We had to start somewhere, and for us, so much of the music we love can be traced back to Philadelphia’s own late, great Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She’s the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B, a seamless fuser of the sacred and the secular alike and man-oh-man, could she shred.  

Sister Rosetta records, whether we’re talking new pressings or used, are often hard to come by, and disappear as soon as they hit the market. So when we scoped this compilation, an Italian import on the Destination Moon label that compiles 18 of Sister’s amazing gospel and R&B sides from the late '30s and early-mid '40s, we knew we had to move. The comp isn’t on any of the streaming services, but if you’re looking for a reference, this would be a good guidepost. 

Up Above My Head is pressed on clear vinyl and limited to 500 copies, of which we snapped up enough for all current ROTM members and a few more besides. Details for ROTM pickup and shipping dates will be in next week’s email.

Track Listing:

A1. Up Above My Head, I Hear Music In The Air

A2. Ain't No Grave Hold My Body Down

A3. Didn't It Rain

A4. Trouble In Mind

A5. Stand By Me

A6. Sit Down

A7. Jesus Is Here To Stay

A8. The Natural Facts

A9. The Devil Has Thrown Him Down

B1. Bring Back Those Happy Days

B2. Stretch Out

B3. Beams Of Heaven

B4. Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend

B5. Teach Me To Be Right

B6. This Train

B7. That's All

B8. Nobody's Fault But Mine

B9. Shout, Sister, Shout!

Note: If you presently have a standard 48 membership, and would like upgrade for the ROTM club, please email us and we’ll get you sorted.

Our attention spans have never been nearly as mangled, jostled, and outright stolen as they are today. But there's an app for that: Listening to records. We know you may very well know this, but we wanna say it out loud, because it's a good reminder. The average LP side — like the ones we'll be playing Wednesday through Sunday nights at 48 S. 2nd St. starting this fall — clocks in at 22 minutes. That's a great chunk of time in which to stare out the window, let your mind wander, or even hold the hand of the person across the table from you. That 22 minutes can hang on its own as its own moment or be the beginning of a longer moment; it's up to you and no one else. But you have to claim it. It's so easy to get overwhelmed, but dig this: 22 minutes is just long enough to get whelmed.

We're 48 Record Bar. Our mission: To get people together to listen to records.