Iris Dement

Dement spells out what matters most (Nov 1996)

"What matters to me are the songs," Iris Dement explained in quiet conviction, during an interview one October Saturday from her home in Gladstone, Kansas. Iris Dement is entering her sixth year of recording, but she speaks with a gentle wisdom beyond experience. Her career has moved steadily upward, ever since John Prine first heard her songs and encouraged her to quit work at K-Mart and record "Infamous Angel" for Rounder Records. That record is a stunning debut, filled with faith in music and family and home, and a lyrical maturity that, as Dement sings on the opening song, "lets the mystery be. "  ...