Iris DeMent's voice has mellowed in the 20 years since her gorgeous debut, Infamous Angel, but it remains a wonder of genuine country music, with a vibrato-infused twang that purrs and bucks. Centered mainly on piano chords that conjure family rooms and little white churches, these artisanal songs of love and doubt wear their homeliness proudly; the effect is like finding a bountiful farm stand in the middle of nowhere.

Listen to Sing the Delta

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.