Iris DeMent -- Infamous Angel
Ken Rice
I got Iris DeMent's CD, "Infamous Angel" (Philo CD PH 1138)
the day after she was on public radio here. Her agile,
untrained voice recalls Hazel Dickens more than anyone else,
but she's even dryer than Dickens or Jean Ritchie, with those
unmistakable Arkansas uvular r's. It's a good voice, to my
(southern) ear.
The melodies are more-than-decent Nashvillean, but the
instrumentation and ornamentation are pure, old-time music.
No drums, aphex, or obvious electrification here.
It sounds wonderful.
Her lyrics are charming, sentimental-to-cornball, and apparently
artless. You'll have to decide whether she's a genuine innocent,
or a sly sophisticate confidently innovating within an
established form.
Whichever, this is mighty good music, in my opinion.
Ken
--
-------
internet: ri...@mcz.harvard.edu ri...@husc.harvard.edu
bitnet: ri...@husc.bitnet
fallback: her...@world.std.com
Gary Martin
I got Iris DeMent's CD, "Infamous Angel" (Philo CD PH 1138)
the day after she was on public radio here. Her agile,
untrained voice recalls Hazel Dickens more than anyone else,
but she's even dryer than Dickens or Jean Ritchie, with those
unmistakable Arkansas uvular r's. It's a good voice, to my
(southern) ear.
The melodies are more-than-decent Nashvillean, but the
instrumentation and ornamentation are pure, old-time music.
No drums, aphex, or obvious electrification here.
It sounds wonderful.
Her lyrics are charming, sentimental-to-cornball, and apparently
artless. You'll have to decide whether she's a genuine innocent,
or a sly sophisticate confidently innovating within an
established form.
Whichever, this is mighty good music, in my opinion.
I'll second most of that. But you must have heard her on a different
station than I did if you had time to wait a day before buying the
album, listen to it, and post. I heard her do interviews Tuesday
morning on WERS and noon on WUMB. From the WERS interview it was
difficult to learn much about her because the interviewer didn't ask
any questions. On WUMB she revealed quite a bit about her background.
She was born in Arkansas, grew up in Buena Park, CA, in the shaddow
of Knot's Berry Farm and Disneyland, was "submerged" in the Pentacostal
Church by her parents who were grasping for a connection to the
Arkansas life they had left, grew up singing gospel music there, had
sisters and a brother who wrote and performed their own songs, "wasn't
very good at English, so didn't get very good grades on writing
assignments in highschool", and is very happy with the production
on her album because she "didn't want it to be perfect". She was
looking for a natural sound, and didn't want the producer to "take
apart the music and put the pieces back together again."
I almost got a full day of Dement yesterday. After listening to, and
taping both interviews, I played them back for some friends, who then
decided that we should go to her Boston album release concert at
Johnny D's last night. (Review, anyone?) But the traffic getting out of
the early evening outdoor Cheryl Wheeler concert we were at in Newton didn't
allow us enough time to get to Somerville.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
ghost
>the day after she was on public radio here. Her agile,
I first heard her, after an overwhelming-hype warmup introduction, on
Mountain Stage a few weeks ago. My instinctive "O who are they trying to
sell me now" reaction immediately turned to pleased surprise
about 1/2-way into the 1st song.
I next heard her when the guy on NPR finished his 5-minute essay on
"why must we hear 'Achy Breaky Heart' every 5 minutes on every radio station
in town" by saying "if there were any justice, this is what we'd be hearing"
& then playing a few seconds of Iris DeMent.
(For the record, you can't hear "Achy Breaky Heart" anywhere in Boston, at
least not as of yet. There was a local newspaper story about how this
song had clobbered every USA radio market EXCEPT the Northeast, where country
can't get played except on those rare country stations.
I heard it, 1st & only time, on that NPR complaint.
Just for the record, it sounded like 50s rockabilly, which is a good thing,
but not a particularly great example of it.
My brother had called me from Asheville, NC a few weeks before to ask
"you have better hearing than me for song lyrics,
is it 'aching, breaking heart' or 'achy-breaky heart'? "
to which I in all honesty said "Huh? What?")
The NPR guy followed up by a full feature on her, probably the one that
you heard.
Hope you didn't miss her at Johnny D's in Somerville yesterday, just a
stone's throw (if you throw like Clemens used to times about 10)
from the MCZ.
>The melodies are more-than-decent Nashvillean, but the
>instrumentation and ornamentation are pure, old-time music.
>No drums, aphex, or obvious electrification here.
>It sounds wonderful.
In the radio interview on WUMB at noon, she said the instrumentation
was entirely conceived & arranged by Jim Rooney, her producer, now a noted
Nashville denizen who pretty much discovered her when she went to peddle
her songs around Nashville as a writer, formerly a Cambridge music scene
all-around character & author of the memorable
"Living in Braintree with you in Methuen is almost like living in Lowell",
which, for those of you not from around here, who can't appreciate the title,
contains the unforgettable line
"You took my balls when you left me, baby...without you I can't even bowl".
Goes to show you never know.
>Her lyrics are charming, sentimental-to-cornball, and apparently
>artless. You'll have to decide whether she's a genuine innocent,
>or a sly sophisticate confidently innovating within an
>established form.
She comes across in performance as a genuine innocent, but a smart &
culturally sophisticated one. She says her musical background before
she began writing songs was primarily in the Pentacostal church,
with old-time country stuff heard around the house as well.
>Whichever, this is mighty good music, in my opinion.
& you can hear it, if you missed it last night, this Saturday at
the Old Vienna Coffeehouse in Westwood MA, somewhere on route 495,
not reachable by any form of public transportation, or for a 20-minute
"suprise" set at Newport RI Folk Festival Sunday show, in a couple weeks.
Comment on the performance:
She seemed genuinely surprised to see the huge turnout at Johnny D's.
It was a Rounder Records record release party for her & Roy Bookbinder,
who was supposed to be the headliner back when the date was advertised,
& who did perform 2nd to a greatly diminished crowd who had obviously
come just to see Iris. Power of non-commercial radio advertising??
Or is this really a DeMent groundswell, of the kind that made an established
country star of EmmyLou Harris 20 years ago, & helped to make the genre
safe for real music after a long dry spell? I hope so.
Because it was a record release party, I guess, I couldn't get even a good
place to stand even though I arrived an hour early (couldn't reserve a dinner
table because I had a prior engagement back at my house,
haplessly trying to get a roommate),
& because there are always people who pay to get in & then spend the night
talking very loudly to each other, I didn't have as great a time as I could
have, propped up against the room divider there, but she, after a barely
perceivable shakiness at the start, was wonderful.
She seems more than a little bewildered & bemused by all this instant
attention, but appears able to roll with the punches.
After the crowd thinned out I was able to sit down on a back bench for
Bookbinder's set. Maybe because she didn't know she was supposed to
be cool & leave right after her own set, or at least sit up there on the
platform area & mingle with the important Rounder record crowd, some of
whom are apparently on nickname terms with their chosen vacation hideaway
(I was the only paying customer in line behind a group of decidedly yup
Rounder execs & their guests, that's how I know), Iris came back to sit
on the same bench & listen to Bookbinder. Several people came up to her
to have their CD's autographed (one has to learn to write small in the
digital era) & say things like "I guess I won't be able to see you again
in a place this small. Good luck". A lot of people said that.
It must be scary; it must be fun.
It could happen to any one of a number of equally deserving performers;
it couldn't happen to a nicer one.
ghost
>I'll second most of that. But you must have heard her on a different
>station than I did if you had time to wait a day before buying the
>album, listen to it, and post. I heard her do interviews Tuesday
>morning on WERS and noon on WUMB. From the WERS interview it was
She's supposed to be interviewed sometime on Saturday afternoom
on Dick Pleasance's show on WGBH, prior to her show at
the Old Vienna Coffeehouse (in Westwood ?), where she's supposed to
be opening act for Tom Rush. If form follows from her show last night
at Johnny D's, they'll give her a full 60-70 minute set instead of
the opener's 40 minute maximum. After a brief, semi-serious grumble
as he went on-stage, Roy Bookbinder, who she was nominally opening for
at Johnny D's, was a gentlman about being upstaged by DeMent's fortuitous
circumstance. Hopefully Rush will respond the same way.
Deborah M Riel
>the Old Vienna Coffeehouse (in Westwood ?), where she's supposed to
>be opening act for Tom Rush. If form follows from her show last night
located in WESTBOROUGH, MA, 5 miles from the Mass. Pike-Rt. 495
exchange. Two miles off Rt. 9 by either Rt. 30 west (from the east)
or Rt. 135 east (from the west). For ticket info: (508)898-2231.
This is from their flyer.
--Debbie
ghost
->Just in case anyone wants to catch this show at the Old Vienna, it is
->located in WESTBOROUGH, MA, 5 miles from the Mass. Pike-Rt. 495
->exchange. Two miles off Rt. 9 by either Rt. 30 west (from the east)
->or Rt. 135 east (from the west). For ticket info: (508)898-2231.
This show (& the WGBH interview appearance) are Aug 7th, rather than today
(Aug 1) as I'd thought.
The long-distance-folkie drive today is for Prudence Johnson at some place
I can't find the name of in Worcester...which means I probably won't go
unless I can talk myself into it. I'm not so good at finding new, strange
locations in largish cities after dark, at least not on time;
2 weeks ago I let myself be talked by someone who was obviously dropped
at work on a daily basis by the mother ship into looking for the
Guest Quarters Hotel, home of Scullers, where Pentangle were appearing,
somewhere on the way to Watertown & points west instead of
behind Central Square, inaccessible except from Soldiers Field Road eastbound,
the Mass Pike (sort of) or Cambridge Street in Allston, heading for,
of all places, Cambridge. I couldn't really say why anyone would put
their $200+/night hotel at a location that no-one but a local more sure of
their bearings than me could ever find (you cannot drive slowly along
Soldiers Field Road, aka Storrow Drive at that point, looking for a
tiny hotel driveway; or, you can, but you won't live long enough to find it),
but then I can't really fathom the thinking processes of the
$200+/night hotel crowd, anyway.
The joke is, I'd seen that building a million times, on my way to/from
other more accessible locations; I just didn't know its name for sure.
Someone put it all in perspective the next day by saying
"The old Coca Cola bottling plant".
There's been a few Pentangle-bashing articles lately; I didn't see the local
show, although I did hear Jacquie Mcshee (sp?) sounding georgeous as always
into the hotel lobby before I judged myself too late, too rained-on & too
foul-tempered to enjoy myself & drove home down suddenly familiar streets,
but can anyone tell me what's wrong with sounding 'just like she used to'
when she used to sound like Jacquie McShee? Seriously.
I did hear the radio interview of WUMB, although parts of it were obscured
by the appearance in my office of a nice lady whose expensive computer had
just blown up, & who had in tow 2 of the most undisciplined kids I've seen.
I couldn't very well say "MAKE them shut up, MAKE them stop messing with
my stuff, & by the way that's Bert Jansch on the radio & I've been waiting
for this all morning, so come back later", because I was nominally supposed
to be working at the time.
Can anyone tell me if he really did say "I don't improvise in concert;
I have to have it all worked out before then". It would agree with what
I've seen of former Jansch appearances; he's highly jazz-influenced &
jazzy sounding, but I've never seen him improvise.
They do do new stuff, though. At least 2 pieces off the new album were
played on the radio. The arrangements were a lot simpler & straightforward
than older pieces, & Jacquie was singing perceptably lower, although lower
for her is still unattainably high & silvery for anyone else. From my brief
spell in the hotel lobby, as well as from having seen them last year,
I can report she still keeps up in the stratosphere for the older songs.
She said (in the interview) that she sings anything she likes, but mostly
folk in public because that what the public came for. Perhaps by
"changing" you mean she should branch out in public performance, or perhaps
you mean something meaner. She, & Pentangle as a group (only McShee & Jansch
are left of the original members) have never sounded stale & perfunctory
to me, whether doing old or new material.