While Tamara’s voice can be heard over pulsating tracks on dance floors around the world, her musical foundation lies in folk, gospel and jazz. For her newest project, Songs for Janie, slated to be released April 2012, Tamara prepares to go back to her folk music roots to unveil an introspective and empowering concept album. Songs for Janie is a musical and theatrical interpretation of Zora Neale Hurston’s literary classic Their Eyes Were Watching God. The album is an empowering, melodic epilogue between Tamara and the novel’s main character, Janie. Songs for Janie brings together elements of literature and music for a 21st-century look at what it means to be a black woman in America.“We (women) all have an inner Janie. So for me, speaking to her character through song was very self affirming. The album is a reminder that love and spirituality are symbiotic. One can’t exist without the other.” DESCRIPTIONSongs for Janie is a unique three-part concept that fuses music, literature and theater. •Music – The album will feature 10 original songs based on three distinct phases of Janie’s life: “The Maiden”, “The Matron” and “The Lover”. •Literature – The project will feature a book of short essays inspired by Hurston’s work and the process of bringing the Songs for Janie project to life.•Theater – Joe's Movement Emporium will host the first concert series for the project.Songs for Janie combines elements of literature and music for a 21st-century look at what it means to be a black woman in America. Tamara Wellons, a former Prince George’s County Elementary Education teacher and Bowie State University Alumni has united her worlds of education, community service and the arts to weave together a musical work based on Zora Neale Hurston’s novel. Risikat"Kat" Okedeyi, associate professor of literature and composition at Prince George's Community College, extended the vision of the project into a theatrical presentation.“When I read the novel, I felt such a strong connection with the main character, Janie. Her struggles with relationships, self acceptance and feminism are just as poignant for me today as they were for her in the 1930’s,” explains Wellons. “If I could talk to her, impart words of wisdom and encouragement, Songs for Janie would be my epilogue.”