Wednesday, July 7 
Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles
The Green Lantern 497 W. Third St. $5. Doors @ 9:00 P.M. 21+
Getting tagged as Americana, or anything for that matter, can be so limiting. People love to compartmentalize with their Sirius stations and Pandora paths. So, if you are an Americana band, I guess you have songwriting upfront with some elements of country-tinged instrumentation or twang in the delivery?
Granted, some acts don’t mind getting pigeon-holed, because they do what they do and aren’t going to shy away from that fact, but others, like Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles have their ears pointed in all directions.
The strong, hook-laden songwriting is still there, and yes, they can circle that purty pedal steel around some sweet front porch harmonies, but this group is not interested in settling in there.
The first song off the new album, “Do It For Free,” is a dead on Joan Jett tune, and the last time I checked Jett wasn’t climbing up any Americana charts. They cover NRBQ, Smokey Robinson, and the Lemonheads on their new album The Stars Are Out. They can sound like a ‘60s girl group, a gritty bar band, or a dozen other things if they damn well please. Borges doesn’t try to over sing, and her knack for melodies can leave their tunes happily lingering in your head.
They list X, Big Star, Merle Haggard, Ween, Buck Owens, Van Halen, Teenage Fanclub, New York Dolls and Cher all in the same breath – that’s the kinda radio programming I wanna listen to (luckily for you there is one station in town that DOES play all those artists). If you like any of the bands above, you’ll likely find something, or many things, to dig about Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles – just don’t expect them to repeat the same thing all night.—Captain Comannokers
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