Northern Borne at Rustic Barn Pub 02/12/2022 -By: Melody Lemony

I had the pleasure of seeing Northern Borne at Rustic Barn Pub 02/12/2022.  They had been on my radar for a good long time and I was not disappointed.  I arrived a little past 7 and the place was packed.  It was incredible to see so many people out to feed their souls.  They describe their style as roots and bluegrass.  The band consists of Sarah Babushkin-Vocals//Guitar, John Wensley-Banjo/Vocals/Resonator Guitar, Dave Morelli-keys and Steve Dillard-upright bass.  A few songs into their set I noticed a rare thing…they didn’t have a drummer.  They have such a smooth sound as a band.  I found it refreshing.  Not to say that I’m opposed to drummers, it’s just not something you hear often.  I spoke to Dave after the show.  I told him I appreciate that they play mostly original songs.  Dave said the songs they play tell a story.  For example, ‘ Adirondack Cowboy’ tells the story of a mostly forgotten time when cowboys, horses, and dude ranches were commonly found throughout the Adirondacks.   Every word of the song is the true life story of Chris Boggia who worked at Circle B Ranch in Chestertown for over 50 years.  The horse given to John and Sarah by Chris named Prince even pokes his head into the band’s rehearsal space in the summer.

Dave met Sarah and John at an open mic at Rustic Barn Pub.  Originally he played bass but was finding that there were so many bass players he hardly had a chance to play.  He noticed that there was a niche, no one played the keys.  At the time, he was playing the keys at home to write songs and decided to take them to the open mic, shortly after that they found their sound.  Steve moved to the area a couple of years ago and auditioned for the band.  Steve’s commitment to the band shines through.  Originally he was a hard rock bassist, he tried out for the band but Sarah had wanted an upright bassist.  He went right out and bought an upright, and taught himself to play.  Now that’s pretty darn cool and the rest is history in the making.  Sarah and John have been playing as a duo since 2018.  As a full band they have been playing together for about 2 years.  John and Sarah are the lyricists, but everyone contributes to the structure and chord progressions.  I wrangled up the band for a picture, sadly Steve had already left.

Get on out there and see them for yourselves!

Check out their page on fb at https://www.facebook.com/NorthernBorne1