Q. What is Girlyman?
A. Girlyman is a brand new musical ensemble featuring Doris, Tammy, Nate Borofsky, an acoustic guitar, a Danelectro baritone guitar played like a bass, a djembe, and coordinated clothing.

Q. So basically it’s the garden verge with Nate singing along?
A. Not at all. Actually, it’s a whole new thing for all of us. We’re a trio. We’re writing new songs and singing three-part harmonies and conducting ourselves like a band—ahem—of singer-songwriters. Girlyman is “a configuration of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts,” a.k.a. a gestalt. We’re as amazed as anyone by what happened when we started working as a trio.

Q. Who else is amazed?
A. Upon hearing Girlyman for the first time, Club Passim manager Matt Smith yelled, “Wow! A lot of singer-songwriters get up on stage and sing together, but you guys sound like a band!” This was after a string of expletives which we took as a compliment.

Q. What does Girlyman sound like?
A. One part the Mamas and the Papas, one part Cry Cry Cry, a pinch of Lauryn Hill, a pat of Jonatha Brooke, a measured tablespoon of Gillian Welch, beat in some moptop Fab Four, and add Lyle Lovett and his Large Band to taste.

Q. Why “Girlyman”?
A. Well, because we’re a little off genderwise, what with Nate being a snippy little princess and Tammy’s boy-next-door thing and Doris being an ice queen and such. If you mixed us all up in a bowl until we were undifferentiated, you’d probably get a girly man.

Q. What about the garden verge?? Is that it?
A. Not exactly. We’re growing and changing. Most of you know by now that even before Girlyman proper, Nate was playing with us a lot. So in addition to the new stuff, we’ll still be playing garden verge songs with Girlyman, we’ll just be playing some of them with a rhythm section and a third harmony. Even as Girlyman, some “old” garden verge tunes will remain Tammy/Doris acoustic duets, because those are our roots, and “No Better” doesn’t ask for a drum. And occasionally we promise we’ll play as the good old garden verge.

Q. In my day, there were only two members of the garden verge! And we liked it that way!
A. Look, we promise that if you like the garden verge, your head will explode when you hear Girlyman. Or your money back, or something.

Q. OK, so send me the CD already so I can burn it and give it away for free.
A. Look, this is really new and there is no CD yet. We’ll be recording a 3-song demo later this month, and if you own a club or coffeeshop we’ll send it to you for free! Otherwise, keep checking www.girlyman.com for showdates and news, and eventually we’ll sell you a nice, pink t-shirt that says “Girlyman” across the chest.

Q. I’ve had a complete change of heart and cannot wait to see Girlyman live. Where are you playing?
A. Check the garden verge showdates page. We’ll post our Girlyman dates there and label them as such. Hey, thanks for your support.
See Nate’s Girlyman FAQ page: http://www.nateborofsky.com/what_is_girlyman.html