From: jmf@abacus.havard.edu ( ghost )
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Re: Iris DeMent -- Infamous Angel
Summary: extraneous comments
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:24:18 GMT
Organization: DAS Purchasing, Harvard University

In article <1992Jul29.071112.14278@husc3.harvard.edu> rice@husc10.harvard.edu (Ken Rice) writes:
>I got Iris DeMent's CD, "Infamous Angel" (Philo CD PH 1138)
>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.