Like pickled herring and lesbian rodeos, Iris Dement is an acquired taste. She has never shaken hands with a def beat. If she wore lip gloss (judging from the album cover, Iris is not heavily invested in the cosmetics industry), her favorite flavor would be Rustic Prairie. Given her thick, twangy vibrato drawl, she’ll never do voice over work for Pepto-Bismol commercials.
Iris doesn’t indiscriminately toss out the product, Sing the Delta is her first album of new material in sixteen years. This is music of Dement’s geographic and spiritual roots, songs inspired by the Arkansas Delta based upon church piano and organ instrumentation. If you can make peace with DeMent’s voice, which often savors every syllable on the slower songs, you may fall in love with this album. How good is it? Think of a hillbilly version of Aretha Franklin’s Spirit in the Dark as a starting point. (The Queen of Soul even gets a shout out on “If That Ain’t Love.”)
Producers Bo Ramsey, a talented artist in his own right who is also DeMent’s son-in-law, and Richard Bennett deserve credit for knowing when to adorn the material and when to stay out of the way. Steel guitarist Al Perkins, keyboardist Reese Wynans, and multi-instrumentalist Bennett provide superlative support, beefing up the sound without getting in the way of the vocals. And, here’s the key point, the material is often excellent.
On “The Night I Learned Not to Pray,” a song about the futility of prayer that will kick you in the teeth as hard as anything in pop music, DeMent’s vocals are reminiscent of one of her primary influences, Loretta Lynn. “Livin’ on the Inside” and the title track are both beautiful performed pieces, aided by New Orleans blues style saxophone and trumpet accompaniment. “The Kingdom Has Already Come” and “There’s A Whole Lotta Heaven” are instrumentally Sunday morning spirituals in the Pentecost tradition. “Mornin’ Glory” and “Out of the Fire” are missteps, but the batting percentage is pretty high.
There is nothing ironic or artificial or pretentious about Iris Dement. Sings the Delta is about cotton farming and parents and Labor Day picnics and self discovery. With her unique artistic vision and unapologetic honesty, DeMent continues to make moving, inspired music. Ain’t nobody else like her.
Grade: A-