Chris Morris for MSNBC: Seeing Sarah Borges blast through her show was not unlike seeing Maria McKee knock the joint down when she fronted Lone Justice during the glory days of L.A. cowpunk in the early ’80s. Borges brings a similar star power to her own brand of contemporary roots-rock, which draws on a wealth of sparkling musical influences.
“It’s like a square meal,” says Borges, calling from Henrietta, Okla., on her way to a show in Oklahoma City. “You’ve got to have your meat and your potatoes and your vegetables.”
Just 27, the raven-haired singer-guitarist has been performing for a decade, since she went off to Emerson College in Boston, where she studied musical theater (which may account for her enormous stage presence). She got her start in indie-rock bands but gravitated toward the more interesting mix of sounds at play in a solid group of originals and covers.
Borges is an enormous fan of the L.A. punk band X and performs a smoky rendition of the group’s “Come Back to Me” in her set.