MUSIC WOMEN
NPR and the Lincoln Center: Top Albums by Women, Iris DeMent, My Life
Iris DeMent was born in Arkansas. She was her father’s 14th child; her mother’s, 8th. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was three. She performed gospel and country music with her sisters, and with her mother.
Jim Rooney produced both of Iris DeMent’s early albums, Infamous Angel (1992) and My Life (1993). She was kinda country, kinda folk — a singer-songwriter with plenty of raw emotion and word pictures.
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Iris DeMent has recorded and performed with a who’s who of Americana-type musicians — including John Prine, Steve Earle, and Emmylou Harris. She received the 2017 Americana Trailblazer Award.
My Life is “. . . filled with introspective songs and relatively sparse arrangements.” (Linda Fahey) The track titles are clues to the depths of her emotional topics and the empathetic treatment she gives them. Examples are “You’ve Done Nothing Wrong,” “No Time to Cry,” and “Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day.” Iris DeMent’s second album, My Life, was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Thanks to National Public Radio and the Lincoln Center for including Iris DeMent in the series Turning the Tables, salutes to the greatest albums made by women. Thanks also to Linda Fahey (Folk Alley) for many details.
Photo from MetroLyrics, “My Life”
