am eating my words about tiny speaker music as i checked out this awesome early women of gospel comp and now am in love with marion williams (whose "come out the corner" sounds like the black heart procession let by a house diva) and, of course, sister rosetta tharpe who was, i believe, the total badass singer/guitar player in amelie. i was kicked in to thinking abt it bc of discussion on 'the blues' series on pbs, and thoughts that gospel is actually more an influence on rock than the blues. from gospel comes pop, from blues comes rock? i suppose this is something i will answer in time.

also, read 'romancing the folk' which answers a lot of questions about the early pop/folk music industry in the same way that 'hit men' and 'mansion on the hill' kicked my brain in about the '60s taste makers. all three books highly recommended for anyone who still has an ounce of respect for the business. mostly i was impressed/depressed by how quickly the lefty/folk impresarios manipulated the american folk archives for propaganda purposes in wwII.