Iris DeMent talent can rival the best with ease it's real homespun
i came across the song (let the mystery be )last week and fell in love with this artists work i was was so impressed with the lyrics i started researching the composer witch led me to miss DeMent.not only does she write the stuff but sings it as well and it's real homespun folk music and as good as hank william,tammy wynette ,etc . i found the album infamous angel and it's hard to believe it was released 15 years ago but i guess you don't get much play on the radio for folk music even if its as high a caliber as this ,in fact the only place you get to hear folk music is on PBS. mostly the great old timers but i don't know how they could have missed this lady some of her stuff is so pleasing to listen to (sweet is the melody and childhood memories are exquisite tracks you'll fall in love with instantly)

One Gem
This is an unpretentious and generally pretty bunch of songs. Nice for casual listening, but there doesn't seem to me to be much to it, musically or lyrically. Musically, the songs are simple, direct, and pretty without being lovely. Lyrically, the songs seem trite to me.

However.

Sweet is the Melody is a musical & lyrical gem. It's a waltz, but it partakes of Ashoken Farewell due to the employment of the fiddle, and Iris' country suprano voice, with her yodel breaks, is well suited to it, acting as another instrument in the ensemble, rounded out with guitar, bass, piano, & mandolin. (The liner notes say there's percussion, but I can't pick it up.) Lyrically, I hear the song as a metaphor for how life can sometime flow like two dancers who have become one with each other and the music.

In the hands of Dolly Parton, or some other big name singer, it might be a hit. But Iris' voice is so perfect for the song that no matter who else were to sing it, this is probably the way the song wants to be sung.

folk masterpiece.
iris dement is one of the very best signer songwriters to emerge in the 1990's. her songs are warm, often melancholy, always moving, and she sings them with an expressively unique voice that is absolutely mesmerizing. this album is a folk masterpiece that you should not miss.

That voice...
I tried to like Iris, but I just don't. That voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Iris will you mary me?
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO beutiful. Iris's voice and lirics make me cry. I just love all her music.