Comments on: Higher Ground — Iris Dement’s Journey to Self

By: Pat Knod

Pat Knod — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:50:22 +0000

Iris’s voice has a magnetism that just pulls you in! I’ve searched for a chance to see her and have found her at “the Space” Evanston Il. Tour: http://www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=47500

By: Donna C

Donna C — Fri, 13 May 2011 06:51:42 +0000

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Iris. I was driving back from Blackburg, VA with a very good friend that wanted to visit her son at VA Tech. I grew up on bluegrass/gospel/country music. I happened upon a local public radio station that played the entire cd. One of the best drives back through the Shenandoah Valley ever.

I miss Iris terribly. I felt an immediate connection when I heard her sing. It wasn’t until they played the entire cd that I found out her name. The minute I got back to civilization, I went in search for her first cd, Infamous Angel.

Iris bares her soul when she sings. She sings about things in life that mean something to her. I’ve never paid any attention to critics. I prefer to make my own decisions on who I want to listen to. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of some more of Ms DeMent.

One thing I did want to mention, the song that her mother sings with her on the cd is not Momma’s Opry, but Higher Ground. It follows the song about her telling of her momma wanting to sing at the Opry. I’d pay anything to see her and her mother sing Higher Ground together. Her mother sounds just like my mother when she sang. Iris is most definitely a singer my mother would have loved to hear.

Iris, my friend, you have more friends than you can imagine out here eagerly awaiting your return. Love ya gal!

By: John Blaine

John Blaine — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:06:53 +0000

I’ve been a Unitarian for a while now, and when I discovered “Let the Mystery Be,” I knew I’d found a fellow searcher. I hope she knows there are maybe even more people who admire her for her honesty than revile her.

Tonight, Wisconsin is another example of “The Wasteland of the Free.”

By: Suzanne Lezotte

Suzanne Lezotte — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:39:29 +0000

What a great story, and such an amazing voice. There is such a clarity, such an honesty in her music, and her voice is so pure. Thanks for sharing.

By: Ronnie McEwan

Ronnie McEwan — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:07:26 +0000

Many years ago – around 1996 – I was driving home when on my car radio a DJ played ‘Wasteland of the Free’. He then went on to rave about Iris and how she was destined to be a major influence in the music business. I bought the CD and fell in love with Iris’s style of singing and her songs. A couple of years later she did a concert in Glasgow, Scotland, which I went to and, frankly, she was tremendous. She has been my favourite songstress since then. There is hardly a time passes when I am listening to music (and I have thousands of songs on my Pc) when I don’t play Iris. I have persistently searched over the years to learn if she is again touring in the UK but she never has It is only now I know why that is the case. I hope that Iris has now got back to her real self – a great songwriter and a beautiful singer. Come back to the UK Iris and sing to us agian.

Love You

Ronnie McEwan, Fife, Scotland

By: Jim S

Jim S — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:07:41 +0000

I used to go to the open mic nights in KC back in the ’80′s. I had a couple of friends that would sing and play guitar and I enjoyed listening to them and others. One night I heard a girl sing at a bar up the street from the Grand Emporium on Main street. (Hastings maybe?) I only heard her sing maybe 2 or 3 songs. One was about loving a guy for his automobile. Anyway, I thought she was fantastic. She wore a simple cotton dress, played and sang like an angel. I asked about her after that night and was told she had moved to Nashville. I never heard of her again until 2 weeks ago. I and a friend were going through each others music collections when I came across her cd “Infamous Angel” Aptly titled. I knew immediately who she was. I would really like to hear her sing again sometime. There is no one like her.

By: Will Davis

Will Davis — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:03:09 +0000

There are two events that got me writing again. One was an idea, dropped into my head at 2:50 on Christmas morning, on how I could rewrite a dead ms.

The other started with a compilation of country music I got as a Christmas gift. Most of the tunes were standards by Willie Nelson, George Jones, Hank Williams. But there was one, Infamous Angel, I’d never heard. I’d never heard Iris Dement.

But that wasn’t what got to me. What got to me was a Youtube video of her singing Our Town. Now, I don’t care how many people have heard it before me. I don’t care that I’m just about the last person on the planet to hear her voice. That song — that voice — ripped my heart out right out of my body and stuck it on a post out in front of my house.

So I’m off to work again. Thanks, Iris.

By: Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:30:42 +0000

Thanks for a great article, John. I have loved Iris DeMent for a long time, but the details of the 2nd marriage, career bumps, and her “drop pout” over Bush’s election were all news to me. I look forward to My Life, which I hadn’t known about.

She is a great, unique writer and singer. There is just nothing but Truth in her lyrics, and that singing style even Sounds honest. Your description of her going “toward the note” is perfect. Even in these videos, you see that complete honesty in her expression.

Yeah, the rage, and sorrow, you can here in songs on that third album are rare in popular music, and of course it’s sad to imagine real fans turning away at that album.

Thanks again,

Jamie

By: Belle Meline Mears

Belle Meline Mears — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:05:54 +0000

This woman has struck deep in my heart over the years – her voice is the truest voice I’ve ever heard in her genre. I just could listen to her all the livelong day. More than that, her character is what lifts up her singing. I heard Iris live at point where she’d just completed her second album. She was firm in answering when asked about when her next would be forthcoming, that it might take years because she would have to wait for the words and the music.

What first stopped me in my tracks was her singing about her mother and in one of her songs, an actual track of her mom singing a hymn. It was a moment I will always remember and whenever I hear or see Iris, I am reminded of the simple elegance of her beginning to come alive to music, in the grass, under a clothesline. Then, I delight in thinking of all the first class music makers who have wanted to and who have made it their mission to record for/with her.

By: Clyde E. Bryan

Clyde E. Bryan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:44:26 +0000

I have long been a fan of Iris’ and once traveled a good distance to hear her sing only one song. The unique voice is captivating, but the true wonder is the terrific writing of her songs.

Thanks for this tribute to one of the true artists Country/Folk.