Iris DeMent - Infamous Angel

I know "Let The Mystery Be" through 10,000 Maniacs' cover of it, and I've always quite liked that version, but DeMent's original, which kicks this album off, is really a cut above. DeMent sings with a quaver and a quirk but also straight-up and clear, and sets her songs within simple, spacious arrangements, with the result that the singing and the songs themselves come through very strongly and take on an air of purity and timelessness, as if they've just drifted down from the mountain. The instrumentation includes guitar (acoustic), Dobro, mandolin, fiddle and bass, but it's sparingly used and always seems to frame the vocals rather than ever threatening to take the spotlight. It's a kind of modern folk as much as it is country, and strikingly good.