''Infamous Angel'' is the debut studio album of American country music singer-songwriter

Iris DeMent Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician . DeMent's musical style includes elements of folk, country and gospel. Early life DeMent was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14t ...

. It was released by Philo Records in 1992. The liner notes were written by

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

, to whom DeMent's music has been compared by ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' critic

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...

. In 1995, her song "Our Town" was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

TV series ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It received 57 ...

''. It has also been recorded by

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English English folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, an ...

and by

Jody Stecher Jonathan Allan "Jody" Stecher (born June 1, 1946) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as a bluegrass and old time musician, playing banjo, mandolin, fiddle and guitar and two of his albums with Kate Brislin have been finali ...

and Kate Brislin. The

Transatlantic Sessions Transatlantic Sessions is the collective title for a series of musical productions by Glasgow-based Pelicula Films Ltd, funded by- and produced for BBC Scotland, BBC Four and RTÉ of Ireland. The productions comprise collaborative live performan ...

version of "Let the Mystery Be" became the theme song for the second season and series finale of '' The Leftovers''.

Track listing

All songs by Iris DeMent except as indicated. #"Let the Mystery Be" – 2:46 #"These Hills" – 3:40 #"Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart" – 2:33 #"When Love Was Young" – 3:38 #"Our Town" – 4:58 #"Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" (Rev F.W. McGee) – 3:12 #"Infamous Angel" – 3:46 #"Sweet Forgiveness" – 2:44 #"After You've Gone" – 4:04 #"Mama's Opry" – 3:25 #"Higher Ground" (listed as "Traditional" in the liner notes but in fact by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (lyrics) and

Charles H. Gabriel Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (August 18, 1856 – September 14, 1932) was a writer of gospel songs and composer of gospel tunes. He is said to have written and/or composed between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, many of which are available in 21st century hym ...

(music)Cyber Hymnal
Higher Ground
accessed August 18, 2019) – 3:34

Personnel

*Iris DeMent – lead and harmony vocals, guitar ;Additional musicians * Jeff Black – harmony vocals (11) *Flora Mae DeMent – lead vocals (11) *

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. Career In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he has ...

–

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

(7) * Stuart Duncan – fiddle, mandolin *

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

– harmony vocals, guitar (10) *Mark Howard – guitar *Jeff Hushkins – bass *

Roy Huskey, Jr. Roy Milton Huskey (December 17, 1956 – September 6, 1997) was a prominent United States, American upright bass player in country music from Nashville, Tennessee. Huskey performed alongside musicians such as Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, Johnny ...

– bass *

Hal Ketchum Hal Michael Ketchum (April 9, 1953November 23, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He released eleven studio albums from 1986 to 2014, including nine for divisions of Curb Records. Ketchum's 1991 album ''Past the Point of ...

– harmony vocals (11) *

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in ...

– Dobro (1–6, 8–11) * Jim Rooney – producer, harmony vocals (6, 11) *Pete Wasner – piano ;Technical *Richard Adler – recording and mixing engineer *Kelley McRae - cover photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 debut albums Iris DeMent albums Warner Records albums Philo Records (folk) albums