Eye of the Storm

DeMent puts herself through this kind of torment because her art matters to her. Having a few more consumers pick up her LPs would be nice, but what she cares about more than financial remuneration or critical respect is communication as pure and as simple as the numbers she heard in the churches of her youth.

"Those songs weren't written to get played on the radio or to make a lot of money," she says in a passionate tone far removed from the one that visits her while discussing record companies or her latest batch of reviews. "They were just really sincere, and even though they may have been in a religious context I don't agree with now, I realized early on that their purpose was to give people something to grab on to. It wasn't a conscious thing for me, but I learned from the time that I was little that music could be this refuge--this place you can go that can help you survive.

"Sometimes I write about subjects that are sort of emotionally difficult--songs that force me to go through things that maybe I'd just as soon not. But the alternative to me is cardboard--things that mean nothing and penetrate no one. So I feel that if I'm going to do music, what else is there?"

Iris DeMent and the Troublemakers. 7 p.m. Friday, February 21, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax, $14-$15, 830-