Dustin Bentall & the Smokes with Lindi Ortega at the Biltmore Cabaret

Much has happened since then: the Waldorf has closed, Bentall’s been at work with his band on another set of songs that will soon be released and Lindi Ortega–the lady with the little red cowboy boots, the Nashville home address and a voice whose comparisons to Dolly Parton have become a cliche–invited Bentall on his band out for a five week tour that worked its way from North America’s East Coast back to Vancouver.

A typical night on tour saw Bentall’s Smøkes play an opening set of their own material before taking the stage again to play as Ortega’s backing band. Not so this show: in a classy show of respect for the Vancouver native, Ortega took the stage first and opened the show for Bentall.

Ortega took the stage with Bentall on her right on guitar (and looking resplendent in an Ortega tour t-shirt,) Kendel Caron to her left on fiddle and Rich Knox on drums.  The set opened with a good dose of upbeat country twang, dipping into her two most recent albums for a pair of songs from her Cigarettes & Truckstops album and one from Little Red Boots.

Ortega’s boots were, in fact, red and she had a good between song chuckle with a fan in the front row wearing his own red boots and matching cowboy hat declaring him a member of the “…united boots of Canada.”

It turns out there’s a reason those Dolly Parton comparisons keep coming up: Ortega’s got a charming stage presence, a classic style and her voice has a timbre that’s strikingly similar to Parton’s. Though it smacks of lazy writing it’s a pretty hard comparison not to make particularly when Ortega sings songs like Blue Bird  and The Day You Die (which she introduced as a ‘…real barn burner’ towards the end of the set.) Both are original compositions that are owe their heritage to the Nashville country tradition.

Having charmed the audience with a  mix of songs from both Little Red Boots and Cigarettes & Truckstops Ortega closed her set with a pair of covers: first a solo version of House of the Rising Song introduced as “…a first. I’ve never done. I tried it once, but I only did half of it.” That song’s quiet, moody end led to the next question: “You guys like Johnny Cash?” and a  full speed full band version of Folsom Prison Blues blasted forth with Ortega and Bentall in full force on guitar. A definite crowd pleaser, that one, and a good opportunity for Bentall’s guitar skills to shine.

Bentall and his Smøkes took a short break before taking the stage again. Street with no Lights was followed by Emmy Lou, which had Bentall reminiscing with the crowd about the North Burnaby Hotel where the song’s tale unfolded. Quickly followed by the popular Nine Inch Hammer with its traditional country rhythm, the audience’s reaction had Bentall smiling like a man with the best job in the world. Not so bad these sold out shows in front of home town crowds.

It’s hard to argue too: after a five week tour of mostly sold out shows, Bentall was playing to a hometown crowd full familiar faces and friends. For Orion, the title track from last year’s EP, drummer Rich Knox was joined on stage for “something crazy: we’re gonna play on two sets of drums.” The EP’s producer Ryan Dahle joined the band on stage with his 12 string for You Are an Island. That song was followed by 2009’s Three Thousand Miles, which Bentall introduced saying “we’ve done this song four times over in the last five weeks” before trying to do some complicated math by converting killometres to miles in his head. Mercifully, the math was quickly abandoned and Bentall’s guitar was quickly put to good use again.

After a display of fiddle speed and talent by Kendel Carson that defies description the band was joined by Ortega again for a new song titled Shine which was quickly followed by Six Shooter and some of Bentall’s best guitar work of the night to close out the set. The encore opened with a solo performance of Crash Hard by Bentall and ended with a dedication to random audience member Tony who Bentall hoped “…didn’t get so drunk and pass out in the corner…Actually we don’t care.”

Neither did the rest of the audience, frankly. It’s hard to imagine a more attentive one. While plenty of shows sold out on this tour there was pretty clearly something special in the air at this one: with friends, colleagues and family in the audience the Biltmore felt pretty electric. While most bands would play for somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half, Bentall and the Smøkes were on stage for just about three hours straight and didn’t let the crowd down for a minute.

This show was the second last of a fairly intense five week tour and that fact makes one thing even clearer: this is a band that’s not content to rest on their significant talents and churn out a comfortable, safe show. They’re doing everything they can to make sure every show is the best set of twangy rock the audience has ever seen, and succeeding admirably. Bentall and his Smøkes have a new EP coming out soon–a companion to last year’s Orion that will also be released as a full length vinyl album. When the band tours in support of that, make sure to catch them and get as close to that stage as you can. You’ll have a close up view of one of the best live performances you can expect to see touring and the chance to say you were there before the band was on the big stage. That’s gotta be worth it, right?