1. Sweet Is the Melody
2. You've Done Nothing Wrong
3. Calling for You
4. Childhood Memories
5. No Time to Cry
6. Troublesome Waters - Iris DeMent, Carter, Maybelle
7. Mom and Dad's Waltz - Iris DeMent, Frizzell, Lefty
8. Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day
9. The Shores of Jordan
10. My Life - Iris DeMent,
Amazon.com
DeMent's debut album, "Infamous Angel," appeared out of nowhere in 1992 on the small Philo label with a ringing endorsement from John Prine on the cover. It made a big enough splash to be picked up by Warner Bros., and now DeMent has beaten the infamous sophomore jinx with an even better album, "My Life," produced in Nashville by Jim Rooney with musical help from Jack Clement, Stuart Duncan and Robin & Linda Williams. The collection includes songs by Mother Maybelle Carter and Lefty Frizzell plus eight DeMent originals just as powerful in their rural simplicity. --Geoffrey Himes
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My Life
- Audio CD: 0 pages (1994-04-12)
- Publisher: Warner Bros / Wea
- Label: Warner Bros / Wea
- Studio: Warner Bros / Wea
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 39 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #28011
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's brilliance and power sneaks up on you 2008-11-08
Comment: I played this CD a few times before paying much attention to the words. I was so caught up in the shimmering vocals and harmonies. Finally, the first track struck me with pure poetry:
"Sweet is the melody
so hard to come by
so hard to make every note bend just right"
I could have never said it better, and it explains why music is so great. And this album delivers all the way to the end. The album can really break your heart, but threads of hope are woven throughout. You could cry your eyes out to "easy's getting harder every day", as it explains the unfulfilling suffocation that daily life can provide. But somehow it's redemptive, as you should realize that it's an unavoidable consequence of survival. The song doesn't come out and say that, but you can gather that. For example, the closing title track unsentimentally reminds us that your life's worth is largely valued by the littlest of things. Things that are so small that no one might notice them, but they will become more noticeable and missed in your absence.
I think each song is a gem, and I cannot believe this sat on my shelf for five years before I realized the greatness contained within.
This belongs in the pantheon of singer/songwriter classics.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Iris DeMent talent can rival the best with ease it's real homespun 2008-07-05
Comment: i came across the song (let the mystery be )last week and fell in love with this artists work i was was so impressed with the lyrics i started researching the composer witch led me to miss DeMent.not only does she write the stuff but sings it as well and it's real homespun folk music and as good as hank william,tammy wynette ,etc . i found the album infamous angel and it's hard to believe it was released 15 years ago but i guess you don't get much play on the radio for folk music even if its as high a caliber as this ,in fact the only place you get to hear folk music is on PBS. mostly the great old timers but i don't know how they could have missed this lady some of her stuff is so pleasing to listen to (sweet is the melody and childhood memories are exquisite tracks you'll fall in love with instantly)
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: One Gem 2007-10-16
Comment: This is an unpretentious and generally pretty bunch of songs. Nice for casual listening, but there doesn't seem to me to be much to it, musically or lyrically. Musically, the songs are simple, direct, and pretty without being lovely. Lyrically, the songs seem trite to me.
However.
Sweet is the Melody is a musical & lyrical gem. It's a waltz, but it partakes of Ashoken Farewell due to the employment of the fiddle, and Iris' country suprano voice, with her yodel breaks, is well suited to it, acting as another instrument in the ensemble, rounded out with guitar, bass, piano, & mandolin. (The liner notes say there's percussion, but I can't pick it up.) Lyrically, I hear the song as a metaphor for how life can sometime flow like two dancers who have become one with each other and the music.
In the hands of Dolly Parton, or some other big name singer, it might be a hit. But Iris' voice is so perfect for the song that no matter who else were to sing it, this is probably the way the song wants to be sung.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: folk masterpiece. 2007-02-17
Comment: iris dement is one of the very best signer songwriters to emerge in the 1990's. her songs are warm, often melancholy, always moving, and she sings them with an expressively unique voice that is absolutely mesmerizing. this album is a folk masterpiece that you should not miss.
0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: That voice... 2007-01-11
Comment: I tried to like Iris, but I just don't. That voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
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My Life
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