Iris DeMent’s biographical gem, “If That Ain’t Love,” is a blue-collar, dreary-sky piano ballad: “My dad worked at the Movieland Wax Museum,” sings DeMent with authentic country twang. “He was the guy who kept the cobwebs off Sophia Loren. Every morning at 5, he’d get up and go to work/ Wearing his name across the pocket of his shirt.”
Quality over quantity is DeMent’s unspoken code: The Arkansas native has released just four full-length records of original material throughout her 20-plus-year career.
“If I wrote songs that I didn’t think of as medicine for the world, then I wouldn’t leave my house,” DeMent says. “I’m pretty happy at home, so why go on the road with songs that didn’t move me? For whatever reason, I don’t land on those meaningful, powerful songs often.”
But when she gives birth to “those powerful songs,” the world notices: DeMent’s 1994 My Life scored a Grammy nod, as did her follow-up, The Way I Should; “Let the Mystery Be” (from the popular HBO series The Leftovers) has brought her a whole new slew of fans.
2015’s The Trackless Woods is DeMent’s most unique record yet, and it doesn’t even feature lyrics she wrote. The prose belongs to Ukrainian poet Anna Akhmatova, which inspired DeMent to pen 18 original Americana soundscapes flooded with bluegrass and gospel.
She’s one of two pioneering singer-songwriters coming to town this weekend. Vanessa Silberman is a sound engineer, record producer, graphic artist and founder of L.A.-based artist development label A Diamond Heart Production. But Silberman’s most honest version of herself is when she’s touring as a singer-songwriter.
“I’m out here doing this, and if anything, hope to set an example for women that I’m out on the road, mostly alone,” Silberman says. “Women can pick up their guitar or record and do this too. I’m not afraid to be out here doing this.”
Her forthcoming debut EP (Oct. 7) centers on the in-your-face “I Know.” Fueled by an early-’90s grunge-colored ascending guitar riff, traces of Kim Deal flow generously through the tune’s arteries.
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