Let’s deal with the obvious first, yes, Nashville-by-way-of-Toronto Lindi Ortega’s soprano trill is reminiscent to a certain buxom, bewigged country music superstar. It’s not something she shies away from. Hell she even name-checks Dolly on the title cut. But where Dolly would chirp hopefully within every syllable leading to a home-spun happy ending Ortega takes a dreamy Julie Cruise into a beautifully melancholic coastal journey driving the protagonist toward a reunion with a love that may (or may not) end well.
The Day You Die is a dark tune about enduring a loveless marriage, though you might miss that with it’s lively shuffle. Despair and hopelessness also runs through Lead Me On, where a the title plays on the equine and behavioral definition. This tale of unrequited love is as beautifully sad and gritty and echos classic heartache from the Tammy Wynette songbook.
“Don’t Wanna Hear” simmers with rockabilly sass that show’s why she was slated to open slot for Orange County roots-punkers Social Distortion. The Middle-East tinged dobro of the confessional Murder of Crows and the Old Testament haunted Heaven Has No Vacancy are beautiful dark roots dirges that would make Lonesome Wyatt wail in agony.
Colin Linden ( Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett) production does an excellent job of allowing Ortega’s tales of darkness and love to glide over the entirety of “Cigarettes & Truckstops” by setting just the right amount of solemn atmosphere or shifting into an open road twang when necessary.
“Cigarettes & Truckstops,” Lindi Ortega’s follow-up to 2011’s excellent “Little Red Boots,” proves the lady’s no fluke. The nearly flawless album displays a maturity and depth that ” Boots” only hinted at and gives us one of the best Americana music releases of the year.
Review from Twang Nation (www.twangnation.com)
Somewhere in an old 1960’s apartment building in the city of Toronto, Canada, a well worn pair of cherry red cowboy boots wait by the door. About a half foot from those boots sits a guitar case, brightly decorated with glittery stars and images of Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo.
A little down the hallway and towards the bedroom, a Johnny Cash record is spinning away. On the bed is a journal with a bird on the front cover and the saying “Go Slow, Life in Progress”.Sitting on the floor with a bottle of merlot and a red flower in her dark hair is where we find Lindi Ortega.It’s rather obvious from her appearance that Miss Ortega, with her ruby lips and Mexican/Irish background, is the kind of gal that would stand out in a crowd, but she prefers to be standing in front of one.
Ortega released a four song EP in 2009 on Interscope/Cherrytree records called THE DRIFTER EP. It was met with critical acclaim. Toronto’s ‘Eye Weekly’ gave it a glowing four star review and called it “The perfect EP” and “A terrific teaser”. UR Chicago Magazine remarked that Lindi’s voice “undulates with absolute splendour”. In her time at Interscope Lindi was able to lend her vocals for the Diplo and Switch track “Good Enough”, also featuring Collie Buddz for the Major Lazer EP “Lazers Never Die” (2010).
She’s no stranger to the stage, having toured across Canada and the United States, Ortega has performed for all kinds of audiences. She opened for the UK band Keane in North America, as well as a successful Midwest run with movie star Kevin Costner and his band The Modern West.Lindi has also applied her delicious vocals as a backup singer for Brandon Flowers (The Killers)since August 2010.
Lindi has already been proclaimed, “One of the most important new artists of the year,” (Tom Lanham, The SF Examiner). With her arresting vocals and unique brand of alt country, a genre she describes as “a roadside motel love affair between old school outlaws and country darlings”. The record will be a collection of songs that aims to speak to the desperado in all of us. Be sure to keep an ear out for that sweet vibrato and an eye out for those little red boots because it won’t be long before Canada boasts of a brand new country darling.
