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Blair Borax
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Born on the East Coast, and home to the West, Blair Borax’s relationship with music began unexpectedly in 2016, when a friend gifted her a cheap guitar.
Since then, Borax has become a prolific songwriter, recording artist, and performer, known for her distinctive voice, captivating melodies, and thoughtful songwriting that taps into the heart of being human. Since she quit her day job in 2022, she has released two full length albums and played over 300 shows across the country.
With more sophisticated songwriting, a newfound confidence in fingerpicking guitar, and a move towards dynamic acoustic folk production, her latest record, “Tender Lately” (2024), offers gentle reminders to quiet the inner critic, find joy in the small things, and embrace the precious brevity of our time on Earth. She is poised to release her third full length record, The Color Green, in 2025.
Since 2021, Blair has performed over 350 shows across 18 states, captivating audiences with her honest songwriting, lyrical melodies, and intimate performances. She has graced notable stages including Mississippi Studios (Portland, OR), Parlor Room (Northhampton, MA), Radio Bean (Burlington, VT), and Berlin (New York, NY), among many others.
Along the way, she has shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as John Craigie, Marty O’Reilly, Glitterfox, and Melt, further shaping a dynamic and eveolving musical voice.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:15
Speaker
Hey everybody, this is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. And we have, what I would say, the queen of Something Rather Than Nothing podcast with the most listens in the history of the show. And I'll talk about that. Claire Borax, welcome back to the program.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hey, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. didn't know was the queen of the podcast.
Claire Borax's Popularity and Achievements
00:00:39
Speaker
you you didn't You knew it, but it's been a little while, all a couple of years since you've been on, you might be like, did somebody knock me off my throat?
00:00:48
Speaker
Because like I've been busy driving around the country, you know and back behind you, somebody can try to knock you off. But as we have it ah Your two episodes generated over 15,000 downloads, which is just a lot of people listening to your voice and music. So ah congrats.
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. So you still hold the crown? So we're talking here.
New Album 'The Color Green' and Live Recording Experience
00:01:19
Speaker
ah in july But we're going to focus right in on a project you've been working on ah building towards a release of the album The Color Green on August 8th, 2025.
00:01:35
Speaker
And you've done a Kickstarter for this. I've been a participant. I've been proud. My partner, Jenny, I've been proud to support your art. um I viewed that from the outside as a success and fundraising. So let me hand it over to you and tell us about this album and, you know, the ah hard work you've done building towards it and your thinking about The Color Green.
00:02:02
Speaker
Thank you so much, Ken, and thanks for supporting my Kickstarter. That means a lot to me. Yeah. Yeah, so The Color Green I am releasing on August 8th.
00:02:16
Speaker
probably have been writing those songs from the very first song, which I can't remember it' the order that I wrote them in, but at least two years ago, probably.
00:02:28
Speaker
um Recorded it in September of last year, September and October. um at a little studio in Southeast Portland called Anjuna recording studio.
00:02:40
Speaker
um And I had an awesome team of musicians and artists and people that i love and trust. So it was really cool to, to work with them on it.
00:02:54
Speaker
um The recording process felt very different than the process in the past that I've used. Uh, we mostly recorded, it was, it was me, my partner, Micah Hamal on drums, uh, and our friend Sam Weber, who was producing and also playing lots of different instruments on it.
00:03:16
Speaker
And we had Mario Ramirez audio engineering session. He flew out from Sonic Ranch in Texas. um, And we mostly played the music live at the same time um in a way that we could isolate the the tracks if we needed and wanted to.
00:03:35
Speaker
But it was more so getting the feeling of the song and the like essence of it, the emotion, the energy at the same time, and then building from there instead of just kind of layering one track over another individually. And that at first was a little scary. It took a lot more kind of courage for me because um it felt more vulnerable to play guitar and sing at the same time and want it to be perfect.
00:04:06
Speaker
um So it was a cool practice of embracing imperfection to try to just have the feeling of the song rather than getting the perfect take You can feel that come through. i um i don't know. Maybe it's like in my head seeing like a lot of like, you know old videos like ah like in the 70s and 80s and 90s kind of like where you would have this kind of interplay between like you're playing together and let's just capture the sound that's right there.
00:04:35
Speaker
and of course, the technical pieces, right? You want great takes. You want to do the right take. So thanks for bringing us in ah on
Independent Artist Journey and Crowdfunding Success
00:04:44
Speaker
that. ah about the Kickstarter and what you're thinking was about like, you know, producing the the vinyl, getting in the backing for that ah positive experience, at least overall, seeing you met your goal. you want to talk a little bit about, you know, DIY, let's get together people that I know supporting you, how that went?
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Um, Let's see. I've been working as an indie artist for... I think I quit my full-time day job in 2021, I think was. Is that right? Sounds somewhat right.
00:05:22
Speaker
maybe 2022. It's couple years I've been... or maybe twenty twenty two um it's been a couple years have' been um letting music be the primary focus. um As an independent artist, I don't have ah label. I don't have a manager. I don't have a booking agent. I don't have the social media and campaign.
00:05:41
Speaker
I have no nobody doing anything for me besides like the musicians that I hire to to play music in the studio. The rest of it is is all me, and I don't have...
00:05:54
Speaker
like a ton of family money that I can just throw at a project. um And so,
00:06:01
Speaker
Between in the last three years, it's mostly been um crowdfunding and some grants that have enabled me to be able to record music in at the professional level that I want it to be.
00:06:16
Speaker
um And so I think on this this round, I did my Kickstarter in March and over 200 people contributed to it um we raised like six thousand dollars and believe and that helps me be able to pay for the recording process um and yeah i'm able to make vinyl records and cds which i have a copy right here the vinyls I don't have the vinyls yet, but the they're coming.
00:06:48
Speaker
and the time to say yeah I know they'll look so pretty. No, there's a soft touch that you have on what you're looking for, like with the photographs or how you present your work artistically in a beautiful album.
00:07:03
Speaker
And so that's always a really nice piece to it. We're going to talk more about the album, but like i don't I never want to talk too, too much when there's songs to be played.
Inspiration Behind 'The Color Green' Title Track
00:07:14
Speaker
At least in my head, when I'm listening to something, it's like, hey, I want to hear a ah song. How about we start off with um ah The Color Green and... um ah Well, listeners, you'll be able to hear we're going to do three songs, Color her Green, Time Tender and Gasoline Daydream. But want to lead us in just on the Color Green ah song in particular?
00:07:39
Speaker
Absolutely. um The Color Green, the song that I named the album after, I wrote it. In the springtime, walking around my neighborhood in Northeast Portland, i was thinking about a friend of mine who at that moment, her her mother was suffering with cancer and thinking about how hard that must have been for her. it was for her.
00:08:05
Speaker
i was thinking about other terrible things happening in the world that are continuing to happen yeah and just feeling the weight of all of that.
00:08:16
Speaker
And simultaneously, I was walking around smelling jasmine and seeing beautiful flowers and trying to grapple with like all the suffering and all the beauty that co-exists at the same time, trying to find something hopeful to to hang on to um in this time that feels like it's harder and harder to find right now. um And so I walked around and thought to myself, at least we have the color green.
00:08:46
Speaker
And so that kind of became the the essence of ah the album and the thread that I'm hoping weaves through the music um that we can find a sense of hope to keep us going, even when seems like everything is getting worse and worse and worse and worse.
00:09:08
Speaker
So that's but ah the, that's the color green. Yeah. I, yeah I've been sitting by the garden a lot lately and, you know, just maybe observing some patterns there. I agree. Like I've been,
00:09:26
Speaker
That's been helpful. Right. And there seems to be a bounty there. And I think like it's the idea that the bounty is threatened in general, like on a sheer like organic level. It's like so trying to immerse yourself into that.
Album Release Show Details
00:09:39
Speaker
Anyways, it's your album. Let's do the music. Let's have the music to some of the talking. ah Everybody, um the the track, the color green from Blip Oax's new album, the color green same title.
00:10:35
Speaker
lovers caught lying oh the broken glass and the color pink sings in the tree
00:11:11
Speaker
Piking, piking something.
00:11:57
Speaker
Time it goes flying Seatbelt bar goes fast and They tell you please stay in your seat
00:12:14
Speaker
Laundry strip drying It takes a lot of fight
00:12:35
Speaker
Making something
00:13:28
Speaker
Thanks for the color green there, Blair. Thank you for listening. Yeah. Such a, such a lovely song. I, uh, really enjoy that.
00:13:39
Speaker
Um, you, uh, I want us a little lead in here. was out at the painted Hills out in Eastern Oregon. Uh, never seen them before and, uh, was astounded.
00:13:52
Speaker
Uh, my partner, Jenny and I went in last about a week ago. And, um, you know, in the high desert, you know, the strivings of color and the fluorescent greens that are out there.
00:14:05
Speaker
was just thinking about in that context. It's like as a painter in my head of like, um when you think in colors, you've been around the the country quite a bit. You've been out in the beautiful greens of like Vermont, one of my favorite states to be in. Do you want talk a little bit about being on the road and getting around the country with your music?
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I've done, i kind of did a most, most artists released the album and then tour it after that. And, um, since I don't have a manager, i can do whatever I want. So I did kind of a backwards tour. Um, and i have been playing this music, uh, all over the place I believe I've played, I've played like 50 something shows this year so far 14 different states.
00:15:05
Speaker
um So yeah, it's been a lot of driving, a lot of miles on the Subaru and Yeah, it's been ah really beautiful thing.
00:15:19
Speaker
Touring is a mixed bag of exhausting and connective and lonely and beautiful and the things.
00:15:33
Speaker
People can still It's been to get out there. People could still contribute money to you and get a nice postcard from you. And I've gotten a few of those from them from the room. People still have that opportunity, right?
00:15:44
Speaker
oh Yeah. Everybody. you for doing that. Yeah. Yeah. you get Nice handwritten postcard. I love postcards. I mean, you know, be at the bookstore looking at ephemera, looking through old postcards because so knows just wild and gorgeous and capture, you know, like how things look in a particular way. So.
00:16:04
Speaker
thanks for sending yeah Thanks for sending those out. um I've been sending the the postcards from the road. um Like I said, it's sometimes sometimes I'm traveling with a fellow artist, um but a lot of times I'm also traveling solo. and so and Especially but if I'm in a new place.
00:16:26
Speaker
I don't know a lot of people that can feel lonely. So when I get to write postcards to people that I know, it feels like another way to to stay connected with my community. So thanks for letting me send you a postcard.
00:16:42
Speaker
oh i'll ah'll I'll keep tipping for the postcards. Love them. um Before we get into the next track, um Time Tender, I wanted to ask you to talk a bit about the concert, the the formal concert release, which sounded like a nice kind of like intimate setting and like a ah fire and all this stuff. I got my tickets already, but can you tell us a little bit how you envision ah and in the date of the release party location, things like that?
00:17:14
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'll be having a big album release show on Saturday, August 23rd out at Sosta House, which is um a little bit outside of Portland.
00:17:26
Speaker
um But because the the album's called The Color Green, I wanted it to to feel green. I wanted it to be outside in a beautiful place. And I always try to make my album release shows. They only come around every couple of years. So I try to make them really special and different than just any other show that I'm playing.
00:17:45
Speaker
So Sosta House is run by brother-sister duo, Nico and Mia. And Mia is a chef. She'll be curating and cooking a menu specifically for this show that will be green, very green food.
00:18:00
Speaker
um There'll be wine and there'll be art um by the artist who did my album art zab shavrick they'll be uh selling some art as well and yeah green blankets spread out on the lawn and full band show kendall lujan a dear friend of mine is opening the show and yeah i'd love to to see well i know i'll see you there i'd love to see lots of people there Super excited for it And Kendall, you know, everybody loves it. Kendall is some and fantastic music. I mean, when it comes to like the show itself, it's like both of you. It's your release. But there'll be a couple weeks here from
Introduction of 'Time Tender' and Personal Dedication
00:18:43
Speaker
you. Listen to this episode right when it comes out on August 8th here with the Color Green release by Blair Borax.
00:18:52
Speaker
All right. Next track. ah Love the music. ah Hearing the new music here. What about Time tender Tell us a little bit about this and it's like fitting into the color green theme.
00:19:06
Speaker
Yeah. Time Tender is the first song on the record. It's a an existential love song. I wrote about my partner, Micah. He plays drums.
00:19:17
Speaker
um So he he tends the time. He's the tender of time. It's kind of a double double meaning because it's also ah song kind of about how how time seems to slip away.
00:19:33
Speaker
And we, you know, want to hold so much onto the people around us. And I think love is...
00:19:44
Speaker
a bit more about letting go also and letting, letting people be free and not being so scared to, to lose people. Um, cause we, we will all eventually in some way, shape or form. Uh, so yeah, it's a little existential love song, um, dedicated to my partner, Micah Hummel.
00:20:06
Speaker
Yeah. Love it. Philosophy show, existential love song, best types, best types of love song. Everybody, uh, Time Tender.
00:20:29
Speaker
Let me feel the in and out of breath under your ears.
00:20:46
Speaker
Every happy ending starts with where do we begin?
00:20:53
Speaker
Goodness, be gracious, the ones hold most dear Could slip right through the cracks of chants and things couldn't hear
00:21:37
Speaker
like a second skin
00:22:47
Speaker
like a second skin
00:23:20
Speaker
So Blair, I wanted to ask you about the color green. um ah i'm I'm into painting, so i was talking about that a little bit. I get excited about seeing different colors and textures and that type of thing.
00:23:34
Speaker
During this process, so do you flip out about finding colors green, pulling that out from the environment, to like paintings, expressions of that, throwing all into this like verdant, lush green?
00:23:51
Speaker
am I caught up in my own head? Well, I think for as long as I've been working on this record, which has been yeah close to two years now since the inception of the first songs came into my brain and out into the world.
00:24:10
Speaker
um And then especially when I decided that that would be the title of the record, I definitely have been like seeing green everywhere and thinking about green and, um, it's become kind of like a meaningful symbol in my life too.
00:24:28
Speaker
I don't know if that's what you mean, but yeah, I was like in my head, I was, uh, I, uh, thought of it, um, just for myself. I, um,
00:24:41
Speaker
when I get caught up in colors and in, in painting and just, just seeing how they pull out from the environment. And like, I've been doing that around the garden, just saying, sitting around it, like with the corn, you know, and like the greens of like the vegetables and everything.
00:24:56
Speaker
Your board acts facts.
Claire's Influence on the Podcast and Future Projects
00:25:00
Speaker
Your first appearance was in 2022. episode 166. That was the big one. That was the biggest single episode ah like downloads for this indie podcast.
00:25:12
Speaker
Why was it so popular? Because of you. Because of you. I mean, it's the talent that I bring. I mean, I'm very modest in this regard. I'm assuming it's you over 11,000. And then we had the cool episode 213, which was the Warbling Creek studio episode where Jenny interviewed you And you were, like, totally immersed in the green, of like the Eugene Warbly Creek with water going past you and in the summer. So the deep seeds of this are probably ah ah going way back. So, like I said, you still have your queen status.
00:25:51
Speaker
And I noticed, like... Even like on Spotify, well, we can go on forever about Spotify, but just skipping all that stuff. Like I seen like the amount of like people like following you has just been like piling on recently, like the last two or three days, like just looking at the numbers. So I'm glad people are like getting to hear these songs, you know, and and getting into this like in August in this lush time.
00:26:20
Speaker
probably hot as shit once, you know, a lush time to release this. um
00:26:29
Speaker
The ah track that you first ah released as a single, I believe it was Gasoline Daydream, um the next song we would hear. um When I heard this, i was just like really excited. it was such a catchy song and knowing your voice. So i was like really attached to this song and just,
00:26:50
Speaker
ah I was really thinking about this album once I heard this, but I'm going to give us a little lead into gasoline daydream and in the fold of the color green.
00:27:02
Speaker
Thanks. i Gasoline daydream is probably the most upbeat song. song on the record. And I think it also, the way we recorded it really showcases the talent and skill of the people that I worked with.
00:27:20
Speaker
And I'm very excited to continue making music with this this group of people, Sam and Micah. um And the song itself, I wrote it, kind of started writing it as I was on tour through California, up and down the West Coast.
00:27:40
Speaker
And i was just, I was driving around solo this time around and I just kept getting struck by passing through all these small towns, seeing all the library post office corner store, which is the first line of the song, um seeing all the different signs.
00:27:59
Speaker
And I just started to kind of jotting down um different themes and signs ah like taste one peach and you'll be back was a was a sign I saw.
00:28:10
Speaker
um at a, at a farm I've passed. And I was thinking about being on tour, missing home. I love being on tour, but you know, I've got a dog and a cat and a partner and a whole community here that I love. And so sure sometimes it feels like you're, sometimes I think to myself, I've, I'm giving up so much just to,
00:28:35
Speaker
for an hour, sing a couple songs for some strangers somewhere, kind of like parachute down and into people's lives. and And it can feel very connective.
00:28:48
Speaker
But yeah, i've I've been thinking a lot about ways to connect and and build community as well. So anyway, this was a song I wrote. while on tour and when I got home from tour.
00:29:03
Speaker
So you could probably hear the ah road trip in it and the longing for home and for love it too. Awesome.
00:29:14
Speaker
Listeners, Gasoline Daydream. Blair Borat.
00:29:45
Speaker
up Pick yourself up off the kitchen floor Mountain pass, stop the gas, hope it lasts
00:30:16
Speaker
Gasoline daydream. Only in fantasy. My love in the other sea.
00:30:54
Speaker
Hello, poppy, melancholy, will you call me? Everything moves slower by the sea.
00:31:31
Speaker
All another roadside attraction till you get there. Link and then it's gone.
00:31:50
Speaker
Put your face in the sun, your feet on the ground. Take your time with your skin on mine, take four.
00:33:10
Speaker
That's my favorite Blair Borak song. Yay. Thanks. I love that song. You know the song you're a sucker for? i love that conversation. Like, so you're just a sucker for.
00:33:21
Speaker
I love it. Great, great job here on release day. Where do folks go everywhere to find your album, your music, website, sites, where to go? Yeah, you can find you can find me on all the streaming platforms right now.
00:33:46
Speaker
You can find me on Bandcamp where you can download the album as well. My website, Blairborax.com. You can buy vinyl and CD records, CD records, vinyl records and CDs and merch as well.
00:34:02
Speaker
Um, Yeah. and Thank you for, for featuring me on the podcast and, um, I'm just, I'm excited to have this music out in the world.
00:34:13
Speaker
I think right now it's, it can feel like the music industry is stacked against the indie artists and it can feel like the world is stacked against the 99% also.
00:34:28
Speaker
ah But I'm just excited to able to make music and share it with people. i hope that it brings little solace, a little joy, a little hope, and just a little feeling less alone right now.
00:34:47
Speaker
And I'm excited to have let it be out so that I can start writing the next thing. Yeah.
00:35:07
Speaker
This is Something Rather Than Nothing.
00:35:16
Speaker
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00:35:27
Speaker
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00:35:42
Speaker
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00:35:57
Speaker
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00:36:09
Speaker
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