Although some of the songs are accompanied by a warbling B3 and thumping drums, the singing preacher and full throated choir emphasize hand clapping as the main rhythm, with the clatter of tambourines offering an additional layer of percussion.  While performing live at the Chicago Area Gospel Announcers Guild summit last October, Pastor Dixon and the choir demonstrated complex clapping techniques that left audience members delightfully flummoxed. 
 
“Ezekiel Said He Saw Him” (better known as “I Call Jesus, My Rock”) was written in the twentieth century by Chicagoan Virginia Davis Marshall, but the group performs it with polyrhythms that evoke the antebellum ring shout.  It reminded me of the Paradise M.B. Church Acappella Choir’s rendition, recorded more than thirty years ago.  “True Religion,” its lyrics pulled from the spiritual tradition, is also given the ring shout rhythm.