Iris DeMent

A couple of years ago, a scorching bit of celebrity gossip shocked the MPR-listening, granola-eating, prairie grass-planting fans of the contemporary folk scene: Singer-songwriters Greg Brown and Iris DeMent had secretly married. The couple keep their relationship strictly off the record (although once when we called Brown’s Iowa farmhouse, DeMent answered the phone, and we could hear breakfast cooking in the background), but the pairing is picture-perfect. Like Brown, DeMent writes smart, knowing, sometimes political, sometimes achingly personal songs set to warm country-folk music. We love her incomparable voice, and we’re hoping to hear it paired with Brown’s rumble sometime after they own up to their connubial affiliation. 651-290-1221, www.fitzgeraldtheater.org