Tryin’ to Get Ready Janèt Sullivan Whitaker

	Required fields in bold.
Name:
Location:	(e.g., Portland, OR)
Rating:	Five stars - I love it! Four stars - I like it Three stars - It's OK Two stars - I don't like it One star - I hate it
Comment:	This review feature is open to comments and constructive criticism that demonstrates respect for artists and readers. Comments that reflect spiritual insights are especially welcome. (Limit: 1,000 characters)

Artist Reflection

Spirituals have always been among my favorite kinds of Gospel singing. The style comes to us straight from the heart of the African slave experience. So much of our American music – jazz, gospel, rock and roll – was born in that mournful, soulful place. All of it can be traced to the same blood-stained roots of a people in bondage.

Some spirituals were fast and lively. These were 'work songs', sung in the fields as a way of keeping rhythm during the hot, stifling days of unending forced labor. But this kind of music did so much more for those who sang it: it provided a way for slaves to relay escape plans, encourage one other, and express a common faith – all in the face of terrible conditions. This is music of hope and joy. Maybe that's why I love to sing these kinds of songs during Advent, the season of joyful waiting.

The title track of my CD, "Tryin' to Get Ready" is my own take on a spiritual I remember hearing when I was a child. Listen to it. You might think it sounds like a lot of people singing together – but it's not! Through the miracle of recording studio technology, all the vocals were done by two people: me and my good friend Joseph Hebert. The drummer is my friend Kelly Fasman, one of the coolest women I know. We built the arrangement and recorded it all in one morning at DKS Productions, a recording studio in the Hayward Hills, about five minutes from where I live.

- Janet Sullivan Whitaker