Iris DeMent
Singer, songwriter, activist, Iris DeMent writes songs to heal a broken world.
Iris DeMent has been a force as a songwriter and singer for over 30 years. In fact, Rolling Stone recently named Iris's debut album, Infamous Angel, (released in 1992) as "one of the greatest country albums of all time." Over the years, songs by Iris DeMent have been played in films and television shows, and covered by many other artists.
Born in Arkansas, Iris was inspired to sing and write songs by her mother, Flora Mae, who put her Nashville dreams on hold to start a family. When she was 25, Iris drove through a boarded-up town and wrote down the lyrics for "Our Town," and has said that she then realized that she would be a songwriter.
Iris Dement has performed with John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Randy Scruggs, Steve Earle, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and many others.
Her most recent and 7th album, Workin' On a World, took over 6 years to produce (with a required pandemic break). She began the album in 2016, with an idea from childhood of using music as medicine. "My mom always had a way of finding a song that would prove equal to whatever situation we were facing ... Writing songs, singing songs, putting them on records, has been a way for me to extend [a] hand to others."
