“Time just gets away from us.”
- Mattie Ross/True Grit
It's Iris DeMent's birthday. Born in 1961, Iris possesses one of the truly unique voices in American music. She was raised in a Pentecostal home, the youngest of 14 children. She started singing publicly with her sisters at an early age.
The first time I heard her was in 1992. Her song Let the Mystery Be off of her first album, Infamous Angel, caught my attention right off. She had one of those voices that makes you say, “Wow, she doesn't sound like anybody else.” I was an instant fan. Not too long thereafter, she teamed with John Prine for a duet on his song, In Spite of Ourselves, which became an instant classic and introduced her to a wider audience.
She married another great singer/songwriter, Greg Brown, in 2002 and they live in southeast Iowa, of all places. I've seen her preform twice. I can't say she's the most dynamic presence on stage I've ever seen, but her voice and compositions make up for any lack of pizzaz.
Did you know that the GooGoo Dolls hit song Iris was named for her? There's your trivia for the day.
Those who know me well know that I could watch the Coen Brothers' version of True Grit every single day and never tire of it. The dialog, the casting, the performances all fill me with joy. Iris closes out the movie with a version of Leaning on the Ever Lasting Arms. The perfect ending to the perfect movie.
Happy Birthday, Iris.