Mia Borders

Mia Borders is only 22, but this sultry-voiced singer is creating a lot of buzz in New Orleans.

She’s already caught the ear of an admiring national press.

Her 2010 release “Magnolia Blue,” was nominated for Best Emerging Artist from the Big Easy Music Awards. And her recent debut performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was nationally broadcast.

There’s more than a few predictions that this rising star is destined to shine forth on the national stage.
So you’ll want to be there at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, when she and her band play their unique blend of funk, rock and soul at the Mount Helena Music Festival.
Borders is hesitant to attach labels to her music.

“People have concrete ideas about New Orleans music,” she said in a phone interview from the Big Easy. “But we don’t fit any of those categories.”
Sensual, fresh and intelligent are just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind when describing her lyrics. Add her compelling voice, and Saturday’s concert should make for an unforgettable evening of music.

The Wolf Magazine, describes Borders’ album “Southern Fried Soul” as “pure New Orleans; it’s infused with soul and sex appeal and it oozes musical talent.”
“With emotions as varying as hers, this CD is full of surprises,” wrote Offbeat Magazine. “There’s no telling what Mia Borders will come up with next, and that’s half the fun.”

“Borders is one of those rare young talents that can sing about life, love, and loss and make listeners feel it. With lyrics so personal, so mature, and so direct she established herself as an artist to watch,” writes Keith I. Marszalek at NOLA.com, of Borders’ new release, “Magnolia Blue.”

A native of New Orleans, Borders can’t point to one particular moment that drew her to music. She was surrounded by it all the time and began writing lyrics and playing the guitar when she was 11.

During her high school years, she attended a boarding school in Connecticut, but returned to New Orleans the spring before Hurricane Katrina, and has since made it her home.
She began performing about four years ago.

After Katrina “the music clubs were all struggling for performers,” she said, so there were suddenly opportunities to get gigs.

Through her brother, she hooked up with a band, and they’ve been playing together ever since.

A recent graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans with a degree in English, Borders has been pouring her energy into song writing.

“I’m constantly writing new material,” she said. She will likely have a couple of new songs to share by the time she comes to Helena.

Inspiration for songs comes from reflecting on a truth in her life, she said, or sometimes it’s a word she likes or a turn of a phrase — such as “I keep your picture in my frame of mind.”

This is the band’s first trip to Montana.

“We’re all real excited to come to Montana, especially my drummer,” Borders said. “He’s really into nature.”
“We don’t go out for long stretches of time on tour,” she added. All the band members are married with kids and hold day jobs — as lawyers and a child psychologist.

The band includes Borders doing vocals and rhythm guitar; Nick Hingel, drummer; Pablo Gonzalez, bass; and Kyle Sclafani, lead guitar/vocals.