Hard-touring country-noir songstress Lindi Ortega rolls into Ottawa this week to play not one but two shows as part of the NAC Presents series. With one of the most bewitching voices around and a sound that captures everything good from the golden age of country music it’s easy to see why so many people came out the last few times she played in town, making a two-night run a good move. Packing Patsy Cline’s emotive power, Dolly Parton’s playfulness and Hank Williams’ wry humour, the Toronto-born singer-songwriter, now living in Nashville, is a force to be reckoned with. Thursday night’s show at the fourth stage is already sold out and after she plays the Grand Old Opry down in Nashville in a couple weeks who knows when she’ll be back this way.
Lindi’s latest album Faded Gloryville listens like a collection of postcards from a mythic, end-of-the-line kind of town where people go to lick their wounds when they’ve chased their “dreams into the ground.” There’s the lover left behind in “Ashes,” the poor soul in “Run Amuck” who runs with the Devil and burns everything they touch and “Run Down Neighborhood”‘s best friends in booze getting messed up in a 7/11 parking lot. Lindi’s magic is that even with all these hard luck stories the record never feels like a downer. Underdogs and broken hearts meet rockabilly swagger and torchy ballads with a punch-in-the-gut cover of the Bee Gees “To Love somebody” thrown in for good measure. Asked about the contrast of light and dark in her music Lindi says, “I don’t like to get stuck in the depths of despair as it were. I think sometimes the only way to deal with some dark, sad situations is to find the bright side in it or to look for a little bit of comic relief. I’ve always been a fan of those black humour horror movies for that reason. I can’t stay too dark for too long.”
The song “Faded Gloryville” was inspired by the movie Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges as a washed up country musician reduced to playing bowling alleys where nobody’s listening. “I kind of asked myself if I would end up like Bad Blake in that movie. I remembered back to when I first started making music and all the big romantic ideals I had about the music industry and what I could possibly become in it and realizing how naïve that was. I got into a lot of ditches along the way and I had to dig myself out. I found those to be moments that a lot of people with dreams that don’t happen the way they thought would go. I ended up calling it Faded Gloryille, but I guess it’s a state of mind more than anything. You can either stay there or you can learn from it and move on to greener pastures.” If the new record’s any indication, Lindi has definitely left Faded Gloryville far behind.
Recorded with some of the best producers in roots music Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell), fellow Canadian Colin Linden and the Muscle Shoals duo of John Paul White (The Civil Wars) and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), Faded Gloryville draws from a broad swath of music from the American South, though it’s probably her most soulful yet. “With this one I was heavily into Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Otis Redding, Nina Simone so that started coming through in some of the tunes that I did and it made for this kind of mish-mash of Southern inspired music.”
I got in touch with Lindi between tour stops to learn more about her new album. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation where she talks about her love for spooky things, recommends a band and shares what keeps her making music.
Apt613: I saw your tweet about writing a song about the grim reaper in the shower and having the light go out on you and in general there’s a noir-ish vibe to your songs. Where does that love for the spooky come from?
I think I’d link that to the fact that I’m half Mexican and I have a real penchant for the Dia de los Muertos, that whole thing fascinates me. I’ve always been like that. I love cemeteries and have this penchant for the macabre, it makes me sort of strange bird I guess. I went to school for philosophy at the University of Toronto and I just got stuck in that whole metaphysics versus existentialism and life and death and great ponderings and I think about it constantly and that kind of paired with my love of Dia de Los Muertos. I’m into osteology, I love skeletons and skulls. Halloween is my favourite time of year and I guess it all makes me write songs like that and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. My mom was laughing at me because she was like Lindi, I thought you were happy that you’re in a relationship and you’ve got love. Here I thought you were going to write love songs and you’re still writing songs about people dying and I was like that’s me ma, that’s what I do.
I read somewhere that you collect skulls that you find at thrift shops and such on tour. Do you still do that?
I do, I do. The other day I was sitting in my apartment before I went on tour and I was just like, it must be so weird for people that visit me to look around my home and just see skulls looking at them from everywhere.
How many do you have at the moment?
I have quite a few. I have a few different bird skulls. I have some steer skulls and cows and a coyote skull. It’s really funny because I bought that one in Jasper, Alberta and I had to fly back to Nashville. I was going through customs and they asked me if I had anything and I was like, do I have to declare a coyote skull in my briefcase? is that ok? and the border guard was laughing at me. He was like, did you just find it and put it in your briefcase? And I said no, no I bought it, it was cleaned.
I saw you have a Spotify playlist of some of your favourite indie artists. Do you have a favourite you’d like to recommend to readers?
I think because we were talking so much about dark things maybe I’ll recommend one of my favourite spooky artists, Canadians no doubt – Timber Timbre and their latest record called Hot Dreams that I really love. One of my favourites from that record is “Grand Canyon.”
At the end of day what’s the thing that keeps you making music?
I’m a huge fan of playing live, it’s my favourite thing. Recording is fun and writing songs is fun but nothing holds a candle to being on a stage and singing live for people and getting to see people’s faces. I love the little bar shows, I love the fact that I can find a face in the audience and sing to somebody and I love meeting people after the show. It’s always my goal to let people know that I realize it’s hard for people to get the money to buy records and stuff and they can’t always do that but I make a point of saying if you want to just come say hello to me after the show don’t feel any obligation to buy something. I love to meet people and I love to know why they like my music and what draws them to it.
Lindi Ortega plays the NAC Fourth Stage with guest Sam Cash October 28 and 29th, though the show on the 29th is now sold out. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
