O.C. Stop Proves DeMent’s Appeal
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — A road-weary Iris DeMent wound down from her opening number Tuesday night at the Coach House and warned the audience: “I’ve been in the doldrums and just haven’t been myself lately.”
It didn’t show. Perhaps inspired by a supportive crowd numbering about 300, the Missouri-based singer-songwriter spent the next two hours demonstrating why she has earned the admiration of such peers as Merle Haggard, John Prine, Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith.
DeMent’s intimate tales of home and family, told in distinctive, quavering vocals, dwell in the land of fireflies and mason jars, corner stores and front porches. Yet she’s a far-reaching songwriter who moves beyond that familiar territory to also vividly capture the complexities of the human condition.
In allowing heart-rending stories to unfold in the most uncluttered way, the show’s solo-acoustic format, alternating between guitar and piano, worked to DeMent’s advantage. Her themes of self-doubt, regret and sorrow had immediacy, and the lyrics left a strong impression. From “Keep Me God,” for example, she sang, “I don’t know if there’s a church that deserves to take God’s name.”
Even when hard times overwhelm DeMent’s characters, they exhibit signs of liberation and resiliency. The protagonist in “The Way I Should” declares: “If each life is just a grain of sand / I’m tellin’ you man / This grain of sand is mine.”
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Soft-spoken and shy onstage, DeMent loosened up a bit as the night wore on. Her sense of humor surfaced when she introduced the particularly bleak “Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day.” “Here’s a dreary, hopeless little tune for you,” she quipped. “Hope y’all enjoy it.”
Several upbeat, lighter selections brought a welcome balance to the show. They ranged from celebrating true love (“This Kind of Happy”) and honoring a parent’s never-realized dream (“Mama’s Opry”) to embracing the unknown (“Let the Mystery Be”) and--quite out-of-character--feeling the heat of a sexual encounter (“Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart”).
Only a few songs fell flat. Particularly disappointing were a socially conscious but preachy pair, “Wasteland of the Free” and “Quality Time,” drawn from DeMent’s latest album, the Grammy-nominated “The Way I Should.”
* Iris DeMent appears Friday at Club Caprice, 1700 Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach. Anna Egga opens. 8 p.m. $15 (310) 316-1700.
