In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey

Growing Pains

222 FOLLOWING MY OWN PATH My life, it don’t count for nothing When I look at this world, I feel so small My life, it’s only a season A passing September that no one will recall But I gave joy to my mother I made my lover smile And I can give comfort to my friends when they’re hurting I can make it seem better for a while Everythingintheroomstopped.Thereweretearsinmyeyes,andIwasn’t the only one. What more could we say? What could we add to that? The song said what was in all of us in one way or another. The collective experience and wisdom in that room acknowledged that a new voice was among us. A new branch was growing on the old tree. It was an enormous boost to Iris’s confidence that Nanci included her in Other Voices. It was yet another way that Nanci’s vision was helping to move many of us further down our path. The final confirmation for Nanci came when the album was nominated for and won a Grammy. The Grammy wasn’t only for her, it was for all of the writers, singers, musicians, and engineers gathered together by Nanci to join her on this journey. We were all encouraged by it to carry on the tradition. GROWING PAINS The response to Iris DeMent’s Infamous Angel was greater than I dared Infamous Angel was greater than I dared Infamous Angel to hope for. For a record on a small independent label, it started to sell pretty well. Rounder eventually released the album in England, where my old friend Andrew Wickham heard it. I hadn’t heard anything about Andy really since the Blue Velvet Band days when he introduced me to Joe Smith. Miraculously, Andy was still with the company, working for Warner Brothers in London. Iris’s music was just what Andy thought countrymusicshouldbe.HeloveditandwastednotimeincallingLenny Waronker, now head of A & R at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles and urgedhimtosignIris.Asithappened,shewasbookedtoplayattheAsh Grove in Santa Monica, so Lenny made a point to go hear her. When he got there, he was surprised to find Peter Asher, manager of Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, there as well. The word about Iris was definitely 223 GrowingPains spreading. The upshot of it all was that Lenny made a successful offer to Rounder to buy out Iris’s contract for InfamousAngel and signed her to InfamousAngel and signed her to InfamousAngel Warner Brothers, and Peter Asher became her manager. Iris was now going to be able to reach a much wider audience with her music. Thatisoneofthepointsoftheexercise—togetyourmusicouttolots ofpeople,andpeopleweredefinitelyresponding.Morethanoneperson told me that they had first heard Iris while driving in their car and had to pull over because they were so moved. Carol and I went to see her do a solo, sold-out concert at Sanders Theater at Harvard. At the end the audience was on their feet. Andy Wickham had come over from London . It was a triumph. However, all of this success was not without its down side. Iris had never felt totally comfortable performing. She had also recently married a retired captain in the Kansas City Fire Department , Elmer McCall. Show business was not a life he had envisioned for himself. Suddenly they both had to deal with all of the demands of a successfulperformingcareer—pressandradiointerviews,soundchecks, hotels, airports, lots of travel. And then you had to go out on a stage by yourself and perform. The response of the people would always make it worthwhile in the end, but there was no denying the pressure that went with success. I’dsaythatbothofuswerefeelingsomeofthatpressurewhenwewent torecordIris’ssecondalbum.WorkingforWarnerBrotherswasnotlike workingforRounder.Therewerecontractsandbudgetstobeworkedout. We had more money to spend, but that could be a mixed blessing if you wereworriedabouttryingtopleaseotherpeople.Despitehavinggotten sobusy,Irishadagoodbunchofnewsongs.Shewrotemeadetailedlettergoingoverwhatshethoughtweshoulddowitheachone .Somewere similar to the ones on Infamous Angel but others she called “Departure” Infamous Angel but others she called “Departure” Infamous Angel songs, which she wanted done in a different way. Reading the letter, I got the feeling that Iris might be trying too hard to prescribe in advance whatwouldhappenwitheachsong.Thatwentagainstmyinclinationto let the musicians participate in finding out where a song lived. We had basicallyrecordedInfamousAngelinthreedays.Itwasoveralmostbefore InfamousAngelinthreedays.Itwasoveralmostbefore InfamousAngel Irisgotachancetothinkaboutit.Ithinkthatwasstillmymindsetwhen we started the second one. The first day went smoothly enough. I had the old crew back together, and we recorded an old Carter Family song, “Troublesome Waters,” Lefty Frizzell’s “Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” and a [3.136.97.64] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 20:42 GMT...