Obamas Say Gospel Music Sustains Them At White House

Obamas Say Gospel Music Sustains Them At White House Gospel Show

Kicking off a foot-stomping, hand-clapping celebration of gospel music, President Barack Obama said
Tuesday that this particular genre of music had helped to shape America, beginning with the slave era
and continuing on through the civil rights movement and beyond.
But “the heart” of gospel still remains true, although it has evolved over time, Obama said.
“It still has an unmatched power to strike the deepest chord in all of us, touching people of all faiths
and of no faith,” he said as he opened the latest in a series of White House concerts, this one
celebrating the role of gospel music in American life.
Gospel songs are the “songs of hope,” Obama added. “Hope that we might rise above our failures and
disappointments. Hope that we might receive His redemption. Hope that, in lifting our voices together,
we, too, might one day reach the Promised Land.”
The normally staid White House East Room was transformed into a concert venue through the addition
of red and purple lighting, a stage, piano, band members and backup singers. After brief opening
remarks, Obama sat in the front row between his wife, Michelle, and Loretta Lynch, the federal
prosecutor he nominated last year to be the country’s first female attorney general. Lynch’s confirmation
vote by the full Senate has been delayed for months.
“I’ve got to say, you’re having a pretty good night when T Bone Burnett and the Queen of Soul herself,
Aretha Franklin, show up at your house to jam,” Obama said. Shirley Caesar, Lyle Lovett and Darlene
Love were among the other top recording artists who brought audience members to their feet.
Obama said gospel is rooted in the spirituals that were sung by slaves who, although forbidden to read
or write, were allowed to sing.