ACCLAIMED AMERICANA MUSICIANS LINDI ORTEGA AND JACK BARKSDALE DELIVER TWO FASCINATING TOM WAITS CLASSICS, “HOW’S IT GONNA END” AND “YESTERDAY IS HERE”, EACH WITH THEIR OWN VIDEO
“Why Tom Waits? The better question is ‘Why not Tom Waits?’,” states Jack Barksdale. “His songs are really fun to cover, and you can’t really play them like Tom Waits does, so you’re pretty much forced to make them your own.”
Listen to their charming renditions of Tom Waits’ memorable tunes, “How’s It Gonna End” and “Yesterday Is Here”, and it’s hard to believe that Lindi Ortega and Jack Barksdale haven’t been performing together for years.
Ortega, a celebrated roots noir artist, and Barksdale, a roots music wunderkind, met up for this unique collaboration through their mutual friend, Grammy Award-nominated multi-instrumentalist/producer Mike Meadows (Willie Nelson, Shawn Colvin, Hayes Carll). When Meadows brought Jack in to play some slides on Lindi’s upcoming record, as she describes it,
“Mike noticed a similar thread of commonality in our mutual love of the same artists and the dark subject matter of our songs,”
leading her and Meadows to the idea that she and Barksdale should cover Tom Waits tunes together. She picked “How’s It Gonna End” because
“it’s super eerie and creepy, and so am I,” quipped Ortega.
Barksdale went with one of his favorite Waits numbers, “Yesterday Is Here”, which he felt paired well with Ortega’s selection.
Ortega and Barksdale’s shared love for Tom Waits music arose somewhat serendipitously. Ortega recalls how, years ago, she was randomly given a tape of Waits’ Mule Variations and was knocked out by how amazing the album’s songs were.
“I find his words and music transport me to a place that feels like I’ve been there before, and it’s haunted,” she elaborates. “It feels like a myriad of ghosts are drunk, dancing in the ache of non-existence.”
Watching Waits’ Austin City Limits performance on YouTube one night was Barksdale’s introduction to Waits, and he has been listening to him ever since.
“Discovering each album is like discovering a new artist; every time, it feels just as magical,” he shares. “The biggest thing I’ve learned from Tom Waits is that art doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect to be beautiful.”
The videos created for each song wonderfully reflect the mood that Ortega and Barksdale create in their performances. The pair will be announcing a run of co-headlining dates soon.
Connect with LINDI ORTEGA:
Website
Connect with JACK BARKSDALE:
Website