Lindi Ortega dives headfirst into old school-country music on 'Little Red Boots'

Lindi Ortega has been touring as a backing singer for Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, on his solo project. But now the Canadian country singer releases Little Red Boots in the UK. It's named after a pair of red boots that she got while on tour in Midwest America, with the actor/singer Kevin Costner.

"I am a big Costner fan. My favourite movie is Dances with Wolves, so it was surreal touring with him," says Ortega. "It's when I started wearing the red boots out in these first shows that people noticed them. I was inspired by Wonder Woman who also had red boots. At the time I felt like this spaghetti Western, comic-strip superhero riding into town with her guitar and red boots. So I wrote the album's title track on a napkin."

Ortega, with her jet-black hair and red-stained lips, is a hipper version of Dolly Parton. She self-released her first cabaret album, The Taste of Forbidden Fruit, in 2001. But it only consisted of one country song, "Tomorrow You'll Say Goodbye". Country music crept in a bit more with her second self-release, Fall from Grace in 2007. Now she has dived headfirst into old school-country music on her new album.

Her toe-tapping heartbreak songs include "Little Lie" and "Dying of Another Broken Heart" – but her favourite is the joyous bluegrass track "Blue Bird".

Lindi Ortega's 'Little Red Boots' is out on Monday. For her UK tour: www.lindiortega.com