Alt-country rocker to play Ellsworth’s Winter Showcase

Sarah Borges, with her long, dark hair and black Fender telecaster draped around her neck, looks every part the alternative-country musician. Not the well-groomed Nashville stars you see on CMT, but a hip, tattooed babe who injects some punk rock into her tales of heartbreak and life on the road. The 27-year-old Boston resident makes her second Maine appearance Saturday night, when she performs at WERU-FM’s Winter Showcase at the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth.

Like so many young musicians, Borges went to the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas, three years ago to seek her fortune. The five-day-long festival (this year slated for March 15-19) attracts bands from all over the world, from unknowns to superstars, from reggae to metal to DJs.

For someone like, for instance, yours truly, one glance at the list of the 1,200 plus artists scheduled to perform results in involuntary spasms of joy, and bitter pangs of jealousy of those who get to go. It’s pretty much the coolest thing ever. Next year, I keep telling myself. Next year.

Anyway, Borges (pronounced to rhyme with “gorgeous”) didn’t get picked to perform that year. But she went anyway. She played an “unauthorized” gig right in the thick of the official festivities.

“There’s this parallel festival for people who can’t play South by Southwest, or don’t care to, called Non-SXSW,” said Borges, speaking from her Somerville, Mass., home on Wednesday. “So we played that the first year we went, which was instrumental. That show got us signed to Blue Corn Records.”

Blue Corn put out her debut album, “Silver City” – named after her hometown of Taunton, Mass., famed for its silver factories – last March. Since then, she’s appeared on the cover of Improper Bostonian magazine, and at SXSW this year she’s playing the No Depression showcase – which, for anyone associated with alt-country, is a really big deal, since that publication helped to create the alt-country scene in the first place.

But Borges wasn’t always dishing out twang in her songs. As a student at Emerson College in the mid-’90s, she immersed herself in Boston’s booming indie scene.

“Boston was such a hotbed of music then, with bands like Buffalo Tom and Throwing Muses,” said Borges. “I listened to a lot of that when I moved here. It was so accessible – the idea that you too can be in a band and make records and play. That punk rock ethos had a huge impact on me.”

When she started hanging out with her future band mates – Rob Dulaney on drums, Mike Castellana on guitar, and a man known only as Binky on bass – she got introduced to country music, which ended up being a perfect fit for the struggling young musician.

“When I started hanging out with these guys, they played me George Jones records, or newer stuff like Old 97s,” recalled Borges. “It was so appealing to me, because it was at a time in my songwriting life where I had no direction.”

With her smoky voice and smart, catchy, sometimes sad songs, Borges brings to mind Lucinda Williams or Neko Case. But she can also be favorably compared to people like Stevie Nicks or Pat Benatar -because of her powerful presence as a songwriter and vocalist.

“It was really appealing to write songs like these,” said Borges. “That’s the great thing about country songs. It’s so easy – all you have to do is tell the truth, and there’s the song.”

Supporting acts:

The View offers up live music regularly, from their prime location in downtown Bucksport with a great view of the new bridge. This weekend check out the Gilpin Railroad Incident, a group of acoustic troubadours from the Bangor area who say they sound something like the love child of Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, and Sister Hazel. They’re playing at 7 p.m. Saturday. For information check out www.tagworld.com/gilpinrailroad.

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles will play at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth with Tree By Leaf and Shawn Mercer. Tickets are general admission and are $15, and can be purchased at the Grand box office, or by going to www.grandonline.org. All proceeds go to benefit WERU-FM. For more information, visit www.weru.org, or www.sarahborges.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.