In the Folk/Gospel/Country realm, few singer/songwriters are as acclaimed, respected and beloved as Iris DeMent by devoted fans as well as her adoring peer group. DeMent’s albums have been rightfully praised for their exquisite simplicity, emotional honesty and brilliant authenticity. She’s been roundly lauded for a catalog that is improbably slim yet infinitely satisfying.
The youngest of 14, DeMent was 3 when her family left their native Arkansas for Los Angeles. Steered by her Pentecostal upbringing and her father’s love of Country and Gospel, DeMent began writing at 25, finally releasing her debut album, 1992’s stunning Infamous Angel, at 31. The album’s themes of questioned faith and love tragically lost and deliriously found, delivered via DeMent’s warbling soprano and timeless melodies, rang true with Americana listeners and jaded critics alike. In 1993, she defied the sophomore jinx with My Life, which explored similar lyrical topics with a slightly more refined sonic blueprint, earning DeMent a well-deserved Contemporary Folk Album Grammy nomination.
In 1996, DeMent tuned into humanity’s social/political ills with The Way I Should, which featured a beefed up Rock/Soul soundtrack to underpin its protest message. Three years later, DeMent sang four duets with John Prine on his covers album, In Spite of Ourselves (including the title track, the album’s only original, on which DeMent famously crooned, “He ain’t got laid in a month of Sundays/I caught him once and he was sniffin’ my undies”). In 2004, she dropped her own dozen-covers/one-original album, the Gospel-drenched Lifeline.
After Prine’s album, DeMent acted in the movie Songcatcher, sung duets with Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle, appeared regularly on A Prairie Home Companion, did sporadic tours and festival dates and contributed “Big City” to the Merle Haggard tribute Tulare Dust. She largely put her career on hold after marrying singer/songwriter Greg Brown in 2002 (tour partner Pieta Brown is DeMent’s stepdaughter), which continued after she and Brown adopted a baby girl. In 2012, DeMent finally released Sing the Delta, 16 years after her last album of original material and began touring more regularly.
Iris DeMent may not be the most prolific songwriter in the business, but she is among the most intense, powerful and engaging artists around, Folk, Country or otherwise.
IRIS DEMENT plays at 20th Century Theater Thursday, March 5. Find tickets/more info here .
