Fall River Pulling Braids The Man Below

Zak Borden is a picker, songwriter and singer of American roots music. He has clocked tens of thousands of road miles as a sideman in the US and Europe and worked with leading purveyors of traditional and contemporary acoustic music. On the strength of his own material, he steps to center stage. His songs are the lonesome, longing kind...the sort that comes from the fertile ground somewhere between homesteading and highway travel. Zak's voice dips from high tenor to a rich low baritone and is driven by a dynamic guitar style. His new mandolin instrumentals are offered up with fire and sass as they pull at tradition...shifting its groove and urging it into the present. In a single show you're likely to hear a bluesy nod to the Stanley Brothers, some racy swing, or an instrumental that borrows from both The Carter Family and Monk. Rhythm is at the fore and it comes chortling with a loose, hearty feel. 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 plays banjo. His cousin's on Virgin Records UK, 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. After co-producing the first Appleseed Records release for the now NYC based songwriter Casey Neill, they started a long musical friendship and soon were touring throughout the US and in Europe with traditional Irish flute wizard Hanz Araki. The Casey Neill Trio recorded two acclaimed CDs that displayed their mutual love for Irish and American music, worked closely with the late great fiddler/producer Johnny Cunningham and made fans of Steve Earle and Pete Seeger alike. During this time, Zak played sessions, recorded his solo debut CD Whistles and Steam and took a short stint with bluegrass Grammy nominee and Prairie Home Companion veteran Kate MacKenzie. But his musical world was promptly expanded when he teamed up with Jazz bass legend Buell Neidlinger (Cecil Taylor, David Grisman) with whom he studied and performed in a later incarnation of the cult favorite "Buellgrass" (featuring fiddler Paul Elliot and former Bill Monroe side man Robert Bowlin). The band served on faculty at the renowned Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. Now Zak performs solo and with his four-piece 'Zak Borden and Lizzies"...spread the word.