Iris DeMent at the Freight and Salvage

Iris DeMent
Freight and Salvage
Berkeley, CA
April 27, 2023

Iris Luella DeMent stands apart amidst the field of singer-songwriters who incorporate gospel, folk and country into their repertoire. As her website says she has "an acclaimed ability to create nuance out of everyday pain and triumph." DeMent, 62, was born in a small hamlet in Arkansas. The youngest member of a musical family of fourteen, she was raised from the age of three in Buena Park, California where her family performed and sang on the streets. Subsequent to Infamous Angel (Philo, 1992)—which Rolling Stone listed as one of the top 100 country records of all time —she has released seven recordings, the latest being the stellar Workin' on a World (Flariella, 2023). Singing duets with the late John Prine, who penned the liner notes for Infamous Angel, and playing piano on a Merle Haggard tour, have helped spread the word about DeMent, but she is nowhere as well known as she deserves. Her husband Greg Brown maintains that she is the best country singer since Dolly Parton. DeMent says she wrote all the songs on her current CD while sitting in a Lazy Boy recliner in her Iowa living room.

DeMent, viewed with a jaundiced eye by American conservatives, has often faced backlash. While the New Yorker proclaims Workin on a World a "triumph," The National Review called it a "political embarrassment"—perfect proof of the potency of Iris DeMent's pungent poetry!

Dement took the stage at the Freight and Salvage, guitar in hand, while Liz Draper stood to her left and provided accompaniment on the electric upright bass. DeMent talked about "making up for a few years" before launching into the poignant "The Sacred Now," a song co-written with stepdaughter Pieta Brown (who had just finished her half-hour opening set). "Those who stand to gain / Draw dividing lines / You're over there with yours / I'm over here with mine / We can't speak and yet somehow / We all share the sacred now / Oh, the sacred now."

"In These Hills," a tune about her ethereal childhood stomping grounds, was next. Seating herself at the piano, Dement launched into an extended discourse—"The world is so insane. I am going to do some spouting off"—regarding her songwriting process and other related anecdotes. After some more strumming, she talked about her upbringing in the Arkansas Delta. Her mother was in her last days, and she "was taking it pretty hard" at the time she penned the lovely "Sing the Delta" (from the recording of the same name) which followed.

Up next was the boisterous "Workin' on a World." After referencing her confusion, distress, and resulting depression regarding the state of the world, this jaunty song relates how she looked at what other workers for social justice have achieved and reflected: "I'm workin' on a world I may never see / I'm joinin' forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me / I get up in the mornin' knowing I'm privileged just to be / Workin' on a world I may never see."

She followed this with the lovely "Say a Good Word." Then it was time for her new CD's gem of a political treatise: "Going Down to Texas." The well- crafted tune covers the range from The Dixie Chicks' rebelliousness to Jeff Bezos's "obscene amounts of wealth" to the police slaughter of people of color in the US, and asks "How many perpetrators will walk free." She also boldly queries: "What's the deal with all these war criminals / Out walkin' around free?"

"Higher Ground" was followed by "Warriors of Peace," her tribute to John Lewis and Rachel Corrie and others: "Rachel Corrie, she laid it on the line / When she took her stand for Palestine / The bulldozer rolled / She wouldn't budge / She had her feet planted down deep / In that little ol' thing called love / Though her life ended violently / Her gentle spirit's still walking here with you and me / And she lights up the stars above / That brave, young, warrior of love."

Next was the confrontational "Let Me Be Your Jesus" with lyrics penned by husband (and singer/songwriter) Greg Brown: "It's all one big disastеr / I know that you agree / Tell me who can fix it now / That's right, only me / There's no global warming / That's just more of their lies / So love me, follow me / You're in for a big surprise"

DeMent then played the Biblical-toned "He Reached Down" followed by "Mahalia," her tribute to Mahalia Jackson: "When you traveled this world/ You moved mountains / You answered the call when it came through / But I wonder, did you have a shoulder / To lean on when your long day was through?" Finally it was "Nothin' For the Dead" in which DeMent implores "Use me up while I am living, Lord / Let's not leave nothin' for the dead."

She returned, guitar in hand, for her popular agnostic ballad "Let the Mystery Be," which became a singalong. She ended with "Our Town," a poignant ballad about a dead small town in the Midwest she drove through when she was 25 years old which inspired this very first song of hers which remains a classic.

A standing ovation followed.

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