Right from the opening rockabilly guitar riff of lead single “The Day We Met”, it’s clear that singer-songwriter Sarah Borges and her backing band, the Broken Singles, are going to deliver some hooky, country-drenched rock (or is it rockin’ country?) on their sophomore album, Diamonds in the Dark. As catchy as that cut is, the retro-‘60s gold of “Stop and Think It Over” has it beat. Penned by the Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright, this gem of a tune surfaced earlier this year on Mary Weiss’s comeback album, Dangerous Game. Impressively, Borges’s snap-crackle-and-poppy version is actually the better of the two. Elsewhere, she and the boys set fire to her own “Lonely Town of Love”. She slides into pure country on “False Eyelashes” (which Dolly Parton recorded three decades prior). The Broken Singles are adept musicians, creating a canyon-full of Americana atmosphere for their pretty interpretations of Tom Waits’ “Blind Love”. Sarah can sing the heck out of anything, really. She has wonderful pop instincts, but never veers too close to slick, radio-baiting country pop. Her twang is sweet and supple, and her dedication to her material is infectious, whether she’s singing her own very good songs, X’s “Come Back to Me”, or the blues rock of Canned Heat’s “Open Up Your Back Door”. This is one of those records that makes me wish the record industry were even more shook up than it already is. With the compelling Diamonds in the Dark, Sarah Borges shows why she should be a star.

• "The Day We Met" Streaming