Iris DeMent Album: “Lifeline”

Ok, forgive me for being a little political, but I wasn't in the greatest of moods the morning of November 3rd (Election Night)! In fact, I was downright depressed. Being perhaps a little overly dramatic, I thought, "Oh Lord, what happens now?" Dramatic because I'm not very religious.

Then something wonderful happened...Amazon sent me an email indicating a new album release from Iris DeMent! AFTER 8 YEARS!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. It came as a complete surprise.

So I did what any true Iris DeMent fan would...I tried to run out and buy LIFELINE at the local music stores (sorry Amazon, but I wanted to get it right away). But here in Greenville, NC the CD was nowhere to be found. I wonder if Lee Armstrong had better luck than I. So thanks again to Amazon, I finally got what I've wanted for years...to hear Iris once again!

And I am not disappointed. As I've mentioned, I'm not particularly religious, and yet I love old gospel songs. Why? Because they're just flat-out good songs. And when these gospel songs come from the sweet, achingly soulful voice of Iris DeMent, it's pure perfection.

Songs like Hide Thou Me, That Glad Reunion Day and Near The Cross may have been written by others years ago, but from Iris, they seem to come straight from her bones. She even manages to include an original track that easily takes it's place among those wonderful songs. In fact, He Reached Down may well be the best on the album! I have to admit, when I first heard that Iris had only written one song on LIFELINE I was a little disappointed. But when she writes a song, it's one Hell of a song!

And I'd like to say one more thing. That voice. Is there a voice like it anywhere? Was there EVER a voice like it? So many country, rock and pop singers with allegedly 'great' voices receive constant attention these days. I'm sorry, but their voices are a dime a dozen. Iris is a true original. Her voice is pure and hauntingly personal!

And that voice is put to brilliant use in LIFELINE. So I'd like to thank Iris DeMent for coming back to us...and I thank Amazon for giving me the good news when I truly needed it!

The songs on Lifeline are just that, a lifeline out of sorrow and despair. These are heartfelt renditions that take repeated listenings before you tune into their emotional resonance. They may not have an immediate appeal, even to devoted Iris fans, but once you let them get inside you, you will be glad you did.

Iris always surprises. Every album is different from the last, none more so than this, her latest. Her voice remains unique and very special. The accompaniments on this album are appropriately sparse, yet virtuoso. The songs are Gospel in theme and content, folksy in style and spirit, and Blues in their cathartic power. If you are an Iris fan, give this album a fair hearing before judging it. If you are new to her, start instead with Infamous Angel, to fall in love with her voice, then work your way up to Lifeline.

Nobody who knows me will ever describe me as "religious," but I grew up in a family that was off-and-on "church," in the old-time-religion way. My mother and _her_ mother sang constantly as they did housework, and their repertoire was mostly hymns and gospel songs. Many of them are on this CD, and DeMent's rough, untutored voice isn't unlike what I grew up hearing.

There can be a fine comfort in hearing --and singing along with, if nobody else can hear-- these old songs. The arrangement --mostly simple piano and guitar, with a little rough vocal harmony like what happens in little white frame nondenominational churches that dot our hills-- are both traditional and fresh, like the songs themselves.

I dunno how youngsters, or those with no hillbilly church experience will hear these cuts, but I love them, and recommend them highly to anyone who remembers a time when it was possible to believe. They're part of "the culture" to anyone who knows the difference between "hillbilly" and "southern," and this is one CD that was worth every penny I paid for it.

Back before megachurches with 10,000 voice amplified praise choirs repeating "Bless you, Jesus" 10,000 times, before slimy televangelists-back when Jesus was in your heart and not 'in your face', decent hard-working people all over America lived simple and often very hard lives and these were the songs they sang at church on Sunday and at Wednesday night prayer meeting. They sang the same songs as they went about their lives. My mother, who was from the hills of Kentucky, sang hymns when she was ironing, cooking, and cleaning. Their belief in God gave them peace in the present and hope for the future. Their songs and their God helped them survive. Perhaps that's why I find the music on this CD so moving. The difference between this music and contemporary Christian coliseum music is the difference between sharing a Vision and delivering a message, the difference between bedrock faith and hollow spectacle. Besides, I am obsessed-you might say-with American Roots Music and the many ways it reflects our great mongrel nation and the songs Iris sings here come from the heart of America.

Iris DeMent has the homeliest, the most ragged and tattered voice I've heard this side of Johnny Cash. And just like Mister Cash's off-kilter baritone, her voice is one of the most beautiful and powerful sounds to ever emerge from the human animal. To paraphrase Ms DeMent in her liner notes, the songs are not about religion. For me, the combination of singers, musicians, and music on this CD are all about the triumph of the human spirit. She manages to conjure up the Carter family, Jimmy Rogers, The Grapes Of Wrath, and the tiny weary voice of every hardscabble man and woman who ever stood in a little church and prayed for the strength to get a little farther down the road. Besides, she sings as good as my mother.

What a delight it is to have a new set of songs from Iris DeMent! In the last election, "Wasteland of the Free" was my unofficial theme song; and now that the election has passed, it seems that prayerful music comes at the perfect time. Many of these songs are old hymns. All receive a heartfelt delivery as if Iris is finding her lifeline to hope through them. Therefore, hers is an incredibly moving delivery.

Of my 3 favorites, "Fill My Way With Love" is such a joyful celebration with Iris' male backing chorus and Dave Roe's bass keeping up a joyful tempo. "The Old Gospel Ship" also has a similar musical backing and another uptempo joyful celebration, "And when my ship comes in, I will leave this world of sin & go sailing thru the air." Iris' new song "He Reached Down" is also a complete delight, fitting seamlessly into this set of traditional hymns. She uses a series of Bible stories like the Good Samaritan & the adulteress who was brought to Jesus to make the point that sometimes we have to give our troubles over to God when it's more than we can handle. Many of the other songs are lovely to hear such as the familiar "Blessed Assurance" and the stark "Near the Cross." Iris' "Lifeline" is an excellent set that touches the heart and moves the spirit. Enjoy!