Keith Borshak, Crossroads to Music and Art

Common Chords By Randall Hill

Keith Borshak

Keith Borshak has stood at many crossroads in his life. The 46-year-old Socastee resident, who grew up in California, had many career choices as a young man. Music and painting were two, and in the end his career took the creative path. He is the creative director at LHWH advertising and public relations in Myrtle Beach.

But he still travels well on the well-worn back roads of music and fine arts and it shows in his recent works with art where he combines his love of both.

Inspired by the often romanticized stories of America’s delta blues musicians such as Robert Johnson and Son House, Borshak has taken his brushes to a unique canvas: The acoustic archtop guitar.

“The guitars represent that imperfect nature of what blues was and is,” he said during a recent interview at the new performance studio soon to open at Star Music in Myrtle Beach. Borshak’s blues-inspired art guitars and works by others will be featured as the décor of the room.

“I think I just gravitate toward things that are a little beat up and have a story and a history. The guitars represent the passions for the stories the delta musicians were telling and it was apparent in the way they were conveyed. Their message was if you have a story to tell, tell it. Tell it in a creative way. It didn’t matter if the story was sad or had a tragic ending.”

After discovering musician Stevie Ray Vaughan while living in Texas in the late 1980’s, Borshak found the essence of his love for music and rock ‘n’ roll.

“I started to link things up,” Borshak said, holding a fabricated cigar box electric guitar he made and hand painted with the likeness of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. As Borshak plays the fully functional art piece, his hands partially cover the likeness of the Texas blues musician except for two piercing eyes just below the guitar’s pickup. “I knew rock and roll came from the blues. This couldn’t just be Vaughan and B.B. King. It had to come from somewhere. Everything pointed to the delta blues musicians Robert Johnson and Son House. These guys started it all.”

Posted by
Randall Hill

Watch a music only video of Keith performing the
Fleetwood Mac song "The World Keep On Turning".

Listen to audio clips of Keith Borshak.
Blues Riff on Cigarbox guitar

Sunken Treasure - Wilco