Zak Borden is a picker, songwriter and singer of American roots music. He is triple threat on guitar, mandolin and vocals and just damn well loves to write songs. His voice plunges from a high, soaring tenor to a rumbling baritone/bass. He drinks deep from the vast American musical experiment. He cut his teeth on Bluegrass and roots country sounds but refuses to be tied to any genre. He is just as likely to belt out a bit of Stax/Motown style soul or feature Be-bob inspired instrumental hooks to quieter songs. He believes "the song is the thing" and that no stylistic approach is going to redeem weak material. Zak has clocked tens of thousands of road miles in the US and Europe and worked with leading purveyors of traditional and contemporary acoustic music. He eats his kale, drinks his whiskey, rides a red steel frame Italian racing bike and has been reading and writing reams of poetry on the side. Gaining a rep as a consummate session player, he has in the last year, nearly doubled his discography. Zak has appeared on albums that also feature, among others, Tim O’Brien, Rachel Harrington, Casey Neill, Willy Mason, Roseanne Cash, Danny Barnes, Darol Anger, Eyvind Kang, Andy Statman, and the master bassist/cellist Buell Neidlinger (Cecil Taylor, David Grisman) the latter having hired Zak for several projects.
Zak was born amidst the folk music scare in Cambridge, Mass where he was exposed to all kinds of roots music. His uncle played in New Mexico's Last Mile Ramblers (with Junior Brown). His sister sings Hank tunes and picks the banjo, a cousin that tours the world rockin', His grandfather built guitars and fiddles and his songwriting aunt worked and played at the renowned Longview Recording Studios. But things became critical at 16, when one midnight in July he witnessed two members of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys playing on the street....in other words...Zak had no choice.
Now Zak works out of Portland, Oregon teaching, playing sessions and fronting a solo project as well as a trio 'The Brazillionaires' playing choro music from Brazil.
Zak is also a passionate and sought after music educator having taught for 15 yrs at workshops and festivals including a faculty spot at The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes.