Affectionately known to her friends as “indie Lindi”, Ortega is a darling of alternative country music.
Nashville’s music family considers the Canadian born songstress one of their own which shows in her sophomore release, which was recorded in and serves as an ode to the city and its sounds.
For Cigarettes & Truckstops, the singer teamed up with Blues producer Colin Linden. Revered for his work with artists Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett, Linden also plays guitar on the album and assembled a band of some of Nashville’s best for the recording.
Ortega is a lonesome troubadour boarding a greyhound bus in search of love the LP’s title track, and it isn’t the only song on the record that successfully builds a bridge between alternative and mainstream country music.
“Murder Of Crows” is a ballad that oozes charm, after shooting her lover the protagonist relays to us that “he’s buried in the back near the tracks by a field of corn rows.’ Slide guitar brings the blues to this number, along with Ms. Ortega’s dark and delicious pleas for clemency.
Cigarettes & Truckstops gives the sympathetic listener a reason to cry, laugh and dance, in no particular order. Whilst singing about the blues, Lindi Ortega pokes fun at herself also, making light of a situation, giving a nod toward history and old-school country music.
