![\"M-32-lindi-ortega\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-32-lindi-ortega.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nWhat a difference a move can make\u2014just ask singer-songwriter\u00a0Lindi Ortega. \u201cWhen I was living in Toronto, I\u2019d come off tour, get into my onesie, watch reruns and eat Cheerios,\u201d says the Canadian native. \u201cNow, living in Nashville, I come home, see what people are up to, and that kicks my butt into being more productive and less complacent musically.\u201d<\/p>\n
That late 2011 change of address also jump-started her creativity on her new album, Tin Star<\/i>, and is reflected in its title track, describing the no-man\u2019s-land between glitzy Music Row and the local bar scene where musicians play for tips. Her lilting, Dolly Parton-esque soprano can quaver on the macabre, serve up the tender \u201cLived and Died Alone,\u201d and occasionally break into a rockabilly rave-up like \u201cAll These Cats.\u201d Ortega\u2019s self-described \u201cstrange brew\u201d of country, Americana, blues, rockabilly and gospel has led her to open for diverse acts including Social Distortion, Dierks Bentley and k.d. lang.<\/p>\n
Where many artists prefer the comfort of employing the same producer and band, Ortega works with new personnel on every new record. For Tin Star<\/i>, she sought out producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell,\u00a0Secret Sisters). The strategy brings new energy to her music. \u201cWhen I write, my songs are pretty skeletal, just me and a guitar,\u201d she says. \u201cThe producer and I will go through each one and figure out what instrumentation works best. We used a Mellotron on this album, which is something I\u2019ve never done. We also used a vintage drum machine that had samples of actual drumbeats\u2014not digital, programmed drumbeats. We used that with a real drummer, so they were playing together\u2014it sounded interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recording live in the studio, Ortega finished most songs in just one or two takes. \u201cI like capturing the excitement of the first few takes,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a spirit there that might get lost if we did a song 20 times. And recording live makes it feel more like a show, and more of a full-band effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Tin Star <\/i>and its critically acclaimed predecessor, 2012\u2019s Cigarettes & Truckstops<\/i>, have launched Ortega to the forefront of the Americana scene, she does her best to ignore the pressures that come with rising stardom. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to write songs if I was paying a lot of attention to living up to others\u2019 expectations. I focus on living up to the last thing I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Juli Thanki<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LINDI ORTEGA A move to Music City results in a burst of creative energy\u00a0 What a difference a move can make\u2014just ask singer-songwriter\u00a0Lindi Ortega. \u201cWhen I was living in Toronto, I\u2019d come off tour, get into my onesie, watch reruns and eat Cheerios,\u201d says the Canadian native. \u201cNow, living in Nashville, I come home, see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[7403,2149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12325,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12322\/revisions\/12325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}