Red Alert

SHE’S half-Irish, half-Mexican and grew up in Toronto. But Lindi Ortega is pure cowgirl.

The new rising star of alternative country, the self-styled girl in red boots has the voice of a young, innocent Dolly Parton, the twang of Duane Eddy and the swagger of Johnny Cash.

An established artist in her native Canada, she has hit the festival circuit hard as a backing-singer in Killers star Brandon Flowers’s band, and is now pricking up the ears of Americana fans.

So how did a sweet Ontario musician end up sounding like she has just driven a pick-up truck out of the Appalachians?

“I define my music as a roadside motel love affair between old school outlaws and country darlings,” she says flamboyantly.

“My mom was a big country music fan when I was growing up,” she goes on. “I started listening to it because of her and then I became transfixed by all things country and all things Southern.

“A lot of people tell me they can hear an Irish lilt in my voice or my melodies, and I think that may come from the Irish folk songs I heard growing up. But I also play guitar pretty rhythmically and that definitely comes from my Mexican roots. Also my aesthetic is very Mexican influenced; I wear flowers in my hair to pay tribute to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.”

She certainly cuts a striking figure – with cherry lips and her trademark red boots.

“Red is a colour I’m just drawn to,” she says. “I gravitate towards anything red. It’s like a blinking light in the colour palette of my mind. I find it very passionate.”

Lindi is talking from her new apartment in Nashville Tennessee, where she has been spending the day writing songs for her next record.

“I decided to move from Canada to the USA over the holidays,” she says. “And it was quite a feat to pack up everything I own and take it across the border. My Christmas was spent packing and my New Year’s Eve was spent unpacking.”

Her move has taken her to her spiritual home – at the rhinestone-studded heart of country music. It’s a smart move for the genre’s most exciting new act, who is currently promoting her latest album – the appropriately titled Little Red Boots.

“Toronto has a very indie-rock kind of music scene,” she says. “There isn’t a big scene for what I do. There is only one country music venue in the city, which is part of the reason why I decided to move to Nashville.

“It means I can play more and connect more with people who understand the type of music I do.

“What I’m after is very simple,” she goes on. “I just want to be able to continue to tour my music all over and release records for as long as possible. I am currently touring Little Red Boots, but now starting to think about a follow up and that’s very exciting. My aim is to make music that moves or touches people in some way. To make a connection between myself and the listener.

“The highlight of my career, so far, has been going to the UK and Europe and playing my music for people across the pond. To me it’s just amazing that I’m able to do that and that people actually show up to hear me sing. It blows my mind!”

She certainly seems to be winning over her share of fans – including those who, shall we say, are not your usual country music devotees.

“I see all sorts of people coming out to my shows; young and old, men and women,” she says. “Everyone is welcome. My favourite thing to hear from people is ‘I usually listen to metal, but I love your stuff’. It’s great winning over the punks and metal heads.”

And that goes for the Killers frontman, with whom she toured.

“It was a definitely a learning experience,” she admits. “His booking agent had seen me sing and remembered me when Brandon was looking for a backing singer.

“I’d never been involved in that level of the industry before and it was interesting to see how it all worked.

“Also I had never intended being a back-up singer, but found the role to be eye-opening.

“I had only ever known being a front person doing my own thing, not a backing singer for a rock star’s new solo album. But I’m glad I had the opportunity and I’m grateful for the lessons I got out of it.”

Was she a Killers fan before the tour? “I knew a couple of songs from the radio, but I was not familiar with all their albums,” she says. “But since we did a few Killers songs in the show I got to know their music.”

So, what is it with those boots? “Every time I’m on stage I wear red boots,” she laughs. “I am now on to my second pair. The first ones got damaged in a swamp just outside New Orleans. These second ones I got in Nashville, just like the first. I get all my boots there.

“But while I wear strictly boots on stage, in everyday life I wear all sorts of shoes… I even have a few pairs of sparkly red high heels!”

* Lindi Ortega plays the Jericho Tavern, Oxford, on Saturday, January 28, at 8pm.