Iris DeMent: Watch her Lafayette show on March 9 | Entertainment / Lifestyle

DeMent sees the artist’s role as a calling. The title track of her new album, “Workin’ on a World,” finds the singer channeling the fears of her contemporaries into the goal of creating a better world for future generations.

“When I see a little baby,” she sings, “hold out its arms to me, I remember why I work in a world that I may never see.”

Another new song, “Say a Good Word,” promotes kindness and understanding in divisive times. “Mahalia” celebrates Mahalia Jackson, rousing gospel music from New Orleans.

The 14th child of a Pentecostal family in northeastern Arkansas, DeMent grew up singing at home and in church.

“My mom was singing all the time,” she recalls. “During all her chores, she’s just singing. It’s always a comforter.”

The only records DeMent’s parents bought that weren’t from a gospel group were sacred music records by country artists Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn. While music had been a constant in DeMent’s life, she was disillusioned with the house church.

“I remember one day we were driving to church in our battered car,” she said. “There’s a new Cadillac parked at the front door. The vicar’s new Cadillac. It’s a small church, maybe 150, 200 members. My parents were poor—but they tithe every Sunday. They helped buy That Cadillac.”

Despite always being in front of music, DeMent didn’t write a single song until he was 25. After moving to Kansas City, Missouri, where she did an open mic show, she moved to Nashville and released “Infamous Angel” in 1992. The following year, major label Warner Bros. re-released “The Notorious Angel,” along with her 1994 album, “My Life.”

In the ’90s, DeMent toured with Mary Chapin-Carpenter, the late Nanci Griffith and her friend Prine, who died in April 2020 as an early victim of the coronavirus pandemic. DeMent didn’t realize until later that her new song, “Nothing for the Dead,” reflected Prine’s entire life.