FREEDOM OVER FAME
Ortega charts own course
Lindi Ortega has found her place in the world of music. It might not have all the trappings of stardom but its comfort level can’t be beat.
Ortega, who will be in Regina Saturday for Winterruption 2018, has been performing professionally since 2001. Over that time, she has developed a unique style that features intriguing vocals and deeply emotional lyrics.
Originally from Toronto, Ortega followed her music dreams to Nashville. During her time in Music City, Ortega fashioned a successful career that included critically acclaimed albums and entertaining live shows. While this template is enough for Ortega to sustain a career, it has fallen short of making her a superstar in the music business.
But she’s OK with that. “I stopped sort of chasing the dream of breaking and being sort of a big deal in the industry a long time ago,” Ortega said in a recent phone interview to promote her 35-date tour which opens Friday in Saskatoon.
“I’m not really interested in being famous or making a lot of money. It would be nice to not have to worry about money but I don’t want to trade the freedom of doing the music that I enjoy creating and love to perform for simply trying to get a hit on the radio or making a lot of money.
“For me, I guess my creative integrity is the most important thing for me and if that means I’m an under-the-radar artist for the rest of my life, then so be it. At least I’m rich in creative freedom.”
Ortega, who moved to Calgary last year and recently married guitarist Daniel Huscroft, knows many people slog off every morning to jobs they absolutely hate. Ortega, on the other hand, has a job she truly loves and treasures.
“It’s great to be able to do your passion for a living,” Ortega said.
The tour, which has 15 Canadian dates mixed with 20 U.S. shows, is slated to run through May 12. It comes on the heels of Til The Goin’ Gets Gone, a four-song EP Ortega released on March 17, 2017. The album, her first since parting ways with Last Gang Records, is truly an independent recording — in an interview last year with Postmedia, Ortega said she scrambled to find a “measly budget” to make the recording.
Comprised of three original songs — What A Girl’s Gotta Do, Final Bow and Til The Goin’ Gets Gone — along with a cover of Waiting Around To Die, a Townes Van Zandt tune, the album has garnered rave reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and Huffington Post.
As Ortega continues her independent journey, she’s getting ready to unveil her biggest project to date: a concept album that she just couldn’t help but create. Titled Liberty, the album was inspired by Ortega’s love of spaghetti westerns and how that genre walks hand-inhand with the realities of life.
“I look at this record as a spaghetti western spectacular,” Ortega said with a laugh. “It’s very influenced by spaghetti westerns but it’s spaghetti westerns the way Lindi Ortega would do it. I don’t even know what that is but it’s my take on a character who is driven and goes from dark situations to find their way, crawling out of a dark tunnel into the light and toward something more positive.
“That was really important for me for this record because so often I’d speak to people after shows and they’d come up to me and tell me how certain songs got them through really dark times in their lives.
“I wanted to make a whole record that spoke to that so that’s where the idea was born.”
Being an independent artist was an advantage in this particular case, as most labels would shy away from allowing an artist the leeway to pursue such an unusual project. Instead, Ortega controlled everything about the project. She decided what her vision was and then went ahead and captured that vision.
“It’s all on me at the end of the day,” Ortega said. “That’s a big amount of freedom, that’s for sure. The record is called Liberty and I think it mirrors my own journey through the darkness. I also made it so it could mirror anybody’s journey toward freedom and liberty, away from anything that holds them down or holds them back in life.”
Liberty is set to be released on March 30 and Ortega will perform some of the new music on this tour.
“As a precursor to the record coming out I might throw in a few tunes and definitely make mention of it coming out,” said Ortega.
“I’ll play a couple of tunes and see how they like them.”