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MIA BORDERS, MUSICIAN, NEW ORLEANS: INTERVIEW

a portrait of Mia borders, Mia borders New Orleans musician
Mia Borders (photo by Zach Smith)

FIRE WALK WITH ME: AN INTERVIEW WITH MIA BORDERS

Mia Borders is a New Orleans native, a talented multi-instrumentalist and one of the hardest working musicians in the city. She plays across town multiple times a week with her band, as well as playing duo and solo shows. Last year, she released her album Firewalker on Blaxican Records, her first release after a short recording hiatus. We caught up with Mia and talked returning to the studio, the joy of 90s pop harmonies and her big plans for the coming year. 

OAD: So my late introduction to your music was last year’s incredible album, Firewalker, and especially the single of the same name. It had been a few years since you’d released anything after being pretty prolific between 2009 and 2016. Was there any particular reason for that? 
Mia Borders: Yes, that was part industry, part personal. My grandmother passed away in 2018 after a pretty rough battle with Alzheimer's and I was her caregiver, and so that just sort of zapped me a lot. You put yourself aside. 

I’m so sorry, that must have been a tough time.  
I’d also been teaching at Loyola, but then coming out of the pandemic, I thought, I’ve got to get back to my music. So I gave my boss a year's notice and I immediately felt that weight lift. Then I started putting stuff together for what would eventually become Firewalker.

The single is so full of defiance and resilience. Is that your energy at the moment, or at least as you recorded it?
That was a little bit of fake it ‘til you make it (laughs). I wrote the lyrics for Firewalker for George Porter's trio in 2017, but it was sort of on hold. Then I was sitting with almost my full album. I was going to call it ‘Grown Folks’ Business’, which is what I was always told as a kid when adults were talking and I was not supposed to hear what was going on! Firewalker popped back into my head, and I called George and asked if I could have it back and if he would play it with us, and he said yes. He's a super sweet, gracious guy, and he came in and he played and he sang. He tried to get me to take his vocals off, but I said “You’ve got to be in!”  

I’m glad he is! You both sound amazing. You're New Orleans born and raised. What were your formative musical experiences back when you were a child? 
Well, just being in New Orleans, music is everywhere. I grew up around the corner from the Mardi Gras parade route, so even if I don't go to the parades, I can still hear the bands. It sort of just lives right in your chest, just hearing that beat all the time. I went to a school that had a very rich arts program, where we all had to sing in the choir. We all had to do musicals and theater, and then my family is somewhat musical. My grandfather played the trumpet. My dad played a little bit of piano, and so I started on piano, but I always knew that I wanted to play guitar. 

Who were you listening to back then? 
As a young person growing up, it was a lot of Chuck Berry, Whitney Houston, Simon and Garfunkel. That was sort of my mom's influence. I was a child of the 90s. I'm not gonna shy away from Spice Girls and NSync. I have at least five part harmonies on my records because of that sonic shape that you can create with vocals. I've always been a sucker for vocal groups, and then Tupac is always at the top of my list in terms of lyricists and poets. When I grew up and started to dig a little bit deeper, that's when I was introduced to Bill Withers and Etta James. Earth, Wind and Fire was the stuff that was playing at the barbecues. All these old people listening to old people music! The Isley Brothers. I was an angry kid, "I'm not gonna listen to jazz!". But then you get a new appreciation for that stuff. 

You started recording and releasing music around 2006. Did it take you a while to go fully professional? 
I mean, it was always a possibility. I went to school thinking that that was going to be my gateway into the WNBA, but that didn't happen at all. I was blacklisted pretty early on for having bad knees, and so then I pivoted and went heavily into the arts. 

So you're a frustrated athlete! You could have had a very different life. 
What a trajectory that would have been. I was then going to go to Savannah for film school, but Katrina happened. I came home and started a band, and I decided to stay in New Orleans. 

And the rest is history. One thing I wanted to ask about is your incredible work ethic. You play live a lot, even by New Orleans musician standards. Do you feel that the hard work inspires creativity? 
I think so. It all sort of feeds itself. If I'm not gigging, I'm not really writing either. If I'm not performing regularly, I'm not hearing new ideas, and so it definitely all goes hand in hand. But I try to keep things as diverse as possible. I started with a band and then eventually had to start touring solo and duo for financial reasons. So if I'm gigging a few times a week, there's probably a duo show, a full band show and a solo show. I'm trying to give everybody something different to experience, including myself. 

Do you feel like it's a sort of fertile ground for black women singer-songwriters in the city at the moment? Joy Clark has had an amazing couple of years, and Dusky Waters and Teena May produced the very successful Black Americana Festival late last year. 
It feels like people are starting to appreciate the broad definitions of these musical genres. I just played a folk festival in Texas. Not a lot of people like me on the bill (laughs). But they were very warm and receptive. I win them over with this very different kind of folk. It's been a wonderful experience to see this sort of tide change. I think of Alison Russell and Rhiannon Giddens and definitely Joy Clark. Dusky and Teena are already planning the next festival. We need more consistent programming. Not just ‘by us for us’, but ‘by us for everyone to experience us’. 

You also have your own label and promotion company, Third Coast Entertainment. 
Yeah, I started Third Coast in 2018 because you get a bit tired of those experiences where you're the only one who looks like you behind the scenes. I can look at some bills over the past twenty years or so and say, oh, I was a token on maybe 60% of those. I'm filling several checkboxes for them in one fell swoop, and that gets old. So I thought, let's just start building our own thing. Let's give other people - who are not necessarily filling the same space as me - opportunities in front of these audiences. I also have the Borders Foundation, which is the non-profit arm of Third Entertainment. I threw myself into the deep end of grant writing. My dad does it professionally, so I was lucky enough to have his ear. It’s about creating regular programming for women and women-identifying artists, BIPOC artists, queer artists, just to give us all a platform. 

Any plans that you can tell us about? 
The Borders Foundation and Third Coast are starting a concert series called Under The Influence, honoring artists who have inspired me, and I'm going to bring in some guests. Our first show looks like it's going to be at The Broadside on August 2nd. We'll do a Bill Withers tribute show September 20th over there as well. We’ll slowly build the coffers for the Borders Foundation, and then bigger yearly events will premiere next year in the fall, and it'll be a big outdoor festival concert. October 2026 is a good ways away, but the wheels are in motion! 

Best of luck with all of that, Mia, it sounds exciting, and we wish you all the best. 
Oh, I should add, I do have a podcast that I'm very bad at promoting. It's called Great Question with Mia and Kate. Just a bunch of silliness (laughs).

Consider it promoted! Thanks so much for talking to us, Mia! 
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate it. 

Find links to Mia’s gig schedule, links to her music and her podcast at miaborders.com
Firewalker is out now on Blaxican Records SPOTIFY / BANDCAMP

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