Album Notes

"Top notch! Keeps you returning again and again. Just when you think you have a song figured out there's a clever twist. Superb musicianship and sincerity of the tunes come shining through...A great recording!"
- Sing Out! (50th Anniversary Issue)

"A mandolin whiz (who) effortlessly and intuitively blends American Sources." - Willamette Week - Portland, Oregon

"I thought he was from Kentucky or the Ohio River Valley (that's a compliment). Songs that grab your attention with the simple beauty of stuff going on...like a favorite photo you tape to your fridge because it makes you happy when you see it...that kind of charm" - Performing Songwriter

"His voice is very versatile and expressive...an impessive collection of modern roots music." -Dirty Linen

"One word: WOW!!" -Victory Review

Zak's Indie debut "Whistles & Steam" features a wide variety of roots music inspired by bluegrass, delta blues and songwriters in the tradition of Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt.

Zak Borden is a picker, songwriter and singer of American roots music. He 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 has proved his versatility having toured and recorded with rocker Casey Neill and lent his chops to the music of Indie darling Willy Mason, Bluegrass Grammy nominee Kate MacKenzie, folk diva Tracy Grammer and first call bass legend Buell Neidlinger (Cecil Taylor, David Grisman). His passion as a backing musician has served as a rock solid foundation for his work as songwriter and frontman. 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. New groove laiden mandolin instrumentals are offered up with fire and sass as they pull at tradition.