did gospel musician 'etta' rosetta tharpe create rock & roll or was she the 'rosetta stone' connecting the translations of gospell, blues, jazz, blue grass, folk and african music that became one of America's 2 most popular internationaly known artforms ?


was the first rock & roll song a gospel song ?

'Tharpe's 1944 release "Down by the Riverside" was selected for the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress in 2004, which noted that it "captures her spirited guitar playing and unique vocal style, demonstrating clearly her influence on early rhythm-and-blues performers" and cited her influence on "many gospel, jazz, and rock artists".[9] ("Down by the Riverside" was recorded by Tharpe on December 2, 1948, in New York City, and issued as Decca single 48106.[10]) '