Music what I like...

Its Saturday so its "Music What I Like" again...

Don't ask me why I like Iris DeMent, I just do, maybe its her unique voice, maybe her exceptional storytelling songwriting skills, maybe its the crossover between folk and country keeping one foot firmly in both camps, I just don't know - I bought the album "My Life" in '94 after reading a review and have been hooked ever since.

My wife and offspring think that she is truly awful, dreadful, a wailer who's voice grates inside them like the two raw ends of a broken tibia rubbing together - "mum, he's playing THAT woman again" is the cry in the house whenever I put on any of her recordings so I have to now listen via headphones, a secret tryst exists now between me and my Iris DeMent recordings - "What are you listening to ?" they ask and I have to lie and say something acceptable to them, "Elvis" I usually reply.

John Prine is another one, a truly exceptional storytelling songwriter with another unique voice in a world where record executives seek the bland and usually manage to find it - Prines voice is the perfect foil to DeMents and its no coincidence that they have recorded together often.

One day I will educate this family in the art of appreciating great music rather than accepting the platter of mundane, safe and totally bland crap that the mainstream record companies are lazy enough to consder fit for their consumption, until then I'll keep it in my headphones...