Like fellow traveller Victoria Williams, this Kansas City-based singer-songwriter is an acquired--but awfully sweet--taste. DeMent sings in an unmistakeable soprano trill that personifies the high-lonesome feel of the windswept Great Plains, much as her plainspoken lyrics examine the spirit of the people who call them home. Songs like the rending "No Time to Cry" (which looks at a father's death from the perspective of a woman kept from grieving by the demands of a hardscrabble life) and the title track (which examines her own mortality), would do Hank Williams proud. The pre-rock instrumentation enhances the pure country vibe, but it's DeMent's striking presence that makes My Life pure gold. --David Sprague