Essentials: The Top 10 Iris DeMent Songs

Iris Luella DeMent was born in Arkansas in 1961, the youngest of 14 children in a Pentecostal family. Her cotton farming parents were both musical. Her father, Pat, was a fiddle player who performed at dances, although Iris only ever heard him play three or four bars on it because “when he got saved, he put his fiddle away”. Her mother, Flora, dreamt of becoming a singer in Nashville; however, although she never pursued a professional singing career, her musical talent and love for gospel music deeply influenced Iris.

After her father lost his job, the DeMent family moved to California when Iris was three years old. Despite her father no longer playing the fiddle, music remained a central part of the DeMent’s family life, with several of Iris’s siblings and her mother playing instruments and singing. Her older sisters even formed a gospel group called The DeMent Sisters, which recorded one album.

DeMent has said that “Religious people wouldn’t call me religious, but I do believe in a higher power. Just because I don’t adhere to the precise beliefs of my father doesn’t mean I’m without spirituality. Still, a lot of my dad trickled down to me. Even if I wanted to, and I don’t, I can’t separate those things.” This take on spirituality and religion is reflected in many of DeMent’s songs.

DeMent didn’t commence writing songs until her mid-20s, and she’s never been particularly prolific, releasing only seven studio albums, including her 1992 debut record. However, she has always favoured quality over quantity, which made this top 10 challenging to put together, even when some of her excellent duets with John Prine were deliberately excluded. On another day, the songs and the order they’re in could well have been very different.

Number 10: ‘When My Morning Comes Around’ from “The Way I Should” (1996)

There’s a thread that runs through many of DeMent’s songs, which is the impermanence of life. This beautiful piano-led composition reflects on the passage of time and facing up to the struggles of the past. The main protagonist knows that when her morning comes, she’ll be able to let go of her insecurities and start living her life without worrying about what others think, as DeMent puts it, “When my mornin’ comes around, From a new cup I’ll be drinking, And for once I won’t be thinking, That there’s something wrong with me, And I’ll wake up and find, That my faults have been forgiven, And that’s when I’ll start living”.

Number 9: ‘Goin’ Down to Sing in Texas’ from “Workin’ On A World” (2023)

DeMent has always written protest songs; however, ‘Goin’ Down to Sing in Texas’ may be her most overtly political one. It addresses America’s gun culture, police shootings and anti-Muslim sentiment. In recent live shows, DeMent has spoken of her fear of performing in the Lone Star State, where venues allow audience members to carry guns, and how, at one point in time, it made her feel like stopping playing live altogether. Rather than give in, she decided to write this song to “fortify” herself.

The song name checks strong women who’ve stood up for what is right, including The Chicks and “The Squad”, who originally comprised Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. They formed a group of progressive Democratic members of the US House of Representatives who advocated for left-wing policies and have not only been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism from Trump and Republicans, but also challenged the Democratic establishment.

The song was first released in 2020; however, when it appeared on the 2023 album “Workin’ on a World”, some DeMent fans realised something was amiss when they discovered that the new version was over one minute shorter than the original. Two verses, one referencing the plight of the Palestinian people and the other ‘that thug up in the White House’, were no longer included. Whatever the reason for their omission, this is still a hard-hitting song which DeMent manages to end with a message of hope, “You wanna ban something? I got a plan, Let’s ban hate from every corner of our land”.

Number 8: ‘My Life’ from “My Life” (1994)

Iris DeMent’s voice is the essence of americana – it’s raw and unvarnished, steeped in sorrow, heartache, and the quiet beauty of simple living. It speaks of family, home, and love with a cracked honesty that’s deeply moving; it’s reminiscent of Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch. ‘My Life’, which features some achingly beautiful violin and piano, showcases DeMent’s voice perfectly. It’s another rumination on the passing of time as DeMent sings, “My life, it don’t count for nothing, When I look at this world, I feel so small, And my life, It’s only a season, A passing September that no one will recall”.

Number 7: ‘Infamous Angel’ from “Infamous Angel” (1992)

‘Infamous Angel’ opens with a country guitar riff before DeMent’s vocals come in. It’s a simple but effective arrangement. It is interesting to note how DeMent’s voice has changed since this song was released in 1992. Like many artists, it’s got lower and richer as she’s grown older. In many ways, this song harks back to a time of innocence, before DeMent picked up the political baton and ran with it.

Number 6: ‘Sweet is the Melody’ from “My Life” (1994)

‘Sweet is the Melody’ is a poignant and graceful song that beautifully reflects DeMent’s signature style. It’s a reflection on the beauty and power, as well as the challenge of creating music that truly touches people. It’s a tender paean to the art of song writing and the ability of music to bring people together, “Oh, an arm’s just an arm till it’s wrapped round a shoulder, Looped side by side, they go stepping out together, A note’s just a note till you wake from your slumber, And dare to discover the new melody”.

Number 5: ‘Wasteland of the Free’ from “The Way I Should” (1996)

In an interview in the late 1990s, DeMent said, “The more I hear and learn about the world and all the injustice that goes on – the poverty, the terrible things that happen – it makes me realize that maybe I should begin writing more and more about these subjects. This has got to be done so that more people understand what we are really facing.”

‘Wasteland of the Free’ is a damning indictment of the political and social justice system in the United States as DeMent sings “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”. It’s hard to believe it was written almost 30 years ago, plus ça change, unfortunately.

Number 4: ‘Workin’ on a World’ from “Workin’ On A World” (2023)

‘Workin’ on a World’ carries a powerful sentiment of striving toward a better future, even if the fruits of that labour may not be seen within one’s lifetime. It’s a message strongly rooted in hope and resilience, drawing strength from the legacy of past activists and underscoring the importance of continuing the pursuit of meaningful change, no matter what the obstacles are. The whole song has a great gospel feel to it, with the brass section and Richard Bennett’s guitar to the fore. It’s a song that inspires activism rather than despair.

Number 3: ‘Our Town’ from “Infamous Angel” (1992)

Having been featured in the last episode of the TV series Northern Exposure, ‘Our Town’ may well be DeMent’s best-known song. It’s a reflection on the decline of small-town America. DeMent says that the song came about when she was “passing through this little town that was your typical dead town there in the Midwest, a lot of boarded-up windows, little white buildings with peeling paint, all the life had gone right on out of it. And that was the first time in my life that I felt a song coming on like it wasn’t just me trying to make something happen.” It’s a sentimental song reflecting on the poignancy of someone saying farewell to their hometown, whilst acknowledging that it’s time to move on and change.

Number 2: ‘The Night I Learned How Not to Pray’ from “Sing The Delta” (2012)

This is a deeply personal song that recalls the traumatic incident when, as a child, Iris’s baby brother tumbled down the stairs, incurring a fatal injury. As her parents took her brother to the hospital, her first instinct was to get down on her knees and begin to pray fervently that he recovered. Later that evening, upon hearing the news that her brother had died, was the night that she ‘learned how not to pray’ and DeMent realises that ‘God does what God wants to anyway’. It’s a secret that DeMent kept from her family for 41 years until she revisited the memory upon finding an old photo of her brother. The act of remembrance became a form of healing for her. The song is not a rejection of faith, just a painful realisation that prayer does not guarantee outcomes, and that music and memories can offer a different form of solace.

Number 1: ‘Let the Mystery Be’ from “Infamous Angel” (1992)

I first came across DeMent via a cover of this song that 10,000 Maniacs played for their MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. The song explores the uncertainty of life, death, and the afterlife. DeMent embraces the idea that it’s fine not to know what’s going to happen when we shuffle off this mortal coil, and that it’s best to believe in love as she sings “I believe in love and I live my life accordingly, But I choose to let the mystery be”. The song is simple but personal. It’s a wonderful assertion of humility, as well as spirituality.