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Iris DeMent

One of the most celebrated country-folk performers of her day, singer/songwriter Iris Dement was born in rural Paragould, AR, the youngest of 14 children. At the age of three, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. During her teenaged years, however, she was first exposed to country, folk and R&B, drawing influence from Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
Dement first began composing songs at the age of 25, honing her skills at open-mic nights. Dement did not make her recording debut until 1992, when her independent label offering, Infamous Angel, won almost universal acclaim thanks to her pure, evocative vocal style and spare, heartfelt songcraft. Despite a complete lack of support from country radio, the record's word-of-mouth praise earned her a deal with Warner Bros., which reissued Infamous Angel as well as its follow-up, My Life. Her third LP, the eclectic The Way I Should, marked a dramatic change not only in its more rock-influenced sound but also in its subject matter; where Dement's prior work was introspective and deeply personal, The Way I Should was fiercely political, tackling topics like sexual abuse, religion, government policy, and Vietnam. In 1999, she collaborated with John Prine on his album, In Spite of Ourselves. Dement recorded four duets with Prine that earned her a Grammy nod.