Little Things Mean a Lot
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On her perfect 1994 album, My Life, describing such unsexy things as childhood memories, the transcendence of songwriting, and personal maturation, Iris DeMent accomplishes more through personal observation in one song than any anguished Alanis can hope to in a lifetime. She understands the layers of meaning hidden in small things. She’s no candidate for Up With People, but the small, poignant affirmations she draws from life’s everyday travails far outweigh the narcissistic whining of today’s teen angst pop star, for whom every betrayal is a personal affront and a cause for painful catharsis.
In “Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day” from My Life, she sang “When supper’s done we’ll watch some TV show / Of a bunch of folks who’ve never heard of Idaho.” This subtle assault on the dislocated reality of the media is blown up large on the new album’s heavy-handed “Wasteland of the Free,” in which she points fingers at the Christian Coalition, bought politicians, NAFTA, greedy CEOs, the gulf war, and MTV; elsewhere she beats up on Beavis and Butt-head. It’s hard to argue with her, but the listening is painful–especially when she assails kids “runnin’ round in Calvin Klein and Guess / Who cannot pass a sixth-grade written test.” There’s a late-breaking Vietnam protest in “There’s a Wall in Washington” and she gets downright self-righteous about neglected yuppie children in “Quality Time.” But as evidenced by Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign, preaching to the converted doesn’t effect change. If Garth Brooks sang this song he’d risk losing some fans, but DeMent’s modest liberal audience will just pat itself on the back. When she gets really pissed about the government throwing kids in prison, the best she can muster is “it sounds like crap to me.”
Rigby makes her first local solo Chicago appearance next Saturday, November 2, at Schubas.
