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Lifeline

Twelve traditional gospel songs and one original, the first record on her own label.
Iris DeMent, 2004

Released
2 November 2004
Label
Flariella
Producer
Jim Rooney and Iris DeMent

Lifeline came eight years after The Way I Should and was the first release on Flariella, her own label. Twelve of its thirteen songs are traditional Protestant gospel songs, and the one original is He Reached Down. In her liner notes she recalls her mother singing these songs in times of stress, looking straight at the sky as if she were talking to someone.

Jim Rooney and DeMent produced it. Bo Ramsey plays electric and slide guitar and Weissenborn, and Stuart Duncan, Pat Enright, Alan O'Bryant, Jim Rooney and Barry Tashian sing background vocals. Pieta Brown took the cover photo. Her version of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was later used over the closing credits of the Coen brothers' True Grit. AllMusic's Thom Jurek wrote that it was good to have her back, and Robert Christgau wrote that her heart cherishes Jesus' memory but her mind, voice and soul remain her own.

Track listing

  1. I've Got That Old Time Religion in My Heart3:04
  2. Blessed Assurance6:26
  3. Fill My Way with Love3:02
  4. Hide Thou Me5:09
  5. The Old Gospel Ship3:10
  6. Sweet Hour of Prayer5:09
  7. That Glad Reunion Day2:10
  8. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms2:53
  9. He Reached Down4:12
  10. Near the Cross5:03
  11. I Never Shall Forget the Day2:42
  12. I Don't Want to Get Adjusted3:38
  13. God Walks the Dark Hills5:23

Personnel

More from Iris DeMent

Infamous Angel (1992), My Life (1994), The Way I Should (1996), Sing the Delta (2012), The Trackless Woods (2015), Workin' on a World (2023)

Sources

  1. Lifeline (Iris DeMent album), Wikipedia
  2. Iris DeMent, Wikipedia