For the past couple years, fans of independent and underground music from all over Louisville have discovered a hidden treasure near 20th and Main Street in Portland: the Rosetta Chapel, a performance space which has hosted dozens of bands of all varieties, and also happens to be the home of Daniel Barber, a multi-media sculpture artist. He started out having dance parties with his friends, and the scene organically expanded into serving as a home for live music. The home’s namesake, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, is the “godmother of rock and roll,” the gospel blues singer and guitar innovator from the 1930s and ‘40s who influenced the likes of Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Tina Turner and Elvis Presley. The striking mural on the side of the church was created by prominent local artist Damon Thompson, whose work can be found on urban spaces all over Louisville.
Daniel, who has also been a nurse for 20 years and is an ordained minister (often performing services in his home home), moved to Portland nearly ten years ago. He found out the church was for sale and couldn’t resist the affordable price and clean slate opportunity of the property.
Before that, he grew up in Springfield, Kentucky on a family cattle farm which had nearly 600 acres. Later he attended the University of Georgia, studying archaeology. He and nine of his friends moved back to the family farm after college, organizing informal punk shows, an arrangement which seems to have informed the supportive artistic vibe of the Rosetta Chapel.
“I don’t do anything to promote,” he said. “I don’t seek out acts, they find me. It’s all word of mouth, and no neighbors are complaining.”
In addition to the Louisville area, the Chapel has showcased bands from England, as well as Cincinnati, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. As of this writing, there are no less than 17 shows coming up at the Chapel between now and the end of the year on many nights of the week.
“The crowds are generally kids, and people in early 20s,” he said. “The best crowd we’ve had was about 75, for Loolowingen (a noise rock band from Japan). The music ranges from pop rock to electro, and loud, “yell-y” stuff, along with world music.”
Daniel, who also is adept at playing the spoons and has performed in vocal groups with the Louisville Folk School, offered some history of the building: “It was called Pleasant Union Baptist Church,” he said, noting that as a church, there was a separate coach house for the pastor in the large front yard (which is now home to an extensive garden), but a tree fell through it. “People will still stop by and say hey, ‘I was married here’, or ‘I went to church here years ago’.”
Follow the latest happenings and musical acts at @the.rosetta.chapel on Instagram.
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