My Life (Iris DeMent album)

My Life
Studio album by Iris DeMent
Released	1994
Recorded	Cowboy Arms (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre	Country folk
Length	42:29
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Jim Rooney
Iris DeMent chronology
Infamous Angel (1992) My Life (1994) The Way I Should (1996)

My Life is the second album released by singer-songwriter Iris DeMent. ^{[1] [2]} Released in 1994 on Warner Bros., it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

The album was dedicated to her father, Patric Shaw DeMent, who died in 1992.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Austin American-Statesman	[4]
Chicago Tribune	[5]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A+ [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	A [8]
Los Angeles Times	[9]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10 [12]

Spin ranked My Life as the 3rd best album of 1994. Writing in Spin, Eric Weisbard described the album as "...unbreakable gentleness as a modern epiphany about rural values." ^[13]

Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, which he's done for less than 150 albums out approximately 50,000 graded reviews. ^[14]

The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards.

Track listing

All songs by Iris DeMent except as indicated.

Side one

1. "Sweet Is the Melody" – 3:41
2. "You've Done Nothing Wrong" – 4:22
3. "Calling for You" – 3:18
4. "Childhood Memories" – 4:38
5. "No Time to Cry" – 6:49

Side two

1. "Troublesome Waters" (Maybelle Carter, Ezra J. Carter, Dixie Deen) – 5:15
2. "Mom and Dad's Waltz" (Lefty Frizzell) – 2:37
3. "Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day" – 5:01
4. "The Shores of Jordan" – 3:18
5. "My Life" – 3:30

Personnel

• Iris DeMent – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmony vocal, piano on "My Life"
• Richard Bennett – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• John Catchings – cello
• "Cowboy" Jack Clement – acoustic guitar
• Charles Cochran – piano, keyboards
• Stuart Duncan – fiddle, mandolin
• Mark Howard – acoustic guitar
• Roy Huskey, Jr. – upright bass
• Kenny Malone – percussion
• Pat McInerney – drums
• Phil Parlapiano – accordion on "You've Done Nothing Wrong"
• Al Perkins – dobro
• Pete Wasner – keyboards, piano
• Joy White – harmony vocal on "Childhood Memories"
• Linda Williams – harmony vocal on "The Shores of Jordan"
• Robin Williams – harmony vocal on "The Shores of Jordan"

References

1. "Iris DeMent". Trouser Press.
2. Himes, Geoffrey (July 22, 1994). "IRIS DEMENT". The Washington Post.
3. Smith, Jim. "My Life Review". AllMusic .
4. Davis, John T. (June 2, 1994). "The sounds of summer/step to semi-new songs". The Austin American-Statesman .
5. Kot, Greg (April 21, 1994). "Lessons In Life". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
6. Christgau, Robert (October 15, 2000). "Iris DeMent: My Life". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s . Macmillan Publishing. ISBN   9780312245603.
7. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9780857125958.
8. Nash, Alanna (April 15, 1994). "My Life". Entertainment Weekly .
9. Lewis, Randy (April 10, 1994). "Record Rack". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
10. Kot, Greg (2004). "Iris DeMent". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide . Simon and Schuster. p.  228. ISBN   9780743201698.
11. Okamoto, David (August 11, 1994). "Iris DeMent: My Life". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on October 22, 2007.
12. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN   9780679755746.
13. "20 Best Albums of '94". Spin . December 1994. p. 76.
14. "Robert Christgau: CG: iris dement". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved September 1, 2025.