Lindipendence Day

Pre-show, somewhere in Paris, countrified singer-songwriter Lindi Ortega is curling her hair. She’s more than a little tired and multi-tasking, halfway through her first ever jaunt outside of North America.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” she sighs. “But I’m very pleased. It’s lovely to have Little Red Boots out there and have it heard by people outside my own country. My show in Dublin went down really well actually. Everybody seemed to be really into the music. My mom is Irish so I’ve travelled to Ireland before.”
Ah yes, the Canadian songstress is blessed with an Irish mother and a Mexican father. Surely that resulted in a lot of Catholic guilt growing up?
“Yeah, actually, it did!” she laughs. “There was a little bit of Catholic guilt but I got over it. After school I studied philosophy and started to learn about other things. That sorted me out.”
So how does a Canadian philosophy student end up indebted to the sound of Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton?
“Because of my mom. She was really into country music when I was growing up. We used to watch the Dolly Parton Show together. She had a lot of Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson records as well, she kinda put the bug in my ear. And I found the older I got, the more I was drawn to the genre, particularly the old outlaw artists and traditional stuff, going way back into Gene Autry and Hank Williams territory.”
Ortega has been making her own music for over a decade, a fixture on Toronto’s independent scene, though a move to Nashville is on the cards in January
“I’m trying to get closer to finding myself a cowboy!” she smirks.
The Taste Of Forbidden Fruit was her first long-player back in 2001.
“That seems like a whole other me, a whole other lifetime ago. It’s pretty crazy to think there’s been such an evolution musically and personally for me since then.”
Ten years on, Little Red Boots seems set to finally announce her to the wider world. Some recent time as Brandon Flowers’ backing singer certainly helped.
“Brandon’s booking agent saw me do a showcase in LA and they were looking for backing singers,” Ortega explains. “They were really down to the wire as his tour was starting – they were a bit frantic. At that time, I was just getting out of the major label deal I was on. I was waiting for all the legalities to go through, which can take a lot of time, so I figured, ‘Why not travel the world with a big rock star?’ Not many people will pass that up. I got to try a lot of fun things, Later… With Jools Holland, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, experience all the festivals...”
In her solo guise, Lindi has shared the stage with another twinkly-eyed idol, having supported Kevin Costner’s country rock band throughout the midwest. A slightly different audience to the one Brandon gets?
“Exactly, much different! Brandon Flowers gets a lot of girls at his shows, all in love with him.”
That would suggest the star of Waterworld doesn’t...
“Well, Costner has a lot of older women in love with him! A lot of people don’t know he plays music actually. It was one of my favourite, fondest tours because the midwest received my music really well. Plus it was cool to say, ‘I’m on tour with Kevin Costner!’ Dances With Wolves is one of my favourite movies. So it was kind of hard to separate him from that.”
Did Lindi cajole him into re-enacting scenes from his distinguished career?
“Nooo, I wouldn’t dare. After seeing the whole Billy Bob Thornton interview blow-up about ‘not mentioning my acting’ I didn’t want to take any chances!”

Little Red Boots is out now on Last Gang Records