Here's someone who I just discovered that was one of those "Wow" experiences. The singer Iris dement. If you've never heard of her she is definetly worth seeking out.
And forget the Dixie Chicks. Dement has a political side that...well read on.
I'd never really heard of her before, even though she's been around for years. But I caught a few minutes of her singing a duet with John Prine on TV the other night.
I was smitten by her voice and presence. She projected a really nice quality on stage...And, as a guy, I must also admit I was hooked by the fact that she's also cute as a button -- in a real-woman kind of way.
So out of curiousity, I looked into her on the web. And I listened to her music on the Rhapsody music service I subscribe to. And the more I've heard and read, the more smitten I am. (In a harmless non-stalker kind of way of course.)
Listening to her for the first time, some of her songs brought on that "chill up the spine" response to something that really hits a chord.
She has one of the most compelling voices I've heard in a long time, and the songs she writes are amazing. A bit of humor, some sadness, social observatiuon and poetic profundity about everyday life and the things we all go through. And that quality she projects on stage is there in the songs too. It is paradoxical. Call it "Tough naivte."
She is hard to categorize. Basically she's rooted in traditional country of the old-fashioned kind, with overtones of the folkies and the Bonnie Raitt singer-songwriter era....But forget those distinctions. She transcends those -- and even if you don;t usually like country music, she's still worth a listen. Especially her first album, Infamous Angel.
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Okay, since this is DU, there's a politcal element here too. Although most of her music is about personal stuff, she's a lefty of the real variety. Here's something that happened last March.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/iris-m26.shtmlSinger Iris DeMent refuses to perform in protest against Iraq war
By David Walsh
26 March 2003
US country music singer and songwriter Iris DeMent announced to an audience in Madison, Wisconsin March 21 that she would not be performing while the US was pursuing its war against Iraq. DeMent, who has recorded both fiercely personal and socially critical songs, told the surprised crowd of 600 at the Barrymore Theater that she had been agonizing over the decision for hours in her dressing room. Her opening act had already performed.
DeMent explained, “It would be trivializing the fact that my tax dollars are causing great suffering, and sending a message to the world that might is right.”
Many in the theater stood and cheered her decision, although some had traveled considerable distances to attend the performance. Some audience members also refused to take their money back, in a show of support for her stance.
A contributor to DeMent’s web site discussion group explained in greater detail the events of the evening:
“Iris came out to the center stage microphone and stood very still while the crowd applauded loudly for her. When it quieted down, she began to speak. Her voice was soft, yet audible, as she began to talk in a somewhat shaky, but very sincere voice. She confessed that she had been sitting in her dressing room for hours, trying to make a difficult decision. In the end, she said, she could only do ‘what is in my heart.’ She informed the audience that, because of the pain, destruction, brutality, and suffering going on in our world today ... she was not able to sing.
<snip> More
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And here's a song she wrote in 1996 -- back when prohgressives were truly in the wilderness and before it was semi-cool to care about anything beyond your goddamn 401-K. The song was fighteningly prophetic.
WASTELAND OF THE FREE (Iris DeMent)
(c) 1996 Songs of Iris ASCAP
Living in the wasteland of the free...
We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
If you want to find out more here's her website, although it's not very informative.
http://www.irisdement.com/Oh, one more thing guys. She got married recently. Aw shit.
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