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Iris DeMent with Minnesota bass player Liz Draper and Jessie “Eggy” Winchester on guitar. Photos by Jill Fisher. 

Travel brings many pleasures, among them hearing music you might otherwise miss if the artists you wish to see aren’t making it to the Northland. 

This was the case for me when the Curmudgeon and I recently road tripped back to the Hudson Valley in New York. 

As it happened, I saw that singer-songwriter Iris DeMent had a concert scheduled for Wednesday, Sept.25, at the Rialto Theatre in Montréal, which was a scheduled stopover on the way to our ultimate destination. 

Now I am not someone who follows bands around the country (an exception was seeing The Mavericks in Milwaukee back in April). By contrast I have one friend who regularly flies around the country to see any number of her favorite groups – Rolling Stones, Dead & Company, Mavis Staples, etc. She amazes me. 

In any case, I first saw Iris right here in Duluth at Bayfront Park the summer of 2000. I’ll never forget that concert. I was instantly smitten with her sound and was taken by her title track of her debut album, Infamous Angel (1992). 

Then there were her four duets with John Prine on In Spite of Ourselves. Unforgettable! 

During the 20 years I lived in Woodstock I was able to attend a couple of her concerts in nearby towns, one together with Prine in Providence, Rhode Island, but it had been quite a while. 

Since we were to be in the same city on the same day, I went ahead and snagged some up-close tickets to attend the event.

Was I ever glad I did and we got to see this Iowa gal again. She sounded wonderful, with that distinctive voice I’ve always remembered. 

DeMent was accompanied by Jessie “Eggy” Winchester on mandolin and guitar and (surprise, surprise!) Minnesotan Liz Draper on upright bass. 

We’ve seen Draper here in the Twin Ports accompanying Charlie Parr at the Cedar Lounge back on Jan. 9. She’s been based in Minneapolis but recently moved to Mankato. It was cool to see her playing with Iris.
DeMent’s playlist included both new and older familiar tunes from her seven albums. She began with “The Sacred Now” (written together with Pieta Brown) off her latest album Workin’ On A World, released in 2023. Later she sang the title track from that album as well as “Say A Good Word.” 

On the latter Draper bowed rather than plucked her standup bass, the low tones expressing deep feelings. 

Iris shifted her self-accompaniment between guitar and piano that, together with her song selection, showcased her gospel, country and folk roots and inspirations. “The Way I Should” has that gospel sound. Its lyrics tell of her confronting the ghost of societal expectations, saying “I don’t run as fast as I could but I live just the way I want to and that’s the way I should.” Such great thoughts set to memorable music!

Several songs of hers I that I can’t recall having heard before are on her Russian-themed album The Trackless Woods, released in 2015. One was the beautiful song, “The Cherry Orchard,” based on the play by Anton Chekhov. Another was “Listening To Singing,” using the poem by Anna Andreevna Akhmatova for lyrics. 

It seems this album had its inspiration from her and husband Greg Brown’s adoption of a six-year-old Russian girl in 2005. 

Toward the end of the concert Iris returned to her 1994 composition “Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day.” 
One song she did not sing on this evening was “Wasteland of the Free,” which was somewhat surprising given her casual comments on the current political situation in the U.S.; maybe because we were in Canada.

Of course there had to be an encore or two, and I said to the Curmudgeon that I hoped she would sing “Our Town” from her first album. 

That song has a special place in my heart—in the fall of 2000, I sent a postcard with the request that it be played during the Morning Show with Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole on Minnesota Public Radio to accompany the day I departed Duluth for Woodstock. They not only played the song but read the postcard on the air. Several Duluth friends and avid listeners of The Morning Show told me they heard it. 

That song always brings tears to my eyes. And what do you know? That’s exactly the encore song Iris sang, rekindling the tempestuous emotions from that time in my life. 

The second encore number was the apt “Go On Ahead and Go Home” from DeMent’s 2012 album Sing the Delta. For sure this was a very special concert on any number of levels.

Before I leave off documenting this special evening, I must mention the opening act: indie singer-songwriter Nico Paulo, who performed together with her partner guitarist Al Haugen (I believe that’s his name). 

Nico Paulo

She’s a relative newcomer to the music world and what a welcome addition she is. Her eponymous debut album released in 2023 was considered for the Polaris Music Prize that year. She has a beautifully strong yet ethereal soprano voice with a just a slight vibrato. At times the highest notes were quite piercing though never shrill. 

Born in Canada to Portuguese parents, Nico moved at age two to a small town near Lisbon, where she was raised. Completing her basic education, she returned to Canada to attend college in Toronto. Currently she lives in St. John’s in Newfoundland. 

When asked “why,” Nico proclaimed that her hometown had a lot in common with St. John’s: fishing! 
Paulo performed a gorgeous version of the classic Scottish/Irish folk song “Wild Mountain Thyme” that she has recorded. She invited the audience to sing along, which many folks did. Nico Paulo is a musician I will keep track of and hopefully hear again.

On the last day of our stay in the Hudson Valley, Neil (the Curmudgeon) and I attended a benefit banquet for the D&H (Delaware and Hudson) Canal Historical Society, a group for which he has done historic architectural preservation work. 

Now I wasn’t really expecting to hear music at this event but lo and behold I got to hear Laurel Massé, a co-founder of the fabulous group Manhattan Transfer. Gee, that took me back many years! 

Laurel Massey

I have a couple of albums by them and recall seeing the group in concert at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul way back in the late 1970s! I also heard her singing with Jay Unger and Molly Mason (of “Ashokan Farewell” fame) at another D&H Canal event several years ago. So it was a treat to encounter her again.

The event had the theme of “Wine and Food of the Presidents” and included musical interludes with selections from the Broadway play and movie Hamilton by Massé and her piano accompanist Vinnie Martucci. Not having seen Hamilton in any form, it was my introduction to the acclaimed musical. What I was impressed by was Massé’s rap-like rendition of one song and sonorous treatment of others. It convinced me that perhaps I should find the time to view the musical, even if it’s outside my chosen focus on live local music. But then I did like seeing Jersey Boys at the NorShor Theater.

Upon arrival back in Duluth, I saw I had previously scheduled Mark Joseph at The Ore House in Gilbert, Minn., on Thursday, Oct. 10. That’s a venue I’ve heard tell of for a while now (“Best Stage on the Range”) and this seemed like a good chance to check it out. 

Mark Joseph

I’ve seen Joseph together with his band The American Soul on several occasions, including at the West back on Feb. 1 (Feb. 8 Reader). 

Joseph is also a member of The Big Wu, which I saw perform for the first time up in Silver Bay on July 19 (Aug. 8 Reader). So I thought it was a good time to make the hour-plus drive to check out his solo act. I wasn’t disappointed.

First the venue: its aesthetics combines a vintage vibe with current adaptations. The ceiling is pressed tin, the flooring is patterned tile throughout. The bar is fairly large, seating about 20 on stools and separates two sections filled with dozens of tables and chairs. 

And the stage is commodious – 16-plus feet wide by 10 feet deep – rising two feet above the main floor with two sets of stairs. There’s a sizable dance floor immediately in front of the stage. 

Unfortunately it appears that there’s a question of the enterprise continuing. However the owner, Troy, is offering “Friends of The Ore House” memberships as a way folks can support it and gain free entry into upcoming shows that have cover charges. 

One of these upcoming events is this Friday, Oct. 18, with Sparta Sound #7 featuring Rich Mattson and Germaine Gemberling and R&B. See The Ore House on Facebook for details.

Casually dressed in a T-shirt and loose pants, boots for footwear and his mass of hair topped by a farmers cap promoting Vig Guitars, the full-bearded Joseph looked the part of a good ol’ long-haired guy. 

Off stage he appears laid back but onstage he is fully committed with a no-holds-barred persona that draws one in. He got started at 7:10 pm with a rockin’ number that displayed both his nifty finger picking on acoustic guitar and his captivatingly robust voice. 

Next he performed a lovely original instrumental “Early Riser.” After that it was a mix of covers and his original compositions some from an album he plans to release this coming spring, others from his last CD Palisade Peach. 

When he sang his original “The Baddest Man in Georgia,” the vocals sounded precisely like Jim Croce’s. Later when he played a number of requests, many of them Croce songs, I understood why. (Note that he didn’t sound like that on any other tunes.) 

He also covered Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, as well as commemorating the recently deceased Kris Kristofferson singing “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” He also gave a nod to John Prine, whose birthday it was that day, with a gutsy rendition of “Sam Stone.” 

Whatever he was playing, he really showed off his guitar chops.

Later in his first set he ventured into Motown territory with local singer Sarah Greene to cover the Aretha Franklin hit, “Baby I Love You.” Together they sang Prine’s ubiquitous “Angel From Montgomery.” Though they had just met and had not rehearsed these numbers, you wouldn’t have guessed. She was good, matching his full out commitment to performance. 

I appreciated his bluesy rendition of “Deep Elem Blues” as well as the old timey “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” Before ending the set he sang his original “Walk To The Water.” Very nice. To summarize, it was well worth the trip to the range!

Oops! I want to apologize in print for mistakenly identifying Ashley Comstock as “Alice,” in my August 29 issue review of Ross Thorn’s Concert on the Pier. The young lady was a special guest who accompanied the band on one number playing whisks and mugs. It was an amusing addition and I hope she’ll keep on with the percussion and any other musical expression she’s drawn to.

 Upcoming: Blues lovers should mark their calendars for the Second Sunday Blues Jams that will continue for the remainder of this year at R.T. Quinlan’s on Nov. 10 and Dec. 8. Mel Sando says he’s looking for some younger blood to help carry on with the jams. 

And as for blues, kudos and congrats to Rebecca Gullion Lindstrom for her induction into the Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame for her support of the genre with her Saturday Afternoon Blues program on The North, 103.3 FM radio. Good on you Becca!