Sarah Borges and Eric Ambel met onstage in 2014, playing a show together with a friend’s band. Given Ambel’s long and storied career as a singer/songwriter/guitarist and producer who helped form the foundation of what people now call Americana, and Borges’s journey from a 20-something darling of that genre to a veteran performer with nine albums under her belt, that meeting couldn’t have been more fortuitous. The two have been actively touring together since 2015, and Ambel has produced and played on all of Borges’s albums since then. Their live show is full of harmonies, humor and the union of two musicians who have plenty of lived experience and who are constantly learning from each other and their peers.

Sarah Borges has traveled the road in an Econoline van for over 20 years, learning, and transforming from Americana chanteuse to American music journeywoman. Multiple Boston Music Award winner and Americana Music Association Award nominee, her sound remains as eclectic as ever, representing what Borges likes to call “the sum total sound of my record collection” – a little bit twangy, some kind of cowpunk and a whole lot of heartfelt rock and roll. Most importantly though, Sarah Borges has earned a reputation as an immensely engaging live performer. Audience participation, storytelling and spontaneity add a unique element to a show that features stellar songs and Borges’s tough and tender voice. Her loyal following has been built by connecting, through her own charismatic, down-to-earth spirit, with her audience – whether they’re longtime fans from back when she broke through with her terrific “Silver City” debut in 2004, or newcomers just now joining the party.

Eric Ambel’s bona fide rock ‘n’ roll pedigree (a member of Joan Jett’s original Blackhearts lineup, The Del-Lords, collaborations with Syd Straw and Mojo Nixon and an ongoing gig alongside Dan Baird, Keith Christopher and Terry Anderson in the Yayhoos) has earned Ambel a reputation as the go-to producer and guitarist for anyone seeking that raw, loose, electric sound that Ambel made seem so effortless, but proved elusive for so many. Nils Lofgren enlisted Ambel to produce his landmark solo record Crooked Line and the Backsliders, Bottle Rockets and Blue Mountain followed, leaning on Ambel to produce the albums that remain their most memorable and enduring works. Somewhere amid the production work, Ambel found time to release Loud and Lonesome (1994), the follow-up to his debut solo album, Roscoe’s Gang (1988), which Rolling Stone called “the record Keith Richards should have made”.  No Depression compared Ambel to Neil Young, saying, “...whether its Crazy Horse-styled guitar heroics or a harmonica blowing over an estranged confessional, one listen, and you’ll feel mighty Neil, guaranteed.” The spirit of Young does indeed run through much of Ambel’s work; the same way it was Neil’s ethos as much as his output that earned him the “Godfather of Grunge” nickname for a spell in the ‘90s, Ambel’s understated, intuitive approach to songwriting and production remain among the guiding principles of contemporary Americana.