CD Odyssey Disc 1189: Lindi Ortega

It’s been a long day filled with ups and downs but here I sit at the end of it with my old friends: a keyboard and an album full of music.

Disc 1189 is… Liberty

Artist: Lindi Ortega

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Lindi Ortega rides out as a bandit, signature red boots high in the stirrups.

How I Came To Know It: I am a big fan of Lindi Ortega so when I heard she had a new album coming out I added it to my list. I waited impatiently for several months for it to be released. It was on my “to buy” list without a release date so I probably checked the stands three or four times before it was even out. Anyway, eventually it arrived at the local record store and I grabbed a copy.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Lindi Ortega albums. Of those, I put “Liberty” in at the bottom of that list – so fifth.

Ratings: 3 stars

When you release a concept album you live or die by the theme – sometimes you do both. So it is with Lindi Ortega’s 2018 release “Liberty.”

Up to this point in her career Ortega has explored bad, sassy, sexy and more than a few dissertations on the elusive nature of both love and fame. On “Liberty” she takes a new tack, embracing traditional western themes and music, and fusing them with her seductive alt-country sound.

Ortega goes all in on these notions, with references to tornados, lonely plains, gunfights the love of a good man, and the equally important love of a good horse. The album features an early attempted murder (and maybe some kind of resurrection from the dead), some revenge before closing with what I think is a happy ending and a ride off into the sunset.

Musically, Ortega’s smoky, sultry vocals remain and she sings many of the songs in a half-whisper that makes them feel conspiratorial – like a death-bed confession laced with just the right amount of sin. There are places where I wanted Ortega to belt it out a bit (she comes close on “In the Clear,” but stays restrained and slightly layered in heavy guitar reverb).

That reverb is ever-present on the record and although it creates a cohesive sound it also serves to water down a lot of the great old-time spaghetti western feel the songs have. All the trappings of old school westerns are there: trumpet flourishes, trail-riding harmonica and the ominous strains of the steel guitar played low and mournful, like a prairie haunting. I would have liked her to explore the combination of traditional western and her own more modern alt-country style from a few more angles, different angles, although that might have disrupted the mood of mystery she’s trying to establish.

Ortega divides the album into movements, separated by the instrumental “Through the Dust” divided into three sections. These short interludes sound like Ennio Morricone on Quaaludes which is trippy, but at times take away the record’s momentum.

In its darker moments, “Liberty” reminded me of Handsome Family murder ballads, but with less obvious violence. Instead, Ortega tends to cleave more toward dark romance, playing both the wounded lover and then the femme fatale depending on where you are at in the story.

The record is bass-heavy, and would have benefited from a bit less boom at the bottome end. I think the intent was to create a heavy foreboding, but a little lightness might make key moments sink in that much deeper when they’re needed.

“Lovers in Love” feels like an old seventies croon-fest, and has a timeless quality that would have done Dolly Parton or Linda Ronstadt proud. There is an anthemic quality to songs like this and the inspirational “In the Clear” that leave you feeling like you are standing heroically on a wood-plank deck looking out at a Monument Valley sunset in a John Ford picture. Lindi’s wearing a cowboy hat and there’s a slight breeze but it doesn’t threaten the hat; it just makes her hair blow majestically.

“The Comeback Kid” is the radio-friendly single, and features the mix of blues and country that I’ve come to expect from earlier releases. It may be a familiar sound but I liked it – it even has hand claps, and what song isn’t made better by hand claps?

All the songs work thematically, and most of them would also stand alone as pieces about a jilted lover; no gunfights required. The double meaning of the songs as both high-plains revenge and straight up romance works well overall.

I would have liked a little less murk and ambience and a bit more of the sparseness of a trail song in the Marty Robbins style, but the mix of styles Ortega is going for is a fragile balance and it isn’t easy to maintain the sweet spot. For the most part she lands it.

Best tracks: Afraid of the Dark, The Comeback Kid, In the Clear, Lovers in Love, Liberty

CD Odyssey Disc 891: Lindi Ortega

I’m home late after a hard day of thinking and writing and I’ve decided to start my private time doing some…thinking and writing. Hey, I like what I like.

Disc 891 is….Little Red Boots

Artist: Lindi Ortega

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? God damn but Lindi Ortega is a sexy woman. Ordinarily I’d say something clever about the guitar case but this kind of pretty turns me slack-jawed and witless.

How I Came To Know It: I believe I read about Lindi Ortega in a music magazine in 2012 and bought her album, “Cigarettes and Truckstops.” When I found out she had released an album a year earlier I ran out and bought that as well, and here it is.

How It Stacks Up:  We have four Lindi Ortega albums and “Little Red Boots” is among the best, but it still falls just short, coming in at #2.

Ratings: 4 stars

Lindi Ortega is Canada’s best kept secret, and my only regret about “Little Red Boots” is I can’t find her earlier releases. Lindi, if you’re reading then send me the early stuff and I’ll review it without delay!

Ortega’s music is a combination of alt-country, blues and rockabilly and through the years she lets the proportion of these various styles slide around considerably. “Little Red Boots” is the most pure country of the four records I own, but there is still plenty of blues and rockabilly giving it her signature sound.

The album is upbeat and Ortega’s voice, which can be sad or sultry when she wants trends more toward sprightly and joyful here. You’d be wrong to mistake that joy for a lack of depth, however. Ortega is a thoughtful songwriter who mines the depths of her heart and knows how to turn that ore into gold.

The album’s opening track is “Little Lie,” a sassy number about a girl getting to the point after her clueless boyfriend hasn’t managed to pick up on her many hints that she’s just not that into him. The song has a lively jump, and the electric guitar work over the bridge adds the right amount of grease in support of Ortega’s pure vocals.

Every track on the record finds the right balance between tradition and edge, and Ortega is a natural storyteller as she paints emotional vignettes in four minutes or less, with each song as long as it needs to be and often leaving you wanting more.

Ortega’s lyrics can be provocative and a little grimy and the playful vocal curl around the edge of her delivery makes the whole package alluring. Listening to her I think of every girl I met in a bar that I should have left well enough alone, but just couldn’t resist. When you hear her whisper “you’re gonna know me by my little red boots” on the title track you’ll know why. The song had me wanting to write stupid fan mail messages to her. Of course, I didn’t.

The heartbreak on “Angels” and “Dying of Another Broken Heart” show that Ortega also knows what it’s like to lose love, and these songs aren’t afraid to show it all. “Angels” has her drinking herself back to sleep after waking up still sad. On “Dying…” lines like:

“I should hold a funeral for every love I lost

Bury pieces of my heart under the winter frost

And in the spring they’ll be covered in forget-me-nots

I’m dying of another broken heart”

…could easily come across as maudlin, but when you hear Ortega sing them, she’s so flush with emotion that you can’t help but fall under her spell.

Ortega isn’t above talking about hard living, and I wish more women country singers would do the same. “All My Friends” is filled with booze, marijuana and pill use. The song has a heavy guitar reverb and echo that evokes various states of inebriation. It is a harbinger to the sound she will explore more fully on her next record, “Cigarettes and Truckstops.”

Every Lindi Ortega album has to have an obligatory middle finger to anyone who doesn’t like what she’s doing, and on “Little Red Boots” that song is “I’m No Elvis Presley.” It’s a pretty solid rockabilly number that starts with the challenge:

“I did my best to impress

You were not impressed I guess

Oh well, what can you do?

I sing songs and play guitar

That don’t make me a superstar

Oh well, who the hell are you?”

The song is great, and a good question for any soulless record exec (or music blogger for that matter) who puts on airs but doesn’t have the balls to put on the little red boots and do it for themselves.

Sorry, I’m not as brave as you, Lindi, but I appreciate everything you do. That includes this excellent record that I have no doubt will continue to get oodles of play in our house for many years to come.

Best tracks:  Little Lie, When All The Stars Align, Angels, Little Red Boots, Dying of Another Broken Heart, All My Friends, Fall Down or Fly

CD Odyssey Disc 787: Lindi Ortega

This next album was rolled randomly before I had a chance to give it a good three listens (I’m a bit behind on grokking the new music in my collection). As a result I took some extra time and made sure I gave it multiple rotations before writing the review.

Disc 787 is….Faded Gloryville

Artist: Lindi Ortega

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Lindi is looking very Victorian Gothic on this cover and yes I like it. If this is how beautiful she is in Faded Gloryville I’d hate to see her in Full-Bloom Gloryville; my heart couldn’t take it.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Lindi Ortega since her second album, 2012’s “Cigarettes and Truckstops.” I like her so much I buy her new releases before I even hear a song. That was the case earlier this year with “Faded Gloryville”.

How It Stacks Up: I now have four Lindi Ortega albums. If I had to be picky (and that is what this section is about) I’m going to put this one fourth. It is slightly faded compared to her previous records, but still full of glory.

Ratings: 3 stars

I really wanted to go support Lindi Ortega on her tour of this album, but unfortunately she was the opening act for Paul Brandt and I couldn’t stand the thought of watching her get shouldered off the stage after only five songs to be replaced by a lesser talent. Sorry, Paul.

The lack of commercial success for Ortega weighs on all her previous records and this, her fourth full length LP, is no exception. “Faded Gloryville’s” entry in Ortega’s “why aren’t I famous?” cannon is the self-titled track. She sings this subject from the heart, and this is one of her better songs on the topic.

“Faded Gloryville” his is a sad track about the soul-sucking experience that the music industry can be. Ortega sings (and talks) about this topic so much that it can get a bit tiresome, but this is such a perfect dirge on the topic I once again found myself forgiving her the wallow.

Ortega’s latest album is not as obsessed with the topic, and after getting it out of her system she spends most of the rest of the album chasing various facets of damaged or broken relationships.

“Ashes” opens the album with a catchy bass line and a classic theme of love’s collapse from fire to ash. This song approaches being a bit too slick, but Ortega’s delivery pulls it back from the brink, with a breathy voice that speaks of both adolescent loss and seasoned heartbreak.

Speaking of lost love, Ortega also does an inspired remake of the Bee Gee’s “To Love Somebody,” once again grounded with a kick-ass bass line (thank you bassist John Dymond). Ortega reminded me how much I loved this song while transforming it from a lovelorn complaint to a 3 a.m. ill-advised drunken booty call.

An early favourite on the album is “Run-Down Neighbourhood,” a song that has Ortega’s signature grit, and is exactly the kind of grimy subject matter that makes the prudes of Nashville unsure of her (never change for them, Lindi!). The song is about two questionably lovable people who aren’t great role models, but think they’re great for each other

“Well you can have some of my weed

If I can smoke your cigarette

I might be running low but I ain’t out just yet

I will be Tweedledee if you be Tweedledum

You can drink all of my whiskey, baby

And I will drink all of your rum.”

Lindi captures the gusto for aimless alcoholism and drug abuse not heard since Gene Simmons advised his girl that it was cold gin time…again.

Having caught my attention, Lindi plays with my heart by telling me on “I Ain’t the Girl” that she’s not the girl for me. It is all very confusing, since she admits she’s got a thing for long haired guys (check!) that are rugged with tattoos (check again! Well – the tattoo part, anyway). Sadly I wear a suit and tie to work, and don’t drive a rusty truck so I’m back to zero by the end of the first verse. I can’t help but think this song was written about all the men in her audience that stare at her starry-eyed from the floor.

Not all the tracks are as memorable, and I find when she relies on standard blues beats the songs don’t have the same oomph. “Tell it Like It Is” and “When You Ain’t Home” are original songs but they don’t feel new or interesting. It isn’t Lindi’s vocals or lyrics in either case, but rather some unimaginative blues riffs that feel at odds with the more interesting phrasing Lindi wants to draw them toward.

In terms of branching out, I like Ortega’s rockabilly effort with “Run Amuck” which has a great swing and better employs her alternative rock vibe. This section had me thinking of the country version of Imelda May and I liked it. Lindi Ortega and Imelda May would make for one hell of a double bill – forget Paul Brandt!

Best tracks:  Ashes, Faded Gloryville, To Love Somebody, Run-Down Neighbourhood, I Ain’t the Girl

CD Odyssey Disc 567: Lindi Ortega

This is the second straight album I chose to review an album under Rule #5, again so that I could also talk about the live show that accompanied it.

Disc 567 is…. Tin Star

Artist: Lindi Ortega

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover?  Lindi is posing, arms akimbo, on some old chest, the tin star brazenly signaling her intent to conquer the music world.

Even more importantly, Lindi has autographed this album to Sheila and I (more on that later).  This is only the second time I’ve got an artist to autograph an album (the last time was Kate Fenner of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, on an album I reviewed back at Disc 320 LINK.  I was similarly enamoured of Kate back in the day but this time I avoided blushing like a school boy this time around.  I have no idea how.

How I Came To Know It:  I discovered Lindi Ortega about a year and a half ago while digging up Neko Case tracks on Youtube.  Lindi was a recommended artist and so I took a chance on the song “Cigarettes & Truckstops.”  I loved that song and Lindi’s website cleverly allowed me to stream the whole album.  When I saw how great she was I ran out and bought it without a moment’s hesitation.

“Tin Star” was just me snapping up her newest release when it came out, songs unheard. After hearing her two previous records, I knew it would be good.

How It Stacks Up:  We have three Lindi Ortega albums, “Tin Star”, “Cigarettes & Truckstops” and 2011’s “Little Red Boots.”  They are all amazing, but I’ll have to put “Tin Star” third best.  Still great, but competition is fierce.

Rating:  4 stars

Listening to Lindi Ortega’s third album I am left wondering for the hundredth time, “why is this artist not more famous?”  Lindi has consistently been putting out quality records for years and yet remains relatively unknown.  It really demonstrates that fame is very arbitrarily assigned, especially when I see some of the painfully bad new country acts that enjoy commercial success.

Ortega’s style is rooted in outlaw country, with a healthy helping of both blues and Canadian roots rock. Combined with her voice – which is equal parts sexy and powerful – the result is like nothing you’ve ever heard but I’ll take a stab at it and say she’s a cross between Emmylou Harris and Neko Case with maybe a hint of Gwen Stefani’s rock/punk edge.

“Tin Star” follows the fairly bluesy “Cigarettes & Truckstops,” and is a step back in the direction of more traditional country song constructions, albeit with a lot of modern arrangements that belie her obvious love for rock and alternative music.

Where on previous albums Ortega touched on the ephemeral nature of fame I noted earlier, on “Tin Star” it becomes the central theme.  Mercifully uninterested pointless, vacuous Nashville studio hits, Ortega instead is clearly inspired by her own experience, and not afraid to share those experiences in her writing.

The title track, “Tin Star” is a good example, and as far as I’m concerned what should be a classic country song for decades to come for the music alone.  Ortega juxtaposes her own tin star ‘beat up and rusty’ with the myriad stars of country music that she is surrounded by in the Nashville community.  The bridge of the song has her poignantly admit:

“Well if the music wasn’t running through the blood in my veins

I might just walk away, O I would walk away.

But the music keeps on running through the blood in my veins

And it just makes me stay, O it makes me stay.”

Other songs that follow upon this theme include the up-tempo and defiant “All These Cats” detailing the competitive nature of the music industry, and “Waiting On My Luck to Change” which feels like a cross between a forties standard and a Patsy Cline crooner.

The album explores the full range of love song themes as well because hey - the world can’t have enough love songs.  “Something for You” is a vulnerable and exposed song of longing whereas “I Want You” is the same vulnerability expressed as pure sexual desire.  Ortega has a siren’s voice that hint at rocks just under the surface of the water, but that would have you steer your boat onto the reef anyway.

“This is Not Surreal” had me thinking of early Leonard Cohen songs like “Master Song” or “Who By Fire”, with its haunting flamenco guitar style, augmented with a Daniel Lanois-like echo in the production that really worked.

“Voodoo Mama” was my least favourite.  It’s actually a good song, just not in my wheel house.  It celebrates New Orleans’ music tradition, both lyrically and instrumentally but I wasn’t feeling the pull like I do with some other classic Louisiana songs like Emmylou’s “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” or Tom Petty’s “Louisiana Rain.”  Maybe I just like my Louisiana songs to be more depressing.  And on that note…

“Lived and Died Alone” is a brilliantly brave and edgy song about necrophilia (yes, necrophilia) that reminded me of Alice Cooper’s “I Love the Dead” from a female perspective.  Whereas Cooper’s “I Love the Dead” is outward looking and sexually focused, “Lived and Died Alone” is more a tragic love song.  In it our heroine digs up corpses to sleep with because they are the only partners that she feels are as lonely as her, and therefore the only partner that can truly understand her.  It is creepy as hell, but I like creepy.

The album ends with “Songs About,” returning to Ortega’s compulsion to write and play music.  I hope she never loses that because she is head and shoulders above the vast majority of what is coming out of Nashville these days.  Never lose heart, Lindi – the Indigo Girls got rejected by Nashville (and wrote a kick ass song about it on their way out of town) and Leonard Cohen never even made it there, getting waylaid by the charms of New York along the way.  They both turned out pretty well.

 

Best tracks:   Hard as This, Tin Star, Lived and Died Alone, Something for You, All These Cats, Songs About

The Concert – November 14, 2013 at Lucky Bar

Lucky Bar as a venue is basically a big cavern, so to get a good spot you just have to forget about finding a table and go stand on the dance floor, which is what we did.

The opening act was Devin Cuddy (Jim Cuddy’s son, if you’re wondering). Vocally, I wished that he would sing into the higher register a bit more often, and I also wanted his songs to be a little more dynamic, but he is a pretty talented blues piano player and did well overall.  I wish he had a guitar accompanying him (and I think he wished the same, at one point exclaiming, “this song has a pretty extensive guitar section which you’ll just have to imagine”).  The lack of a band kept the arrangements a bit too sparse for the Bob Dylan/Ray Charles inspired folk-blues he was playing, but that wasn’t his fault.

When Lindi Ortega hit the stage the room felt instantly filled with the strength of her personality.  She has a great stage presence, and banter that borders on actual conversation with the audience.  Her persona is a cross between rock star and coquette and she wears it perfectly.  She also wears her little black dress and little red boots perfectly and it would be deeply dishonest of me if I didn’t note the obvious; Lindi Ortega is smokin’ hot.

Fortunately, her music is every bit the equal of her beauty.  The great voice I noted in the album review was on full display, and filled the relatively small venue.

The set list was well chosen, with a focus on her new material.  “Tin Star” was a particular favourite for me as well as the obvious and devilish joy she had singing the combative “All These Cats” – take that haters!

She doesn’t soft-pedal her edginess for a live audience, and I was thrilled when she sang “Lived and Died Alone” – even more thrilled when she acknowledged me when I shouted out the Alice Cooper lyric “I love the dead before they’re cold.”  (Before she started playing – I’m not a dick). I love a country girl who rocks the Alice Cooper vibe.

She only played about a half dozen songs from her earlier albums, but they were well chosen, standouts including “Angels,” “Little Lie” and a performance of “Little Red Boots” that had the attention of every man in the room, and more than a few of the women.

I also loved hearing “High” which is an unabashed song about..er…getting high.  Greg Keelor would be proud, but I’m sure it is just the type of song that horrifies the country music establishment.  Good.

I would have liked to hear “Murder of Crows” but without a bass player (she only had drums and guitar accompanying her) I think it would have suffered.

I had been Youtubing Ortega a fair bit leading up to the show, so I knew she did a few covers as well, and the concert was no exception.  She played the hell out of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and clearly enjoyed the over-the-top nature of the song as much as I do.  She also played the Eagles’ “Desperado” but it felt more like the Johnny Cash version to me (i.e. – better).  “Desperado” really showed off her vocal chops yet again.

The show was exceptional, and Ortega not only commands centre-stage, she obviously enjoys standing there.  Some artists tour just for the money, but you get the feeling that Ortega truly loves the fan interaction.

And special bonus points for taking time to meet the fans after the show was over.  She offered everyone a hug (I’m still kicking myself for forgetting to cash that cheque) and graciously let herself be photographed a dozen times.  When I finally got to the head of the receiving line I desperately wanted to discuss music, but instead I just blurted out how Sheila and I were both wearing little red shoes.  At least I thought to give her my blog card and got to put my arm around her waist.

I’m not sure Lindi Ortega lives for that fan interaction at the end (as Rush teaches us in “Limelight” there will always be a disconnect between the musician and the fan) but there is an undeniable warmth about her nonetheless as she takes the time to glad-hand with strangers.

So kudos to you, Lindi.  You are not only crazy talented and dead sexy – you are gracious to (little red) boot. 

You're going to know us by our little red boots!