Iris DeMent Albums Ranked

Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter. DeMent’s musical style includes elements of folk, country, and gospel. DeMent was inspired to write her first song “Our Town” by a drive through a boarded-up Midwest town, at the age of 25. The song lyrics came to her “exactly as it is now”, without need for re-writing, and she realized then that songwriting was her calling in life. “Our Town” was played during the closing scene for the final episode (July 26, 1995) of CBS’s television series Northern Exposure. The song has been recorded by Kate Rusby, Kate Brislin & Jody Stecher, and Trampled by Turtles. In 2015, DeMent released The Trackless Woods, an album based upon and inspired by the words of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, on her own Flariella record label. She reunited with John Prine in 2016 for his second duet’s album For Better, or Worse and performed on two tracks. DeMent received the Americana Trailblazer Award at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Here are all of Iris DeMent’s albums ranked.

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6. The Trackless Woods, 2015

“These eighteen tracks are fantastic. I cannot begin to imagine how challenging it must have been to set these poems to music, but she’s done it. I’ll have to listen to this a couple more times with the lyrics in hand, as it is sometimes difficult to follow Iris’ voice, especially when she hits those high notes.”

5. Lifeline , 2004

“The fact that so many people have listened to and own this album, is testament to ID’s wonderful skill as a singer and interpreter of songs, rather than the songs themselves. Most of the songs here fall into the traditional country gospel genre, and many date from over 100 years ago. But really you don’t need to be religious in anyway to enjoy these songs, they have a generally a very positive and uplifting feel, and are presented beautifully. As usual ID’s voice is amazing, and is really what makes this album. She sounds in many ways like she has stepped out of a time-warp, taking the listener back to the time of the Carter Family, or even the times depicted in the movie “True Grit”, which features an ID song that wouldn’t be out of place here.”

4. Sing The Delta, 2012

“A mighty country voice, from the same rich vein, that Lucinda Williams and Maria McKee came from. Here the songs are driven by her gospel-tinged piano, with muted rhythms and a mournful brass section coloring the backing.

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3. The Way I Should, 1996

“On this album, the songwriting is not as good as on her first two albums. Here she covers the wider themes of society and its ills. Some people seem to focus on the fact that she has written protest songs, and covered themes that are political, but that in itself is not the problem. For me, its just most of the songs don’t work as well as they did, on her first two albums. There are some good songs such as “Wasteland of the free” and “I’ll take my sorrow straight”. But these are balanced by songs such as “Wall in Washington” and “Quality time” that lack something and simply don’t work.”

2. My Life, 1994

“I really enjoyed her debut album, and this is pretty much in the same vein. A confessional country with a lot of gorgeous melodies and heartbreaking lyrics. It’s an unapologetic country and I’m guessing that her vocals are divisive. That said, i love listening to it. Its a very nostalgic, and some of these songs can really destroy you if you are in the right mood, like “no time to cry” and “you’ve done nothing wrong”.”

1. Infamous Angel, 1992

“Amazing country album, from beginning to end. I love her earnest and down-to-earth vocals. She is just a joy to listen to. Instrumentally the album sticks to the country rules, but that isn’t such a bad thing since the focus of this one is definitely the gorgeous vocals. The songwriting is great as well, she definitely knows how to write a melody, and combining that with the powerful vocal delivery results in some very memorable moments. “let the mystery be” and “our town” are my favorites here.”