A new music symposium in downtown Dallas is centering Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an often-overlooked figure in American music.
Swan Strings will host its inaugural Behind the Strings: Music Symposium on March 21 at St. Paul United Methodist Church. The free, public event blends education, performance and reflection all rooted in honoring Black women’s contributions to blues, gospel and rock.
The venue itself carries historical weight. The church sits within the Dallas Arts District -- land tied to one of the city’s early Freedman’s town communities.
“While it is a neighborhood that is rich in culture, you don’t see a lot of Black and brown folks,” said Jess Garland, founder and director of Swan Strings. “This was a good opportunity to uplift the cultural history of the neighborhood while also uplifting Black voices.”
Garland’s organization focuses on access and representation in music education, particularly for young Black girls. The Behind the Strings initiative began as a film and art installation and has now expanded into a full-day symposium.
This weekend, Garland chose to focus on Tharpe -- a pioneering guitarist and singer who fused gospel with early electric guitar sounds that would shape rock music.
“When people think of rock ‘n’ roll, they think of the guitar and distortion,” Garland said. “If it wasn’t for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, we wouldn’t have what we think of as rock ‘n’ roll today.”
Garland noted that artists like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry cited Tharpe as an influence, yet her legacy has never received praise, reflecting a broader pattern.
“It is common where Black women get lost in music history,” she said. “The industry has largely platformed men.”
The symposium takes place during Women’s History Month and aims to reframe that narrative not just through discussion, but through visibility.
Programming includes a community guitar workshop, a keynote historical reflection, a panel discussion, a screening of the documentary Behind the Strings: Amplifying Black Feminism in Guitar Culture and a live musical tribute featuring an all-Black women lineup of guitarists, including Dallas blues legend Cookie McGee, Houston-based artist Kam Franklin, vocalist Kierra Gray Thomas and musician Brianne Sargent.
“I think what’s really important is to see Black women as instrumentalists,” she said. “A lot of times people see us as vocalists or as singers or maybe even singer songwriters,”
The symposium’s keynote and panel will be led by Quo Johnson, who will provide historical context on Tharpe’s influence and the broader lineage of Black American music.
Organizers hope the audience reflects that mission — welcoming a broad cross-section of Dallas, while making space for Black communities to see themselves in new ways.
“Representation matters to all groups of people,” Garland said. “It’s important to see Black women doing things outside of the narratives that have been created for us.”
DETAILS: Behind the Strings: Music Symposium. Saturday, March 21. 12 PM. St. Paul United Methodist Church, 1816 Routh St, Dallas. Free.
