Oh my goodness, Iris gets a bit of mudcat attention.

I one suggested her for a festival headliner, albeit unsuccessfully.

I think she's like Neil Young - which means "not everyone's cup of tea" - but I'm just in awe of her ability to put expression behind language.

Call it "method acting singing or method singing" perhaps, but it's what Judy Garland had, which simply stated is "put in lots of effort to understand what your singing about and it'll come through to your audience".

Iris has that ability to pry the words loose from the page and breath life into them.

Get ahold of Tom Russell's "Man From God Knows Where" and hear some great duets. Then listen to what she does solo with the very familiar "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Acres of Corn" which is about a rural wife who knows how limited the horizons of her existence are going to be.

She sings about a bottle of blackberry brandy under the sink and when depressed about the edges of her universe she puts on this old dress and goes out among the rows of corn with a glass of blackberry hope.

If that performance don't pinch your soul, get your oil checked.

Says me, Bob P