Lifeline is the fourth album released by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.-Early life:...

, released in 2004, eight years since her previous recording The Way I Should.

Lifeline contains many traditional Protestant gospel songs DeMent describes as finding comfort in playing and singing. In her liner notes, DeMent recounts how her mother sang these songs in times of stress looking straight at the sky, "as if she were talking to someone."

Allmusic states: "... [DeMent] claims that for her, too, the music contained here became her lifeline through a season of hardship... While this is far from a full return to form for Dement, it is truly good to have her back."

Track listing

1. "I've Got That Old Time Religion in My Heart" (Milsap) – 3:04
2. "Blessed Assurance
   Blessed Assurance
   "Blessed Assurance" is a well-known Christian hymn. The lyrics were written in 1873 by blind hymn writer Fanny J. Crosby to the music written in 1873 by Phoebe P. Knapp.-History:...
   
   " (Fanny Crosby
   Fanny Crosby
   Frances Jane Crosby , usually known as Fanny Crosby in the United States and by her married name, Frances van Alstyne, in the United Kingdom, was an American Methodist rescue mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. During her lifetime, she was well-known throughout the United States...
   
   ) – 6:26
3. "Fill My Way with Love" (Sebren) – 3:02
4. "Hide Thou Me" (Fanny Crosby) – 5:09
5. "The Old Gospel Ship" (Traditional) – 3:10
6. "Sweet Hour of Prayer" (Walford) – 5:09
7. "That Glad Reunion Day" (Pace) – 2:10
8. "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
   Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
   Leaning on the Everlasting Arms is a hymn published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha A. Hoffman. Showalter said that he received letters from two of his former pupils saying that their wives had died...
   
   " (Hoffman, Showalter) – 2:53
9. "He Reached Down" (Iris DeMent) – 4:12
10. "Near the Cross" (Fanny Crosby) – 5:03
11. "I Never Shall Forget the Day" (Speer) – 2:42
12. "I Don't Want to Get Adjusted" (Massengale) – 3:38
13. "God Walks the Dark Hills" (Czarnikow) – 5:23

Personnel

• Iris DeMent – vocals, guitar, piano
• Bo Ramsey – electric guitar, slide guitar, Weissenborn
  Weissenborn
  Weissenborn or H. Weissenborn is a brand of lap slide guitar manufactured by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s....
  
  
• David Roe – bass
• Mark Howard – guitar, mandolin
• Stuart Basore – dobro
• Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
  
  – background vocals
• Pat Enright – background vocals
• Alan O'Bryant – background vocals
• Jim Rooney – background vocals
• Barry Tashian – background vocals

Production notes

• Produced by Jim Rooney and Iris DeMent
• Engineered by Richard Adler, Mark Howard, David Ferguson and David Shipley
• Mixed by Tommy Tucker
• Cover photo by Pieta Brown