Track Listing

1. Let the Mystery Be
2. These Hills
3. Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart
4. When Love Was Young
5. Our Town
6. Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
7. Infamous Angel
8. Sweet Forgiveness
9. After You're Gone
10. Mama's Opry
11. Higher Ground

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4046 in Music
• Released on: 1993-05-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Artists like Iris DeMent aren't supposed to exist anymore in this cynical world. Singing unironically about family, forgiveness, and other real-life mysteries, DeMent is accompanied on this great debut by little more than acoustic guitar, upright bass, piano, and an occasional fiddle. But the songs (especially the bittersweet "Our Town" and the grand dreams of "Mama's Opry") are more than smart and honest enough to bear standing so naked. And her singing--highlighting a sweet Ozark twang--is that rarest of gifts: a wise, friendly voice that can break your heart even as it's making it swell with a reason to love again. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews

One of my favorites
I saw Iris Dement open for Nanci Griffith about 7 or 8 years ago. While I normally can't even recall an opening performer's name, I actually remember the 4 songs Iris played, 3 of which are on Infamous Angel. I ran out and bought the CD as soon as I could, and am still listening today. If anyone can find a more dead-on analysis of the question of religious beliefs than "Let the Mystery Be", I'd love to see it. And, speaking of religious experiences, I have one everytime I hear Iris harmonize with Emmy Lou Harris on "Momma's Opry". "Our Town" is a beautiful, touching song similar in theme to Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown", where the singer recalls better days of her hometown while she prepares to leave. Finally, Iris' mother's lead vocals on the closing "Higher Ground" is a near perfect example of those folks who sing their beliefs loud and proud, with voices so pure and simple that they dwarf those more classically trained.

I am hardpressed to think of a CD I enjoy more than this.

To Find What You Dind't Even Know You Were Looking For!
We pass our days with things to do and places to go - this is our lot in life. This is life. But now and then you make a 'wrong" turn on a street and pass a shop from which you barely hear something that seems familiar and are drawn towards its source. You walk into the middle of "Let The Mystery Be" as Iris' CD is playing from speakers on the wall. It is not a record shop, but a poutpourri little store. "Who is that singing," you ask the lady with the beautiful long silver hair behind the counter. "Thats Iris Dement," she says. I say, "I never heard of her,". The lady says, "Then today is your lucky day". She points to a chair by the counter and says, "Have a seat and listen to this; you are about to take a journey." I do as she says while she turns to the cd player and forwards to "Our Town".

The song finishes and the lady with the long beautiful silver hair looks at my expression and says, "You don't have to say a word - you have just become DeMented," she says with a smile as she writes down Iris' name and the title of the CD "Infamous Angel" on a notepad and hands me the slip of paper. She says, "I think most music stores carry her cds." You don't sell cds at all," I ask in disappointment. "Sorry, but no, I don't. If I stocked this one, though, I'd probably be out of stock most of the time, anyway." I buy some candles out of politeness, thank her for allowing me to listen to the music and race to a place and within less than an hour I own "Infamous Angel". Now, were it a tape or a record, it would have long since lost its essense from repititous play, but Iris Dement's songs are what cd technology were designed for - you can not stop yourself from overplaying this album, nor would you want to! Iris DeMent's songs and voice fill longings I didn't even know existed in my heart! Should you buy this CD?..Good God yes! and don't even bother looking at the sticker price..and then share it with anyone you can!

Unique, very special, and very beautiful
I first heard Iris DeMent on British television on the "Transatlantic Sessions" and was overwhelmed by the unaffected lyrical beauty of her performance. Emmylou Harris was also featured on those sessions and she joins Iris on a track of this CD. All three of Iris's solo albums are worth having but this, her first, is undoubtedly her best. If you like Joni Mitchell, Buffy Sainte-Marie and other female singer/songwriters in the folk/country/protest tradition, then you really must hear Iris DeMent, for she is the greatest of them all. The first track on this album, "Let the Mystery Be", deserves classic status and the CD is worth buying just for that song. I could have done without the final track, which is Iris's mother in a performance that I would have thought only a daughter could enjoy (although I note some other reviewers liked it). Still, that leaves 10 tracks of great songs from this unique and very special voice.