By Lorne Eckersley
After more than a decade of living out of a suitcase and performing her music on the road, Lindi Ortega says she was feeling burnt out when she and her husband, Daniel Huscroft, moved to Creston last year.
It was a natural move for Daniel, who was born and raised here. For Lindi, though, the change was dramatic. The Toronto native had spent six years in Nashville, Tennessee before getting married. She and Daniel then spent two years living in Calgary while she finished off performing commitments.
“I have toured all across Canada, but had never been to Creston until I met Daniel,” she said last Thursday. “But when I travelled in BC I fell in love with the mountains and all the natural beauty. Even before I fell in love with Daniel I was thinking of moving from Nashville back to Canada—not to Toronto or Eastern Canada, but to British Columbia.
“I have been to the Swiss Alps and the French Alps, and to Colorado, but I had never seen such beauty as in BC.”
In her music career of more than 20 years, Lindi Ortega became well-known across Canada and into the US and Europe, but the travel and inability to settle down took its toll.
Daniel came into her life at a fortuitous time.
“I met Daniel in Nashville of all places,” she laughed. Johnny Reid, a Canadian-Scottish country music artist, had invited her to participate in a song-writing gathering in his guesthouse. Also in Nashville at the time was Calgary’s JJ Shiplett, who performed with both Daniel and Lindi at the Blossom Festival opening three years ago.
“JJ came down the stairs and Daniel was right behind him,” she recalled. “Who’s that guy, I wondered.”
She had just come out of a few bad relationships and wasn’t looking for another.
“I was resigned to being a cat lady, living on my own into my old age,” she said, only half joking. “But we had four days together there, and we spent time together every day. We were like magnets. At first I thought he was younger than me, but then I learned we were both born in 1979. We just kind of went into our own universe—we just fell for each other.”
Daniel left Nashville after those short days, but returned not long later. She asked him to join her in Toronto for Christmas so he could meet her mom, too—“that was a huge leap of faith!”
Not long after Daniel asked Lindi to marry him.
“What are we going to do,” she asked. “I live in Nashville, you live in Creston.”
For the next while Lindi would continue her musical career, and Daniel came back to Creston.
“He would send me these little videos of his life in Creston, like of him chopping wood in his living room! Creston looked so beautiful, and Daniel owned a property with a shop on it.”
Eventually they settled on starting their life as newlyweds in Calgary. Lindi needed to be near an airport.
“I had a tour commitment with Chris Stapleton (the American singer/songwriter who has written six number-one country songs),” she said. She enlisted Daniel to accompany her on the tour, and while Lindi said it was great for their relationship, the returns back to Calgary did nothing for Daniel’s psyche.
“He aways wanted to move back to Creston, he was always longing for home,” she said. “Daniel was never happy to be in Calgary, and eventually our rental house was put up for sale.”
Once again, decision time was upon the couple.
By that time, though, Lindi had performed in Creston, met much of Daniel’s family, fallen in love with the Kootenays and had a mother who was determined to leave her home in Toronto to start a new life.
Lindi’s sense of burnout made the decision to move to Creston easier, and she and Daniel were both relieved that he hadn’t sold the property during the inevitable near-poverty times of a performer.
“I had being doing music for 20 years, and working as a professional for 11 years of hardcore touring,” she reminisced. “It affected me physically, my voice felt wrong and and I was starting to feel depressed. There was fear, too, though, because I didn’t know who I would be without music.”
Her perceptive mother, having made the move to Creston, encouraged Lindi to visit Kootenay Employment Services, where a job counsellor encouraged her to identify her other skills and passions. Soon she was enrolled in the LEAP program for aspiring entrepreneurs, forming new social circles and settling into the slower rhythms of small-town life.
“As I got to know more and more people I fell in love with the community.”
Soon the two-time Juno award nominee, the performer with a half dozen albums under her belt, was getting ready to dive into a new endeavour.
“I was just about ready to launch my photography business—LindiVisual—when Covid-19 struck!”
But social distancing, business closures and isolation recommendations had an unexpected benefit.
“I started back to music,” she chuckled. “I have been playing and writing songs, and feeling more hopeful again. Maybe I can find a way to combine music and photography.”
Gradually, the 40-year-old has made a transition from endless travel, hotel living and constantly being among musicians.
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“My mom and I are so in love with Creston. Last spring we would go out for two-hour walks every morning. The gorgeous mountains and scenery are different every day. And I love the birds and all the wildlife!”
Her life is more socially diverse now.
“I love going to Casey’s with my girlfriends for a glass of wine, to Jimmy’s to sing karaoke, to the Kokanee for more fun. And the people I have met through the KES programs have been amazing!”
In 2019 Lindi joined the Creston Valley Blossom Festival board and she was organizing some events before the pandemic forced the festival’s cancellation.
“Our (Blossom Festival) theme this year was the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, and I did several photographic portraits of our remaining veterans—that was a very special experience!”
She has lots of ideas about where the photography interest might take her.
“I would love to do a series of portraits of some of the interesting people I have met in the Creston Valley—there are so many of them,” she said, adding that she made had plans to work with another artist to collaborate on a project. “Maybe we can still make it happen.”
In addition to her photography business, Lindi also pursues another sideline. She has “a jingle business,” in which she writes 30-second songs customized for the recipient, who might be celebrating a birthday or other other special event.
“That’s been going super well!”
She asks for three details about the recipient, then sets about writing a short song.
“I am forced to make some really crazy rhymes, like something to go with ‘horse-loving wife!”
She joked about the simple pleasures in Creston, like getting excited about getting her “N” sticker as a new driver.
On weekends, she says, she visits the worksite to see what Daniel, an accomplished builder, has done on their new house during the week.
“If I’m lucky I get to pick up a paintbrush!”
She has fond memories of her time in Tennessee.
“I loved living among the history of Nashville, playing at the Ryman Auditorium, visiting the Grand Ole Opry, meeting great musicians.
“But Nashville and Creston are two different universes—and this one is my favourite. I will never go back to living in a city!”
Follow Lindi Ortega on Facebook or Instagram, or visit https://www.lindiortega.com. Her albums and EPs, including her most recent, Liberty, can be found on Apple Music, iTunes and Spotify.