WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted a performance of gospel music at the White House Wednesday night that featured some of America's finest artists of the genre, including Grammy winner CeCe Winans

The president called American gospel music "a sustaining force for countless Americans," and welcomed the performers Wednesday night under a tented pavilion on the South Lawn.

"Gospel lives in our hearts and minds, and soothes our souls," Clinton said. "Its roots were nourished by the blood and sweat and tears of many millions of people held captive in slavery."

From his chair at the side of the stage, the president sang the words to "Reach Out and Touch Someone," performed by contemporary gospel singer and trumpeter, Phil Driscoll.

Mrs. Clinton thanked the performers for the music that has "contributed so much to the life and culture of our nation."

Winans, an eight-time Grammy winner who gained fame as a duo singing with her brother, BeBe, hosted the evening event.

"Gospel is a living music," Winans said. "Every generation needs to be part of it." She stirred up the crowd with her renditions of favorites such as "I'll Take You There."

"I know this is the White House but we're going to do it as if it is my gospel at the White House," she said. "So, it is my church."

To close out the evening, Driscoll belted out the start of "Amazing Grace" on his blue and yellow-colored trumpet, later joined by Winan, singer and songwriter Mickey Mangun, and the Morgan State University Choir.

More than 500 invited guests, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow Coalition, clapped and swayed during the performance.

Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, (D-Illinois), Sen. John Rockefeller, (D-West Virginia), and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, (D-Texas), also attended the concert.

The nearly two-hour performance was the seventh in the "In Performance at the White House" series, that is produced by public television station WETA. It will be broadcast on PBS in February 1999.