![]() TUCKER: Another piece of urgent music comes from Sunny War, who, on the song I'm about to play, mourns the demise of a romance as a kind of death. Well, I know a couple of Muslims, and they seem like decent folks to me. Let's ban hate from every corner of our land. I'd take any one of them over that evangelist I'm watching on TV. ![]() The song works like a speech delivered on a street corner when standing on a soapbox wasn't a cliche but rather an insistence on being heard.ĭEMENT: (Singing) I know a couple of Muslims, and they seem like pretty decent folks to me. But that's part of her artistic strategy. DeMent wants to speak so urgently, so bluntly, that it seems as though she can't be bothered to tidy up her rhymes or work up artful metaphors. In each of its many verses, she takes aim at a different target, including Donald Trump, George W. It's an eight-minute excoriation of bad deeds called "Going Down To Sing In Texas." Its opening moments, which I played at the start of this review, decry what DeMent sees as flimsy gun control laws. And DeMent's astringent voice is as stately as her piano playing. KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Iris DeMent has a new album out called "Workin' On A World." It's filled with songs that preach love within a Christian framework. I'm going down to sing in Texas, where anybody can carry a gun. But I'll live by my conscience even if that's all she wrote. ![]() Go ahead and shoot me if it floats your little boat. But we will all be so much safer there, the biggest lie under the sun. IRIS DEMENT: (Singing) I'm going down to sing in Texas, where anybody can carry a gun. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOING DOWN TO SING IN TEXAS") ![]() Whether it's the folk protest music of Iris DeMent, the cutting-edge blues of Sunny War or the hard-charging Americana of Margo Price, Ken says there's urgency in each of these songs. And our rock critic, Ken Tucker, has chosen a standout song from each of them. ![]()
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