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Customer Reviews of My Life

Achingly beautiful
Some of the most poignant folk/country music you'll ever hear. In "You've Done Nothing Wrong", Iris laments a breakup but chooses not to blame her former partner. In "Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day", she perfectly characterizes the day to day drudgery of a life without hope of change for the better. In the title track, she reflects on the simple good things we can accomplish in our lives. These are wonderful songs, but the highlight of the CD is the autobiographical "No Time To Cry", which describes, with tremendous subtlety, the difficulty of adjusting to a parent's death. Great voice, great songs, great CD.

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My Life's good for you
"My Life" is Iris DeMent's best album to date. While "Infamous Angel" boasts such a country classic as "Our Town" and "The Way I Should" probably contains the best protest song ever ("Wasteland of the Free"), as a whole "My Life" delivers the most satisfactory content. Her favourite themes (family, God, childhood, bygone moments of love and happiness) are fully investigated and a honest attempt of making sense out of life appears throughout the album.
I think that is why John Prine famously stated her music "is good for you".
For example, just listen to "No Time To Cry", the best song in this excellent lot: a heartfelt cry about the loss of her father and the relentlessness of life: "I've got no time to look back, I've got no time to see / The pieces of my heart that have been ripped away from me [...]".
Because of this process, all we can do is to remark that "I'm older now and I've got no time to cry".
"You've Done Nothing Wrong" and "Calling For You" deal with the passing of love. In both songs, this estrangement is nobody's fault, but a natural consequence of life (she seems to imply that happiness is not of this world, so it can't last long). Hence, enjoy yourself whenever you can, as it is said in "Sweet Is The Melody": "It's for celebrating a Friday night romance / Forgetting the bad stuff and just feeling good".
In this blue scenario, you can find comfort in the memory of your infancy ("Childhood Memories") or in religion ("Troublesome Waters" aptly says: "Then gently I'm feelin' the touch of His hand / Guiding my boat in safely to land"). But don't get her wrong: she's not an easily-consolable bigot and even religion seems not to suffice when "Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day": "There ain't much livin' here inside / Lately I don't know what I'm holdin' on to".
The album closes with a joyful ballad ("And there ain't no way of me knowin' how tomorrow's gonna be / So I'll just dance the shores of Jordan till the angels carry me") and a touching
examination of her life ("But I gave joy to my mother / I made my lover smile / And I can give comfort to my friends when they're hurting / I can make it seem better for a while").
All songs are delivered in an old-country style with a twangy voice. At first it bewildered me, but now I love it and find it very appropriate to her music.
All in all, highly recommended.

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Wonderful, once the taste is acquired
Iris Dement is an acquired taste. Her voice is stark, gritty--kind of like Nanci Griffith without the sweetness. It's more effective for that reason. But the best thing about Dement, especially on this album, is the lyrics and the powerful, highly personal way in which they are sung. Her style is entirely original. Here are no whining confessions or tales of loves past, but mature, compelling insights into life, relationships, society, growing up and growing old.

This was my introduction to Iris Dement. I'll be buying more!