Iris DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.

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Early life

DeMent was the youngest child of Pat DeMent and his second wife, Flora Mae. (As the baby of the family, she was Pat DeMent's fourteenth child, and Flora Mae's eighth.)

She was born near the town of Paragould, Arkansas but grew up in Cypress, California, where she was exposed to and influenced by country and gospel music.

Music and career

DeMent's songs are typically simple, clearly told stories about life's pains and joys.

Her first album, Infamous Angel , was released in 1992 and explored themes like religious skepticism, living in a small town, lamenting "nothing good ever lasts", and forgiving human frailty. Her song "Let the Mystery Be" from that album has been covered by a number of artists, including 10,000 Maniacs and Alice Stuart, and has become one of DeMent's better known compositions. In her second album, My Life , released in 1994, she continued the personal and introspective approach. My Life was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category. DeMent's third album, The Way I Should, was released in 1996. Featuring the notable "1 Wasteland of the Free", it is DeMent's most political work, and covers topics like sexual abuse, religion, government policy, and Vietnam. After a hiatus during the late 1990s and early 2000s, she released her fourth album, Lifeline , in 2004.

She gained some notice singing the Merle Haggard song, "Big City", on Tulare Dust: Tribute to Merle Haggard , a 1994 various artists tribute album. In 1995, her song "Our Town" was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the popular CBS TV series Northern Exposure , gaining DeMent more fans. (The song has also been recorded by Kate Rusby, Jody Stecher, and Kate Brislin.)

DeMent has sung duets with John Prine (on In Spite of Ourselves ), Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris and is featured on the albums of many other performers. She has made frequent appearances on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion , and appeared in the 2000 film Songcatcher , playing the character Rose Gentry and singing on the soundtrack as well. In 1994, Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs performed DeMent's song "Let the Mystery Be" with David Byrne for the show MTV Unplugged . The song was included on Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings .

DeMent was the inspiration for the name of the Goo Goo Dolls song, "Iris", after guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik found her name while flipping through Billboard magazine in an article written by Daniel Levitin.

Personal life

DeMent married Elmer McCall in 1991, but the marriage subsequently ended in divorce. She married singer-songwriter Greg Brown on November 21, 2002.

Charts

Year	Album	Chart	Peak
1994	My Life	Billboard Heatseekers	16
1996	The Way I Should	Billboard Heatseekers	22
Jan 2004	Lifeline	FolkDJ-L Folk Radio Airplay	15

Discography

Albums

• Infamous Angel (January 16, 1992)
• My Life (1994)
• The Way I Should (1996)
• Lifeline (2004)

Other contributions

• WYEP Live and Direct: Volume 4 - On Air Performances (2002) - "Our Town"