt betrayed. She didn't care. The music was the same. The electricity was just louder.

Strange Things Happening Every Day is widely considered the first rock and roll record -- 1944, a distorted guitar, a driving beat, and Rosetta's voice cutting through it all like a bell. She toured with Marie Knight, her partner and collaborator, at a time when being openly queer in America was dangerous. She never hid who she was. The godmother of rock and roll didn't ask permission. She just plugged in and played.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe played a distorted electric guitar in church in the 1940s. Chuck Berry was watching. Elvis was watching. The godmother of rock and roll didn't ask permission. She just plugged in.