Testify
Artist: Ami Rushes
Label: Ami Rushes Ministries
Time: 10 tracks / 53 mins

When this one started, its blast of sound almost knocked me backwards in my chair – not that this is the sort of thing you sit to listen to; it’s a gospel church brought right into your home and it invites you to stand and clap.

Rushes is a bit of a female Mike Farris, in that she is a white singer doing gospel with no concessions. However, whereas Farris does the gritty version that is happy on a small club, Rushes does the huge, polished edition.

The initial call to worship was a bit clichéd and so full-on that my British reserve baulked, but successive listens have brought out the subtleties in this collection. Every third track slows things down and shows the lush polish of Kurt Carr’s production. Whether coasting gently (“There is No Other Name,” “Yahweh”) or belting out (“There is Nothing Too Hard for God” or the title track), Rushes proves that she can sing whatever she is presented with in a voice that echoes singers like Ashley Cleveland and Elkie Brooks.

There is some smooth, powerful and talented choral work behind her. On “Listen to the Rain,” previously recorded by Mahalia Jackson, her immaculate backing singers switch between a full-bodied gospel wall of sound and a soft, constant “listen to the rain, listen to the rain” that clicks along like the sound of a train on the tracks. A closer listen reveals how much the impact of the louder songs relies on these singers.

These are songs of celebration, determination and worship, leaning backwards towards classic gospel and featuring songs by Dottie Rambo and André Crouch. While I found her in-your-face style off-putting and sometimes corny, I have to accept that it goes with the genre, and the musicality is undeniably striking.

Derek Walker