Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles | Weekly Dig | 07/20/10

By HILARY HUGHES/Weekly Dig

I'VE SEEN YOU BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND DANCE LIKE A FIEND ONSTAGE, ALL WITH A GUITAR IN HAND. HAVE YOU EVER FALLEN PULLING THESE CRAZY TRICKS?

I think about it every night! "This is the night where I'm gonna fall!" In New Haven, I accidentally knocked out one of my front teeth with my guitar. My mom cried when she saw me at the show.

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles| 'Well-Oiled Machine"| Herald-Palladium

By Jeremy D. Bonfiglio, The Herald-Palladium, St. Joseph, Mich.

The band, which is beginning the final week of a five-week cross-country tour, is also gearing up to start recording their next studio record, which may or may not be released by their current label.

"We haven't parted ways," Borges says. "Technically, Sugar Hill is still our label, but economically everything is difficult these days and that's left some things uncertain."

What is certain is the musical direction of the band, which Borges says, seems stronger than ever.

"In the past we've explored different elements of our style," she says. "Whether that's country or blues or rock or whatever. The songs we've been writing now, they're pretty rock but it come out in the most organic way. We've been together now for eight years, so I feel like now we're sort of this well-oiled machine."

Borges started co-writing for the first time with Freedy Johnston, Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice, Dan Lavery of Tonic, and Marshall Crenshaw. The band recently recorded a handful of songs in Portland, Ore., and plan to head back into the studio after their final leg of their current tour.

"We've written quite a few songs," Borges says. "I think we're just waiting to get home so we can demo them."

Three of those new songs have become staples in the band's current set. There's "Mind On Me," which began as a co-write with Johnston that was flushed out by the band; "Tell the Same Story," the first song penned by guitarist Lyle Brewer, which Borges describes as a "melancholic pop song in line with The Smiths"; and "Thunderbird," an instrumental to open their live shows also written by Brewer that Borges calls a "flashy honky-tonk-sort-of-rockabilly-sort-of-rock number."

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles| The Tour Goes On Forever | Cincinnati.com

By Bill Thompson • July 16, 2010

"Our touring policy when we first started was concentric circles," says the always genial Borges, who had been tubing on a river in Austin, Texas, before talking on the phone recently. "You start at your own town, then go to the outside of that, and then hopefully just get bigger and bigger.

"Now it's at the point where our concentric circles include Austin and Cincinnati, and we hope to have the entire west half of the country, but we're not there yet."

It's not from lack of effort. The band played more than 130 shows last year, and are on a pace that will top that this year. "We'll take the show, unless we have to pay to play it," Borges says.

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles| 2010 Tour Diary #5 | Video

5 Reasons to See Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles | ArtsQuest.com

-Posted by Chris Zysk, ArtsQuest Marketing Intern and Golden Girls super-fan
7/13/2010

1. Support women who rock. Whether you are a fan of Patti Smith’s punk anthems, Loretta Lynn’s down-home Dixie, or Erykah Badu’s thoughtful soul, women in music rock regardless of either genre or gender. And SB&BS has a little bit of it all.

2. Sarah Borges’ indie vocals remind me of Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis’ western stylings. There’s just something very old-school and sincere about her heartfelt delivery and working-class ethic. Speaking of old school, Jenny Lewis once starred on an episode of The Golden Girls. RIP Blanche.

3. I’m a sucker for beery guitars dipped in country twang. It’s like listening to Neil Young, without the distraction of looking at Neil Young’s perpetual scowl.

4. Not only is SB&BS one of the hardest-working touring bands out there, but the band’s abbreviated name is also a palindrome, which makes it instantly cool. Which is more than I can say for my failed attempt at producing customized guitar accessories, StrapArts.

5. The bass player’s name is Binky. Likewise, the Broken Singles’ sound is so warm and inviting it just makes you want to snuggle up to your favorite amplifier, turn it up to eleven and anticipate angry phone calls from your neighbors.

Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles | Bastille Days, Milwaukee 7/10/10 | Video

video by jettejet

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles 2010 Tour Diary #4 | Video

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles Working on New Record | Riverfront Times Interview

riverfronttimes.com By Roy Kasten Wednesday, Jul 7 2010

Sarah Borges begins a set with sweet rasp in her voice and ends it with the vestiges of primal R&B howl therapy. With her band the Broken Singles, she's become one of the most dependably entertaining, unpretentious and agile live performers on the rock side of Americana.

Are you actually recording the new record now?
We've done demos which sound good enough to be on the record. I've been doing some cowriting, which was set up by my publisher, Bug. I've had good success with it, in terms of getting good songs. I did one with Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice; Marshall Crenshaw; Dan Lavery, who was in a '90s band, Tonic; and Freedy Johnston.

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles 2010 Tour Diary #3 | Video