Folk pioneer and civil rights activist Odetta Gordon died on December 2, 2008 — shortly before she was to perform at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration. Listening to Christmas Spirituals, it's easy to wonder if she would have brought any of these songs to the party. First recorded in 1960, the album opens with "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow," stripped down to a threadbare arrangement of stand-up bass, a high-hat drum and Odetta's operatically ascending vocals. Regarding the traditionals here, she once said, ""These songs could not have happened in Africa alone, or in the United States alone. They are the result of the experience of slavery." Her performance on "Mary Had A Baby" is an intensely sung acapella hymn that sounds like it first came from a Parchman Farm chain gang or a southern plantation. Out of these 13 moving spirituals, two are Odetta originals; a chiming acoustic guitar, jangly tambourine, stand-up bass, and a simple drum kit accompany her husky inflections on "If Anybody Asks You," and on "Beautiful Star" her voice sings a beautifully wavering tremolo that floats over hushed guitar and a more prominent bass. "Children Go Where I Send Thee" closes with the upbeat accompaniment of an early ‘60s folk hootenanny.