Sarah Borges

Sarah Borges and her perfectly named backer-uppers, the Broken Singles, are a rockabilly-alt-country act unafraid to glam up or torch out their rocky-relationship songs. Basically, the foursome sounds more like they're from Austin than Boston. And sure enough, a South by Southwest gig in 2004 is what first got them signed. They've been tearing up the road ever since, while releasing increasingly energetic albums. The band's much-vaunted punk influence has been overstated, however. Borges herself is a musical theater grad, and it shows, both in her restrained phrasing of loungier ballads and in the band's rather refined choice of cover material: Tom Waits, Tommy Dorsey, Magnetic Fields, and X in their gothic roots phase. Borges' drama experience comes through in her hilariously animated stage persona, too, and the seasoned twang team behind her ensures that the tougher tunes can rowdy up a pub like prime Carlene Carter. By 2009's The Stars Are Out, they switched gears toward bar-band new wave, which, even if alt-country purists balked at it, increased the music's excitement level.