Canadian singer-songwriter Lindi Ortega released her fourth full-length a few weeks back. It’s called Faded Gloryville (The Grand Tour?)
And it’s full of faded characters and lowly places – cheap motels, brothels and saloons replete with drinkers and broken souls who have seen better days. Ortega was “inspired” by the Scott Cooper-helmed film Crazy Heart featuring Jeff Bridges in the lead role and Ryan Bingham’s music. Could a similar downhill music trajectory happen to her, she thought?.
It’s not likely.
Ortega’s last album Tin Star (2013) earned a (Canadian) Juno nomination, full of passion and recounting stories of a struggling artist (she now lives in Nashville TN.
Just as it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those familiar with her incredible gifts that the feisty, fiery and fierce force of nature had no intention of taking up permanent residency in Faded Gloryville.
It was a pitstop. She took what she needed, saw the sights, hung with the locals, and high-tailed it out of there, hitting the road to capture its essence in three very different recording sessions.
The first two were with producers familiar to her work, Dave Cobb who was behind the boards for Tin Star, and fellow Canadian castaway Colin Linden, who helped her realize her vision for 2012’s Polaris Prize nominated Cigarettes & Truckstops.
The results of those, Lindi says, should be pleasing to those many fans who’ve discovered her over the years, fallen hard for her own unique take on the torch and twang of her country influences such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn that has taken her around the world to enthusiastic audiences everywhere.
The final session, though, was one that took her in a somewhat different direction, towards a more Muscle Shoals sound utilized by those that came before her such as Solomon Burke, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke — artists she expresses an affinity and fondness for.
Helping her navigate the new terrain were John Paul White from The Civil Wars and Ben Tanner from the Alabama Shakes, who co-produced in their studio in the deep south what Lindi describes as three of the album’s more “soulful tunes.”
“I feel like country music, itself, is all encompassing. There are different facets of it,” Lindi explains.“And I love all of it, and I’ve always wanted to explore all sounds country-wise. I’ve explored bluegrass, I’ve explored outlaw country, I’ve explored classic country. And now I’m exploring this vibe. Maybe it isn’t necessarily country but it’s connected to the south. So I feel that it makes sense.”
And despite the three different directions Lindi took in the recording process, together, the nine originals and a heartfelt cover of the Bee Gees’ classic “To Love Somebody”, do all make sense, delivering what is the singer-songwriter’s most assured, varied and engaging release to date.
It features everything from barnburner songs and the good ol’ foot-stomping, toe-tapping numbers to the ballads that Lindi has made her calling card, all delivered with an energy and emotional investment that makes them utterly her own.
And, of course, wrapped up in those fashionably tattered yet toney musical threads are the tales of those long-time denizens of Faded Gloryville, delivered with a remarkable amount of smarts, heart and humour.
“There ain’t no stars in Faded Gloryville,” she croons on the title cut. “We’ve chased our dreams into the ground/If disillusion has some hope to kill/Here nobody wears a crown.”And here’s where you’ll find the downtrodden and forgotten, the sinners and saintless, the jaded and jaundiced.
There’s Cheech & Chong-esque enabler couple in “Run Down Neighborhood”, whose derelict dates are down to the local convenience store.
There’s the victim of addiction in “Run Amuck”, who learns the hard way that, “When you run with the Devil you burn everything you touch/Bridges and money and everyone you love.”
And here, too, is the very Lindi-like subject of affection in the song “I Ain’t That Girl”, who warns her would-be suitor that his money, status and Mercedes convertible aren’t going to get the job done: “Ain’t gonna tell you any lies/I’ve got a thing for long-haired guys/You’re too clean-cut with polished shoes/I like ’em rugged with tattoos.”
These are just some of those that find themselves in that town where dreams are left behind and all but forgotten. They may be those we know. They may be us. They may one day be.
But lest you think that the album is one with no hope, an obituary for those who find themselves at the outskirts and on their way into a life from which there is no return, Lindi points to the opening song “Ashes”, which speaks of rising, Phoenix-like, out of that heartbreak and despair and finding oneself, evolving into something more. Ultimately this story, her story, everyone’s story can and should be one of redemption.
“I always look at it like in order to get to Paradise you have to travel through Faded Gloryville,” she says.
Amen.
And Welcome to Faded Gloryville.
Songs / Writing Credits:
1. Ashes – Lindi Ortega / James Robertson
2. Faded Gloryville – Lindi Ortega
3 .Tell It Like It Is – Lindi Ortega
4. Someday Soon – Lindi Ortega / John Paul White
5. To Love Somebody – Bee Gees Cover
6. When You Ain’t Home – Lindi Ortega / Brice Long
7. Run Down Neighborhood – Lindi Ortega / Bruce Wallace
8. I Aint The Girl – Lindi Ortega
9. Run Amuck – Lindi Ortega / Tofer Brown
10. Half Moon – Lindi Ortega / Trent Dabbs / Dan Brigham
Recording Sessions:
Colin Linden Session:
Songs: Ashes, Tell It Like It Is, Faded Gloryville, Half Moon
Produced by Colin Linden
Recorded by Mike Stankiewicz at Sound Emporium, Nashville and
Colin Linden at Pinhead Recorders
Assisted by Zack Pancoast
Drums/Percussion-Bryan Owings
Bass- John Dymond
Organ- Ian Fitchuk
Guitars- Colin Linden
Drums/percussion on Faded Gloryville – Gary Craig
Thanks to Janice Powers, Casey Lutton, Danny Rowe, Juanita Copeland
Muscle Shoals Session:
Songs: Someday Soon, To Love Somebody, When You Ain’t Home
Produced By: Ben Tanner and John Paul White
Engineer and keys – Ben Tanner
Acoustic guitar and harmony vocals- John Paul White
Electric guitar – Jeremy Fetzer
Bass – David Hood
Drums and percussion – Jeremy Gibson
Trumpet – Rob Alley
Trombone – Chad Fisher
Cello – Caleb Elliott
Violin – Kimi Samson
Dave Cobb – Session:
Songs: Run Amuck, Rundown Neighborhood, I Ain’t The Girl
Engineered and produced by Dave Cobb
Acoustic Guitar – Dave Cobb
Zachary Pancoast -Assistant engineer
Chris Powell- drums and percussion
Brian Allen -Bass
Jason cope – Electric Guitar
James Robertson – Electric Guitar
Recorded at sound emporium Nashville
Thanks to Shore Fire Media
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