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24 Oct 02 - 08:39 AM (#810037) Subject: Review: Iris Dement From: ballpienhammer Infamous Angel arrived Wed. Very very nice music! What a voice! |
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24 Oct 02 - 09:22 AM (#810078) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Naemanson I bought mine last month and love it. Let The Mystery Be is my new theme song. Too many people don't want to wait for the surprise ending and try to figure out what is waiting for them after this life is done. I'll wait to see what is there, if anything, and not use up my limited lifetime trying to second guess the creator (if s/he really exists). |
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24 Oct 02 - 11:33 AM (#810210) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Jim Krause I've always liked that song, too. Jim |
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24 Oct 02 - 11:42 AM (#810220) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice Let the Mystery Be is a good song... I just wish Iris would not push her voice up into her nose. If she just would sing with a more open sound, even Alison Krause has learned to do that, then it wouldn't make me cringe to hear her. Sorry, folks, but listen carefully and you will hear that a good voice is being crammed through her nose. |
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24 Oct 02 - 12:43 PM (#810271) Subject: Songs of Iris DeMent From: Joe Offer I can't use thread grouping to cross-index songs that are mixed in with information that does not pertain to Iris DeMent. I'll use this message for indexing those songs. -Joe Offer- |
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24 Oct 02 - 12:51 PM (#810281) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: bill kennedy this came out in 1992, right? It was her first release, loved a couple of her songs in particular, gave her lots of airplay. It is amazing how different her speaking voice is compared to her singing voice, I guess I've come round to wondering what she'd sound like if she just sang. Reminds me now of a female Dwight Yoakem. |
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24 Oct 02 - 12:54 PM (#810286) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Kim C Alice, I'm with you. I think she's a fabulous songwriter but I can't stand the whining. |
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24 Oct 02 - 01:03 PM (#810291) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Declan So its not just me ! I first heard Iris at the Cambridge (UK) Folk Festival about 7-8 years ago and had to leave half way through because I couldn't take the sugar-coated voice any longer. She was there again this year and I had the same reaction, although I enjoyed it when she came on to do some duets with John Prine. I love "Our Town" when Kate Rusby sings it, so its the singing rather than the songs that get to me. Nanci Griffith used to have a similar effect on me at one stage, but she wasn't anything like as "sweet" as Iris. In Nanci's case I got over it and I now like her singing, but I'm not sure I'll ever feel that way about Iris. |
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24 Oct 02 - 01:13 PM (#810296) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice I don't get "sweet" from her voice, Declan, maybe this is a language difference... what she is doing with her voice I would describe as "extremely nasal" ... I cringe and change the channel. |
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24 Oct 02 - 01:15 PM (#810298) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Don Firth Barbara and I were avid watchers of the Northern Exposure television series. Roslyn, Washington, the town that played Cicely, Alaska, is up in the Cascade Mountains just east of Snoqualmie Pass (major ski area). It's an easy ninety-mile drive from Seattle and we've been there a number of times. Maurice's big log house was built and owned by Jim and Marge Hathaway, friends of ours (they got paid fairly well for the use of their home), and seeing a place we've actually been in was a kick! A couple people we know were fairly regular extras, and we could sometimes spot them in the background in The Brick or on the street. After getting to know these weird and wonderful people for a number of years, along comes the inevitable last episode. In the last couple of minutes of the show, as everyone is going home and Cicely was shutting down for the night, one hears Iris DeMent's voice singing Our Town. The song was a perfect ending for the series, and it was definitely puddle-up time. We'd never heard it before and thought it must have been written for the show, which, it turned out, it hadn't. But it could hardly have fit better. We have the CD. I also subscribe to Let The Mystery Be. Good song! Don Firth |
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24 Oct 02 - 01:20 PM (#810306) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Don Firth I do have to agree, however, that she'd sound a lot better if she didn't sing through her nose. Don Firth |
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24 Oct 02 - 02:37 PM (#810352) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John MacKenzie Having taken the words of the song about the grand Ol' Opry as autobiographical, and having listened to the track her Mother sings, it is obvious that her singing style is rooted in the whiney gospel tradition. I still love her singing, however I can see it would get to some people. I too first came to Iris thro Northern Exposure, [It wasn't the same after Rob Morrow went, and don't you just love Marylin!] The song that really fills me up though, and I don't quite know why, is the title track. I thought of her as country, and looked in WalMart for her under that classification, finally found her in Borders in Hanover NH under folk. Not at all what I would call it. Failte....Giok |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:01 PM (#810361) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Kim C I loved Northern Exposure. My TV got stolen back then, though, so I missed the last two years of it. :-( |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:02 PM (#810364) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John MacKenzie Moving pictures Kim? Giok*BG* |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:20 PM (#810373) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: dorareever I just started to listening to her music,I like her very very much! Lots of energy!! And a good voice,not whiny pseudo-folkie girlie voice,but a real voice.I always like that in a woman...and..well,she is really good. |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:27 PM (#810377) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: catspaw49 I think we talked some about the Northern Exposure thing on another thread and I too agree that it was the perfect song for a beautiful ending to the series. As far as Iris goes, well........I have no taste, so I kinda' enjoy that voice. I know it really grates some people badly which I can understand, and yet, there is something of the old-time whine and twinge there that I like. Please put away those bricks. Now iffen y'all really want to get into the strange voice thing, then you need to hear Iris and John Prine doing duets! Geeziz, what a pair of voices to try to put together. There are a couple on one of his latest albums, where he pairs with quite a few people. But even more enjoyable for me was an episode of Sessions at West 54th where she and JP did a lot of the songs that had been done by others on the album. The duets were big country hits for folks like George and Tammy, Loretta and Conway, etc. You have got to hear Irsi and JP doing "We're Not the Jet Set." Spaw |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:33 PM (#810383) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice Good songwriter - bricks still thrown her way for the voice!!! (Don't you just love freedom of speech.) |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:49 PM (#810390) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: dorareever Alice,I so like her voice! because I hate pretty voices I guess...they're soo new age...I want to shoot Enya and everybody who has this ethereal voice thing...some of them are good,but imperfect voices are better for me.Now,a perfect and full of energy voice would be the best,but it's so rare.It's all McKennitt-ish stuff. |
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24 Oct 02 - 03:58 PM (#810398) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,Dale From the Iris DeMent website ~~ Infamous Angel (Released January 16, 1992 on Philo/Rounder and May 25, 1993 on Warner Brothers Records). Now not to brag (OK, a little bit!) but MY copy is Philo/Rounder 1138, making me one of her earliest fans, other than those who were fortunate enough to hear her before her recording career began. I can't say EXACTLY when I got it, probably Spring or Summer of 92, but I do remember everything else, the where was St. Louis, and my favorite record dealer, Dennis said, "Here's one I think you'll like." He was right, and not to take issue with anyone, but her voice has an old time charm that puts her above most of the rest. My list of people that I can't stand to listen to is long enough that I have no room to complain. I expect revealing my prejudices would evoke howls of dismay from those artists' faithful followers. |
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24 Oct 02 - 04:02 PM (#810404) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: bill kennedy I too was taken with her voice at first, have had that cd since '92 as well. When I first heard her speak, and realized how different her speaking voice is from her singing voice, how 'false' and 'studied' and 'put on thick' her singing voice now seems to me, not at all like her mother's singing voice on the same cd. but she writes a good song, and too each his own |
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24 Oct 02 - 04:05 PM (#810408) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Mudlark I guess I'm in the too-nasal camp...great songs, grating voice. But I was amazed to find out that she sang Pretty Saro in Songcatcher...to my ear didn't sound like her at all, and much closer to the country voices I heard in the Ozark mountains...nasal thing less pronounced and more natural, somehow. |
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24 Oct 02 - 04:17 PM (#810422) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: dorareever I don't speak in a nasal voice,but sometimes my voice comes out nasal,when i sing,but it's my real voice...obviously her speaking voice is different from her singing voice,I never heard someone with the same speaking and singing voice. |
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24 Oct 02 - 05:11 PM (#810463) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice A tradition I dearly love, Irish sean nos singing, has a natural nasal quality to the singers, but what Iris Dement is doing is not natural old time sound. Her hard pushing up into the sinus doesn't sound natural, it sounds like something she developed as a bad habit and just doesn't know how to stop. Pretty sound is not the point I'm making.... there is a nasal hard push that is very contrived about her singing, not a natural old style sound. Maybe I'll find a sound file link to compare and post later to explain better what I mean. |
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24 Oct 02 - 05:26 PM (#810476) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: DonMeixner I had heard that Iris had the song dubbed in song catcher. IMHO I find her voice to be the perfect platform for her often perfect songs. Don |
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24 Oct 02 - 05:30 PM (#810480) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice Comparison - the natural old ballad singing voice of 72 year old Phyllis Marks in West Virginia NPR Heritage Center Click here (Spaw, don't go berserk when they mention Songcatcher) Phyllis Marks has the natural uncontrived, unaffected voice that has a natural nasal quality. Dement ... not. |
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24 Oct 02 - 05:35 PM (#810484) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: DonMeixner :-PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPp Iris is also better looking. |
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24 Oct 02 - 07:10 PM (#810540) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice Maybe the sound sample of Phyllis Marks wasn't the best way to compare and describe what I mean... but anyway, this thread title says review, and for my part such a pushed and affected nasal sound gets a thumbs down. I think she has a good voice inside... I just wish she wouldn't distort it. |
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24 Oct 02 - 09:13 PM (#810635) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: michaelr I'm with you, Alice... that vocal affectation drives me up the wall; did so in Songcatcher, as well. Her male equivalent has to be Jimmie Dale Gilmore, I can't stand him either. Those two together would make the perfect duet, though (shudder)! Cheers, Michael |
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24 Oct 02 - 11:29 PM (#810731) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: ballpienhammer I first heard her on WCBU#3 doing "Mama's Opry". I don't mind the nasal voice. I feel her voice is perfect for bluegrass and folk alike. |
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24 Oct 02 - 11:59 PM (#810747) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: bflat I absolutely enjoy her performance live and recorded. She is unique. She happens to be quite talented with the guitar and piano and a most humble performer. Love her. Ellen |
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25 Oct 02 - 08:46 AM (#810956) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Naemanson I like her voice. It is disctinct and unique. If she learned to "correct" it then she would only be left with her words to distinguish her from the rest of the thundering herd of singer songwriters. And face it, gang, that's a big herd. |
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25 Oct 02 - 09:03 AM (#810978) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Peter T. "When My Morning Comes Around" is my favourite. So simple. yours, Peter T. |
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25 Oct 02 - 09:38 AM (#811007) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,bnemerov I like her singing as well. That said. the first time I heard her I told a companion, "listen, it's Olive Oyl singing." |
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25 Oct 02 - 11:16 AM (#811101) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,boromir I find that if you listen for heart, Iris sings as well as Luciano. And isn't that what listening is all about! |
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25 Oct 02 - 11:25 AM (#811115) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: dorareever If Luciano is Luciano Pavarotti,she sure sings better! he almost lost all his voice and everytime he sings with popstar the popstar sings better,can hold the note...he can't anymore! |
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25 Oct 02 - 11:40 AM (#811125) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,bbc at work Iris has a very unusual voice. Duane loves to listen to her. I can't stand to; her voice grates on me. Male/female thing? bbc |
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25 Oct 02 - 02:54 PM (#811293) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Ivan I love Iris's voice. It reminds me of the original Carter Family and others of that era. The last thing we need is for voice coaches to take over folk music. Let people sing how they like. I know it's a shame if some voices grate so much that you can't bear to hear them under any circumstances (Rod Stewart for one!) but if the songs are good other people will cover them in a different style anyway. |
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25 Oct 02 - 03:11 PM (#811303) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Alice It's not a natural bluegrass/old time voice. She's doing something affected to it that makes it sound like a caricature of bluegrass. The fact that she isn't letting her natural voice sing in an old style is my whole point! |
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25 Oct 02 - 06:18 PM (#811451) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: ballpienhammer I like it! |
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25 Oct 02 - 06:41 PM (#811465) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: catspaw49 LOL....Keep up the good fight Alice my Spaw |
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27 Oct 02 - 06:43 PM (#812764) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: ballpienhammer the wife says Dement sounds like Sandy(the squirrel) on Sponge Bob. Obviously she is not a Dement fan! |
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21 Sep 05 - 12:16 AM (#1567397) Subject: Iris DeMent From: Arkie Iris DeMent was in Mountain View this past Saturday night. First time I had ever seen her perform and actually she did not perform. She sang and accompanied herself on guitar and piano. It was a wonderful evening of sensitive, beautiful music. I am glad to have been one of the chosen ones. I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic. |
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21 Sep 05 - 02:23 AM (#1567430) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: open mike the song mentioned above, although sung by Iris, was written by Mr. Iris Dement (Greg Brown) (The Train Carrying Jimmie Rogers Home) and I love her voice, her songs, and her strength of conviction, especially in the song Wasteland of the Free.. it is potent stuff. the Let the Mystery Be is a great song.. sort of an asnostic anthem of sorts!! |
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21 Sep 05 - 05:28 AM (#1567491) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: mooman Probably I have no taste at all but I (and also the Good Lady McMoo) personally love her songs and voice and we have a couple of them in our repertoire. Peace moo |
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21 Sep 05 - 05:39 AM (#1567495) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: akenaton I am always mystified as to why Iris and her music are rarely discussed here. I think she's wonderful and agree with Open mike about her conviction and the emotive content. I love all her stuff but "Easy's gettin' harder every day" and "Walking Home" give me the "sniffles" and make me marvel at her understanding.....Ake BTW I dont "sniffle" easily. |
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21 Sep 05 - 05:58 AM (#1567501) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John MacKenzie I mentioned her before on a thread and found she either attracts loving or loathing, my other half can't stand the sound of her voice, but then she does have strange taste in men too;~) For me Iris Dement can do no wrong, and albeit a bit overplayed I still love Our Town. Giok |
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21 Sep 05 - 08:14 AM (#1567568) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Beer What a powerful voice. I heard Tom Russell being interview and he used the word "Haunting voice". I have to agree. As you probably know she is featured on Tom's folk opera c/d "The Man From God Knows Where". |
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21 Sep 05 - 09:02 AM (#1567603) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Dave Hanson Most irritating voice in music. eric |
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21 Sep 05 - 09:22 AM (#1567619) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: kendall I can listen to her and enjoy her for about two songs. Then that little girl quality irritates me. |
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21 Sep 05 - 09:43 AM (#1567634) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,DB Iris DeMent is in the film 'Songcatcher' and, if my memory serves me right, sings the trad. song 'Pretty Saro'. I remember being completely blown away by that performance - just completely knockout! Does anyone know if she has recorded any more traditional songs? |
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21 Sep 05 - 09:47 AM (#1567639) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Paco Rabanne i'VE GOT HER FIRST TWO ALBUMS AND LOVE THEM TO BITS SO THERE! |
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21 Sep 05 - 10:48 AM (#1567679) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST We're not the jet set we're the old chevrolet set What a great line. Love her to bits |
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21 Sep 05 - 11:18 AM (#1567703) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John MacKenzie She does a lovely version of '50 miles of Elbow Room' on her Infamous Angel album, and there is something else that either her Mother or her and her Mother do {Higher Ground?}. So yes she has recorded other trad stuff. Giok |
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21 Sep 05 - 11:26 AM (#1567715) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Chris in Wheaton 3 pungent voices in folk music - IMHO - Buffy St. Marie, Iris, and Jimmy Dale Gilmore, maybe Mary McCaslin too. I love them all in small doses, but I really think they are best in duet with others. Mary and Jim, Jimmy Dale and Butch, Iris and whoever - priceless. Listen to Iris on the Bleeker St. cd with Loudon - love it!! Hoping for Iris and Greg - any word on this? Chris in Wheaton |
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21 Sep 05 - 12:39 PM (#1567777) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: akenaton just got a CD of old time gospel music by Iris Dement called "lifeline". |
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21 Sep 05 - 12:51 PM (#1567783) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Kim C I know why people like her, but I can't stand the sound of her voice. One song is about all I can handle. |
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21 Sep 05 - 04:42 PM (#1567922) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: wysiwyg Giok, yes, it is "Higher Ground." ~S~ |
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21 Sep 05 - 04:58 PM (#1567929) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,bflat Three years ago I posted to this thread and I haven't changed by opinion at all. She is very special. Love her. Ellen |
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22 Sep 05 - 03:09 PM (#1568587) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,Arkie I hope there are no rules against this but I am posting below the review of the Mountain View concert that appeared in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. REVIEW Music : DeMent gives crowd a warm, witty show BY JACK W. HILL Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 MOUNTAIN VIEW — Singer-songwriter Iris DeMent opened her concert at the Ozark Folk Center on Saturday night with an appropriate song, "These Hills," sounding just as much at home here in these Ozark hills as the late Jimmie Driftwood always did. Indeed, DeMent said more of her life in her songs and in her between-songs musings than most performers reveal in decades of work, and she has been writing and singing for only 13 years and four albums. Born a little more than 100 miles away in Paragould, DeMent seemed to warm to the circular Folk Center auditorium and its fine acoustics and the several hundred fans in attendance, who filled the place to about twothirds its capacity. Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and the upright piano she moved to for the middle part of her set, DeMent went against convention by doing only two songs from her current CD, Lifeline, the well known hymn, "Blessed Assurance" and her own composition, "He Reached Down." Her set included three songs from each of her first three CDs, however, along with a heart-wrenching version of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone," and a showending singalong of the Carter Family's theme song, "Keep on the Sunny Side." The 17-song set also included a gospel song that her father and his brothers used to do, plus three new songs that proved the creative well has not run dry for this singer with the appealing dry wit. The first one, she said, was about her 87-year old mother, and the song's "non-Hallmark card" sentiments were inspired by how her mother "was always telling her truth... and there was no back burner on that stove." Another winning new song concerned her conclusions reached after years of reading self-help books, "tryin' to unravel myself," but realizing, at long last, "I been livin' on the inside too much" and that "pullin' weeds works just as well." Of her low-key marriage to fellow singer-songwriter Greg Brown, DeMent seemed almost giddy to be able to reveal that she had gone and gotten married again a few years ago, and that she had been inspired to write an anniversary song after looking out her window on a cold December day, watching Brown burn the trash and that "I'm thinkin' this love's gonna last." And though DeMent played for only an hour and 35 minutes, the depth of her revealed sentiments and feelings — conveyed via a voice that's so strong, yet so vulnerable — were such that I doubt that anyone left feeling cheated of some serious substance. DeMent certainly ranks up there with our other nativeborn musical greats, including Cash, Driftwood, Levon Helm and Louis Jordan. |
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22 Sep 05 - 10:34 PM (#1568902) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Matt_R Good songwriter, horrific voice |
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23 Sep 05 - 02:17 AM (#1569009) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Dave Hanson Chris in Wheaton, I'm sorry but Iris is not in the same league as Buffy St Marie, along with Karen Carpenter the two most powerful and unique voices in music. eric |
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23 Sep 05 - 04:05 AM (#1569020) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: akenaton I like Iris's voice very much. But surely to folkies , the voice comes a distant second to the story? Iris Dements songs are full of sharp observation about life and love. As someone writing about the emotions of women and their role as mothers, daughters and wives, she's unbeatable....Ake |
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23 Sep 05 - 04:35 AM (#1569032) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John MacKenzie Always thought Karen Carpenter sounded a lot like Anne Murray [Snow Goose] myself EtR, although I too love her singing. Giok |
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05 Jun 09 - 08:07 PM (#2649517) Subject: Iris Dement From: open mike IRIS Dement is a singer/songwriter from Kansas City (Kansas or Missouri). She married Greg Brown in Nov. 2002. http://www.gregbrown.org/ She played the character Rose Gentry in the movie Songcatcher. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_DeMent "Her song "Let the Mystery Be" from that album has been covered by a number of artists....and has become one of DeMent's better known compositions." "In 1995, her song "Our Town" was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the popular CBS TV series Northern Exposure, gaining DeMent more fans." http://www.irisdement.com/biography.html |
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05 Jun 09 - 08:23 PM (#2649533) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: John on the Sunset Coast My favorite Iris Dement songs are "Sweet is the Melody", "Infamous Angel" and her duets w/ John Prine. Haven't heard much of her lately, but there is a current TV commercial on which the singer could be she. Don't recall, though, what it's for...but the voice is great. Also, I just peeked, and note she'll he in SoCal beginning 25 Sept. Thanks for noting her, open mike. |
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05 Jun 09 - 08:59 PM (#2649575) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Don Firth Uh . . . yeah, I mention the last episode of "Northern Exposure" up-thread a way. Actually, that was the first time I heard Iris Dement. I get the damndest kick out of this: CLICKY. Hearing those words coming out of that sweet little face!! Don Firth |
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06 Jun 09 - 01:32 AM (#2649679) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,DonMeixner I still like her just fine. Especially in duet with Tom Russell and Ton Paxton. Don |
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06 Jun 09 - 03:06 AM (#2649698) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Murray MacLeod That is a great song Don, these two are great together. This is an absolutely superb solo performance of Iris Dement singing "Our Town". There are others on Youtube including one from the Transatlantic Sessions where she duets with Emmylou, but imo this one is the best. Interestingly, comments have been disabled for this video, and reading through this thread I can well understand why. |
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06 Jun 09 - 03:20 AM (#2649703) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: open mike thanks to a mud elf for combining these threads. i was posting about her in the songcathcer thread and though she deserved her own thread...sorry i forgot to search first |
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06 Jun 09 - 03:25 AM (#2649704) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Paco Rabanne Iris is divine. As a life long fan of Leonard Cohen, if you play a CD by Iris after one of Leonard's, you wonder what all the fuss is about! She sings and plays it straight, almost from a housewife's point of view. |
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06 Jun 09 - 03:46 AM (#2649713) Subject: Lyr Add: WASTELAND OF THE FREE (Iris DeMent) From: open mike here is here most poignant, scathing song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86VHcV5Pa5c WASTELAND OF THE FREE (Iris Dement) As recorded by Iris DeMent on "The Way I Should" (1996) We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines And their speech is growing increasingly unkind They say they are Christ's disciples but they don't look like Jesus to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got politicians running races on corporate cash Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass You may call me old-fashioned but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay But they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage And If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job to some third-world country 'cross the sea And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Where the poor have now become the enemy Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy Living in the wasteland of the free We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors And we call ourselves the advanced civilization; that sounds like crap to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess Who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test But if you ask them, they can tell you the name of every crotch on MTV And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin But he's standing up for what he believes in and that seems pretty damned American to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Where the poor have now become the enemy Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy Living in the wasteland of the free While we sit gloating in our greatness Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea Living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free she also has a wonderful song for Veteran's Day.. There's a Wall in Washington.. |
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06 Jun 09 - 06:46 AM (#2649797) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST The voice is OK for about one song - after that the continual "breaking" and high pitched "little girl" tone does my head in. It's a caricature of a country singer. |
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06 Jun 09 - 07:07 AM (#2649809) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: NormanD I'm not being snobby here because of its limited availability, but one of my favourite songs she does is "God May Forgive You (But I Won't)". It came as a second track to the CD single of "Our Town", and isn't on any album. The song - to my surprise - was written by Harlan Howard and is a great attack on a philandering husband who's become born-again. Does anyone know why Iris records so infrequently? Her last CD was of gospel songs, with none of her own compositions. |
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06 Jun 09 - 10:24 AM (#2649904) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Ron Davies I used to not like her voice. But I'd have to say it's just perfect for "Let the Mystery Be", one of her strongest songs--along with "Our Town". A really warm cozy version on YouTube. And with John Prine it's just a wonderful match--channeling the good old country duets like Loretta and Conway. You can't get any better than John and Iris on "In Spite of Ourselves". And "Invite Them Over" is another charmer. |
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07 Jun 09 - 10:47 AM (#2650551) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: VirginiaTam Thanks for reopening the thread openmike - Putting in my vote in favour of her purportedly nasal presentation. That nasal "twang" was something I violently disliked as a teen when I was forced to watch the Porter Wagoner Show and Hee Haw. Oddly, my Gammy neither sang nore spoke with a pronounced West Virginia accent, though maybe it is because she moved from WVa when she was 15. In fact most of my family had kind of no accent compared to others in south east Virginia. Something I never noticed until New York and California frinds of my older brother commented upon it. Wonder what that was about? Anyway - back to Iris Dement. Love her voice and some of the songs she sings. |
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07 Jun 09 - 12:10 PM (#2650585) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: catspaw49 We had some other thread about her too or maybe it was a YouTube thread because I remember linking "In Spite of Ourselved" a long time ago. Anyway, nothing has changed my mind since this thread first ran.....I still enjoy her. Spaw |
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07 Jun 09 - 12:14 PM (#2650588) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: topical tom I really like the unique voice and style of Iris Dement. Her duets with John Prine are great! She is a truly good singer of harmony. |
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07 Jun 09 - 01:57 PM (#2650655) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Abdul The Bul Bul Well, I heard Iris do Our Town on some radio prog or other and fell in love with it before it had finished. Beautiful. Learned it straight away and sing it a few times a week, unfortunately now I'm 'overseas, it's to myself but I still love it. Watching Iris on the Transatlantic Sessions and youtube is a lesson in what happens when you are absolutely 'in' the song. Wonderful singer, wonderful songs and I can't wait till i get back to Stoke to hear VT and Odetta doing Let the mystery be ...was it VT? Al |
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07 Jun 09 - 02:33 PM (#2650686) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: VirginiaTam Hi Al. How is Dubai? Yes I am learning Let the Mystery Be on Odetta. (For any confused, guitar is a Sigma DM4M, so named because she is big, dark and loud. She used to belong to Al.) Maybe able to do it by Knockholt. Hell maybe even by Essex Girl's bbq next weekend. I liked Our Town when I heard Kate Rusby do it. Now having heard it done by the songwriter Iris, I think Iris' so much more bittersweet. |
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07 Jun 09 - 02:46 PM (#2650702) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: michaelr "Wasteland of the Free" is a great song, but I still can't stand her voice. Iris Dement and Jimmie Dale Gilmore would fit together superbly in a duet! |
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07 Jun 09 - 07:10 PM (#2650877) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Murray MacLeod Iris Dement and Jimmie Gilmore in a duet amateur video, but interesting ... |
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07 Jun 09 - 07:17 PM (#2650885) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: RobbieWilson I first heard Our Town sung by Kate Rusby at some festival or other and was sure it must have been about small town England. A couple of years heard ID herself sing it and saw small town America. I sing it in my best Glasgow gutteral and it is about the town of Barrhead where I grew up. I have walked down Main St in the cold morning mist. It never fails to amaze me when a great songfits so personally to such diverse people; hoow something so personal can be so universal. Don't fixate on the voice, hear the song. Sing it. Make it yours |
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07 Jun 09 - 07:18 PM (#2650886) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Ron Davies Amen, Robbie. |
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07 Jun 09 - 07:24 PM (#2650895) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Ron Davies It's true--some of the best songs are both personal and universal at the same time--and that's what Iris has done in "Our Town". |
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07 Jun 09 - 07:26 PM (#2650899) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Ron Davies That might be a topic for a thread--if it hasn't been done already. |
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10 Jun 09 - 09:29 PM (#2653660) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: michaelr Thanks, Murray -- my hunch has been proved! (shudder) |
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10 Jun 09 - 11:27 PM (#2653709) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,Don Meixner Aye Robbie. |
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31 Jan 16 - 10:44 AM (#3769632) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: GUEST,Oz Childs I've been hooked by "Sweet is the Melody" recently. I think she has written the words that should appear on her gravestone: 'So hard to make every note bend just right.' |
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17 Mar 16 - 01:14 PM (#3779452) Subject: RE: Review: Iris Dement From: Thompson Another version by Iris Dement of Wasteland of the Free; stirring stuff. |
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17 Apr 20 - 04:33 PM (#4046712) Subject: RE: Review: Iris DeMent From: Stilly River Sage Today on Fresh Air they're playing a 2015 interview with Iris DeMent. |
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19 Apr 20 - 02:59 PM (#4047069) Subject: RE: Review: Iris DeMent From: Brian May The (very talented) lady with a voice provided by Marmite . . . |