By Chris Varias
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Iris DeMent honeymooned in Newport.

At the start of the encore to her Friday-night show at the Southgate House, the angel-voiced singer-songwriter revealed she got married Thursday but asked the sellout crowd not to spread the news, because she hadn't yet told her mother.

"She doesn't even know I have a boyfriend," Ms. DeMent said.

Oops! Sorry, Iris.

She should have known there might have been a devious scribe lurking in the audience, because her three albums have made her a critical sensation. Even though her last record came out six years ago, she's still a cult favorite judging by the turnout.

Maybe matrimony will unleash her muse. The six-year wait for a new record has been too long, and Ms. DeMent's 22-song solo performance was very similar to her set at the Southgate House in 1999. She's becoming a nostalgia act, and not in the sense that many of her songs are about the good old days.

At least it's an act worth repeating. Alternating between acoustic guitar and baby grand piano, Ms. DeMent shined on old, familiar tunes like "No Time to Cry," "My Life," "Our Town," "You've Done Nothing Wrong," "Mama's Opry" and others. Each was a powerhouse, written in such a seemingly simple manner and packing an emotional wallop. The agnostic declaration "Let the Mystery Be" and the lovely "Sweet Forgiveness" rated highly, too.

One of her cover songs recalled the show four years ago, but the crowd's reaction didn't. Back then Ms. DeMent did the gospel classic "Keep on the Sunny Side," which was popularized a year later in a version by the Whites on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Everyone kept quiet in '99. When she played it Friday, a giant sing-along broke out.

Notably absent from the set was the socially charged material from 1996's The Way I Should, namely "Wasteland of the Free," an attack on American culture, and "Letter to Mom," about child molestation. Some critics dismissed the album and its editorializing tunes, as if Ms. DeMent should be allowed only to sing sad and pretty love songs.

Here's hoping she sings about and writes about whatever she wants, just as long as she puts something out.

She brought good news on that front: In a couple weeks she begins work on an album of gospel covers.

E-mail cvarias@enquirer.com