Sarah McQuaid: News

Hello, all. Apologies for the long silence, but it's been a busy time. I was on the road for most of March, first in Holland and then in Ireland, and since my return I've been up to my eyes in a very exciting new project.

Living just a couple of miles up the road from me is a lovely and prodigiously talented woman called Zoë, who had a hit single back in 1991 with a song she wrote called 'Sunshine On A Rainy Day' -- look her up on YouTube and you can see her performing it on 'Top Of The Pops'!

She still has an awe-inspiring knack for coming up with unusual melodies that lodge in the brain and stay there for days on end, but she's not so keen on writing lyrics, which is where I come in.

We've developed a reasonably organised style of working (I've taken to referring to it as "The West Penwith Hit Factory"), whereby she gives me a rough demo, sung mostly in nonsense language with the odd intelligible phrase thrown in, and tells me any thoughts she has about where it might go thematically.

Those thematic ideas frequently send me to the Internet, where I find myself looking up information on all sorts of topics -- the Kathakali dancing tradition of Kerala, the painter Frida Kahlo, the Rider Tarot deck, to name a few. This last item led me in turn to the woman who designed said deck, one Pamela Colman Smith, a fascinating character who was a great friend of William Butler Yeats, illustrated his poetry books and co-edited a literary journal with his brother, the painter Jack Yeats. Interesting stuff.

Thus far we've written twelve songs together, with a half-dozen more nearing completion. We've started work on an album, which we're hoping to release within the next year under the band name Mama (a name we chose in part because we both have small children -- who've become great friends over the past few months!).

Zoë has just finished recording a new and very different version of 'Sunshine On A Rainy Day', more true in style to what she had in mind when she originally wrote the song, with myself on guitar and backing vocals as well as members of the band Thistletown.

Jarvis from Thistletown also plays drum kit, percussion and trumpet on the three Mama songs we've recorded thus far, and we're hoping to entice him out on the road with us when we're ready to tour the finished album.

All this activity has put the release of my own new solo album, 'I Won't Go Home Til Morning', on hold until early next year. However, I'll go ahead and put a few taster tracks up on MySpace as soon as I have the cover artwork to accompany them (Mary, if you're reading this, I hope your paintbrush is at the ready!).

In the meantime, you can hear me performing one of the songs from 'I Won't Go Home Til Morning' live on RTE Radio 1 by clicking here. On the same page is an interview I did on Dutch radio during the Holland tour -- have a listen if you fancy a laugh at my valiant attempts to speak Nederlands! Fortunately for me, the very charming DJ kindly switched over to English after the first few seconds.

There are also some new items on the reviews/articles page, so do check that out as well if you have a spare moment.

In between stints of songwriting and recording, I've been doing the odd gig, including a lovely one the weekend before last at the Sandford Festival near Crediton, Devon. For the Saturday evening concert, I was honoured to be on a bill with three great singer/guitarists -- Martyn Joseph, Andy Jencara and Kit Hawes -- every one of whom played at least one number in DADGAD, for what it's worth. The sound engineer was none other than Andy Manson, the maker of my beautiful guitar, and he and his wife Debbie not only put me up in their house but made me a present of a gorgeous blue and grey mug made by Debbie, who's a wonderful raku potter. It's been my mug of choice for tea and coffee ever since.

That's all the news for now!

Hello, all. I'm just back from my first-ever tour in Scotland, which was also my first-ever tour with the family in tow ... AND my first-ever tour with my beautiful new guitar, made for me by Andy Manson.

Past clients of Andy’s include such notables as John Paul Jones and Jimi Page (Led Zeppelin), Ian Anderson and Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Andy Summers (The Police) and Mike Oldfield – so I'm in good company! I’ll always have a soft spot for the beautiful old 1965 Martin D-28 that’s been my staunch friend since I bought it way back in 1988, but I have to admit that the trad tunes in particular are a revelation on the new instrument: clear as a bell, every note ringing out strong and true. By comparison with the Martin, it's a bit like going from dependable riding-school cobs to hacking out on my neighbour's highly responsive warmblood eventing horse – something else I did for the first time recently! The potential for excellence is much greater, but all my shortcomings are suddenly thrown into sharp relief. Ah well, practice, practice, practice.

You can see photos of the new guitar either on the Photos page or on www.myspace.com/sarahmcquaid – and on www.youtube.com/sarahmcquaid as well as the MySpace page, you can even see and hear it live in action, thanks to a very kind audience member who sent me his videos of my gig at the Old Brewery in Cromarty!

I was rather apprehensive about bringing the kids (ages two and four) along on the Scotland excursion, but it worked out much better than I would have expected. Nearly every day we managed to make time for some sort of fun – a lovely stroll in the mountains around Glencoe, a visit to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness as well as Edinburgh Castle, the new visitor centre at Culloden Battlefield, a walk through the treetops at Landmark Forest Theme Park, a steamboat trip on Ullswater in the Lake District. The kids were surprisingly happy to settle down in different beds every evening – and on the night of the aforementioned Cromarty gig, as our accommodation was directly above the venue, Feargal even managed to sneak down to catch a bit of the concert! Better still, at the end of the night we were both able to enjoy a very pleasant glass of wine (or three) with the wonderfully warm and hospitable proprietors, Mairi and Bill.

Speaking of hospitality, we were bowled over by the kindness and generosity of the welcome we received pretty much everywhere – special mentions are due not only to the above-mentioned Cromarty hosts, but also to David and Anne Fiddes in Strachur, who opened their home to us and plied us with macaroni cheese; to Caroline in Glenfarg, who not only put us up but proffered homeopathic remedies; to all the singers in Glenfarg who made that evening a great listening as well as performing experience; to the superb singer/guitarist George Duff for allowing himself to be railroaded into playing an unplanned support slot before my Leith Folk Club gig as well as joining me onstage for a song ... and generally to each of the many individuals, most of them volunteers, who made all the various gigs possible.

Infinite thanks to Feargal, too, for giving up his holidays to be chauffeur, babysitter and sounding board all rolled into one. The poor man celebrated his birthday – which also happens to be Valentine's Day – by coming down with a dreadful case of tonsilitis, navigating unfamiliar roads to find a doctor, and then minding the kids in a B&B while I was out doing my gig.

Last Friday I had a hair-rising 60-mile drive through thick fog to Bodmin and back again the same night – but it was well worth it for the pleasure of hearing Linde Nijland and Bert Ridderbos performing songs of Sandy Denny at the Bodmin Folk Club. They've just left this morning after spending two nights here with us – last night we had a bit of a session in the kitchen, which I hope will be the first of many!

And talking of sessions, I've finally managed to get out to some nice ones locally: at the Globe in Truro and the Blue Anchor in Helston, where I had some great tunes with Neil Davey and Hilary Coleman of the Cornish band Dalla. There's also a new session starting up here in Penzance at the Admiral Benbow, run by Alan and Linda Collins – I'm hoping to check it out next week.

In two weeks' time I'm off to Holland again, and then I'll be heading over to Ireland – again with the kids in tow, but instead of coming along on the tour they'll be staying with their granny and granddad while I gallivant around the country. As always, for full details see the Calendar. All the best until next time!

Hello, all. As you can see from the subject line, I’ve been brushing up on my Nederlands (note that the titles of some of the pics on my Photos page have been changed accordingly), and it’s come in very handy over the last few days. I am indeed in the train, somewhere between Rotterdam and Brussels as I type, heading home after three lovely gigs in Holland.

The first gig was in a church that hosts a folk club called, wait for it, ‘The Holy Ground’. A few weeks ago, the organiser sent me an email explaining that it was a tradition for all the artists who appear there to sing the song ‘The Holy Ground’ -- not the beautiful song written by Gerry O’Beirne (www.gerryobeirne.com), but the tankard-thumping ballad popularised by The Dubliners and their ilk. My initial reaction, as you can imagine, was oh, no, no, no.

However, as it happened, a day or so later I was doing a bit of research prepatory to writing a review of a Clancy Brothers ‘Best Of’ compilation, and came across an interview with Liam Clancy in which he explained how the band came up with their signature sound. Back when they first arrived in New York in 1956, they held an informal meeting to discuss what kind of “show” they could put on (remember, at that point they were actors first and musicians second). Liam Clancy was bouncing up and down on a very springy sofa, and suggested to the others that they try singing traditional Irish songs to the upbeat rhythm he was producing with his exertions. Next thing you know, they were sporting their mammy’s hand-knitted Aran jumpers on the Ed Sullivan show ... and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fortunately for me, the process works equally well in reverse, and when I took the metaphorical springs OUT of the metaphorical sofa, I discovered that ‘The Holy Ground’ is actually a beautiful song. Having sung it at two of the venues in Holland, I think I might just keep it in the set list. Many, many thanks to The Holy Ground’s Barend van Straten for bringing it to my attention.

On Sunday, I had the best gig of my life thus far. Down in the south of Holland, in the town of Sevenum, Piet Snellen hosts De Fookhook (www.fookhook.nl) at De Sevewaeg, an “echt gezellig” (warm, cosy, friendly) bar/restaurant with candles on the tables, brilliant sound and the most appreciative audience I’ve ever played for: two standing ovations complete with stomping feet, and three encores! Here’s a photo taken by Piet (there are a couple more on the Photos page):

Gigs at the Fookhook take place on Sundays from 4 to 6pm -- a format I heartily wish other folk clubs would adopt. It’s wonderful, because musicians and punters alike can have dinner AFTER the gig, which for artists means that they don’t have to worry about singing on a full stomach, and for audiences means that they can discuss the pluses and minuses of the concert over a relaxed meal. It’s also good for the proprietors, as they’re getting a drink-buying crowd in at a time that would be quiet otherwise. Venues everywhere, please take note! Piet has a great lineup of acts coming through in the coming months, notably my pals in Carmina (www.carmina.co.uk) on Sunday 6 April.

Monday I visited my great friend Danny Guinan (www.dannyguinan.com) and his wife Tanja in Haarlem, and Tuesday I headed way up north to Friesland, where I not only had a very nice gig at Folk in de Wâlden (www.folkindewalden.nl) but also met a lovely singer called Linde Nijland (www.lindenijland.nl), who used to be half of the acclaimed duo Yggdrasil and has just released a solo album featuring songs of Sandy Denny. She has a tour coming up in the UK including dates in Devon and Cornwall, so I’m hoping to catch one of her gigs myself.

May I once again extol the merits of travel by train? I’m sorry if I’m becoming a bit of a bore about this, but I’ve just taken the train from Penzance to London to Brussels to Dordrecht to Haarlem to Leeuwarden to Rotterdam to Brussels to London to Penzance, and I wouldn’t for a millisecond have traded the experience for a shorter journey by air, even leaving aside carbon footprint issues. So very nice to be able to stretch my legs, to see the changing scenery through the window, to load my suitcase with books and CDs without worrying about weight issues, and most of all to be able to keep my guitar in my sight at all times. The sleeper train from Penzance to London was particularly nice -- a cosy bunk in which to rock to sleep like a baby in a papoose, and a cup of tea brought to my door in the morning -- what luxury!

Oh, and if anyone else out there wants to brush up on their Dutch, check out the ever-fascinating “Dutch word of the day” website: http://dwotd.web-log.nl/ -- great fun to read even if you’ve no interest in learning the lingo.

The other bit of news is that the estimable Jean Camp is now looking after my booking in the UK and Ireland, which leaves me more time to practise my guitar chops and learn new songs. If you’d like to contact her directly, she can be reached on jean@faymusconnections.co.uk.

I’ll be heading up to Scotland for a week in February, then over to the Netherlands again in March before my Ireland tour in late March and early April. As always, for full details see my Calendar. Happy New Year to all of you!

A major surprise in today’s post: I’ve just received the October/November edition of Welsh folk magazine Taplas, only to discover that I’m on the cover! I did the interview with the magazine’s editor, Keith Hudson, some weeks back but had no idea that he was planning to give it such prominence. Check it out on www.taplas.co.uk.

I was equally chuffed to get my copy of December’s Folk Roots magazine (www.frootsmag.com) and find a highly favourable review of When Two Lovers Meet, with a big double-column image of one of Alastair Bruce’s lovely new photographs. It’s only a short review in the “and the rest ...” section, so here’s the text in its entirety (you can also read the review and see the photo they used on www.frootsmag.com/content/issue/reviews/ – scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it):

“Previously lauded in these pages on its original release, Sarah McQuaid’s debut album offers a masterclass in restraint and subtlety. Authoritative singing and quietly insistent arrangements make for a sumptuous whole – recommended.”

In other news, I’m the featured guest on the current edition of Mike Ganley’s show “The Crooked Road” on Radio Britfolk. You can listen to the interview either on the Press page or, for the rest of this week, at www.radiobritfolk.co.uk.

Speaking of Internet radio, Brian O hEadhra – who I know from his work with the group Anam – used my version of ‘The Parting Glass’ as the final track of the current program of his show ‘Acoustic Nation’ on Scottish Internet Radio. To hear the show, go to www.internetradio.co.uk/acoustic_nation.html and click on the link for 4th November 2007.

There are a few last-minute additions to the gig calendar, notably a date in Bristol on December 8th as special guest with Carmina (www.carmina.co.uk). For full details see the Calendar page.

All the best until next time!

Hello, one and all. I'm sitting on the train as I write this, on my way home to Cornwall from the Return To Camden Town Festival (www.returntocamden.org) in London, but metaphorically speaking I'm walking on air. The night was nothing short of magical. Singer/guitarist Terence O'Flaherty opened the show, followed by a 40-minute set by my good self, and then four of my favourite artists in the world took the stage. I'd have gladly paid money to see any one of them solo, but there they were all together: Róisín Elsafty, Máirtín O'Connor, Cathal Hayden and Séamie O'Dowd. They fully deserved the hoots and hollers the audience gave them, and for an encore they asked me up for a song, so Róisín and I swapped verses and harmonised on 'Red Is The Rose' while the lads vamped along mellifluously. It was a major honour to be in such company -- I'll be holding onto that memory for a long time! I'm happy to say that a photographer was present and has promised to send me a few snaps to put up on the website, so do check back in a few weeks' time and you might see them.

I had an equally awe-inspiring experience last Friday, when I did some singing in the hallowed premises of the Sawmills Studio -- used by Oasis, Stone Roses, XTC et al (for the full list and a gawk at the pictures, visit www.sawmills.co.uk). My pal Colin Harper had asked me to do a track on a very interesting-sounding project he's putting together, consisting of 20 songs written by Colin and performed by the likes of Tina McSherry, Roisin Gallagher, Conor Shields and -- yes! -- me, with featured instrumentalists including Martin Hayes and Duke Special among others. Keep an eye on his website (www.colin-harper.com) for news of its release. The studio was an experience in itself -- to get there, you park down in a sleepy little harbour in the village of Golant, ring the sound engineer, and he put-put-puts over in a motorboat to collect you. I only got a quick peek at the comfy quarters enjoyed by bands that take the full residential package, but it looked rather nice -- big leather sofas, pool table, widescreen telly, shelves of DVDs and so forth. I managed to get my vocals down in the allotted three hours, but as the tide was out when it came time to leave, I couldn't take the boat and instead had to walk along the railroad bridge while keeping an ear out for approaching trains!

Speaking of trains, I've been using them for as much of my transport to and from gigs as possible -- partly to keep my carbon footprint down and partly because it's just so much pleasanter than flying or driving. I'm even going to take the train when I go over to the Netherlands for my mini-tours there in January and March -- overnight from Penzance to London, then Eurostar from London to Brussels and on to Holland. It'll be an adventure ....

Unfortunately, some venues can't be reached by rail, and that's where the TomTom comes in. At the Tisbury Folk & Acoustic Music Festival last month, I found myself sitting in the illustrious company of Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, Pete Coe and Bob Fox. It was one in the morning or thereabouts, we were all having a civilised glass of wine and what were we animatedly discussing? Our satellite navigation devices. It couldn't have been sadder, and then suddenly it was: James and Nancy revealed that THEIR TomTom (a much fancier model than mine) allowed you to record your own instructions. Next thing you know, I was intoning "Go through the roundabout" into the little microphone, and then Bob Fox got to say "Keep right," or maybe it was "Take the exit" -- I can't remember. Such hilarity. Ah, the high jinks us folk musicians get up to in our spare time.

Earlier this month, photographer Alastair Bruce (www.alastairbruce.co.uk) travelled all the way down from his base in Devon to take pics for the new album; I'll also be using them for my publicity purposes from here on out, as it was beginning to seem a bit cheeky to be sending out photos taken back in 1996, nice and all as they were. He managed to assemble a lovely bunch of images, all taken in and around our house. You can see a selection of them, as well as some very nice pics taken by Chris Stanbury (www.swallowcliffe.com) at the aforementioned Tisbury festival, here -- check out the one Chris took of the gorgeous black labrador who supplied brilliant backing vocals to my rendition of 'In The Pines'! Also newly updated is the Press page with the text of various recently-published reviews and articles.

All the best until next time!

Hello, all. The good news is that the Wadebridge folk festival this coming weekend is back on again after being cancelled in June (see http://www.folkweekend.co.uk), and I'll be doing a half-hour slot in the Sunday evening concert headlined by Martin Simpson. Also new on the updated calendar is a gig at Ryan's Bar in Torquay on the 11th of September.

When Two Lovers Meet has been getting quite a bit of airplay since its UK release at the end of July. You can hear tracks from it in the August edition of Folkcast -- click on http://www.folkcast.co.uk to download or listen live -- and on Mike Ganley's show The Crooked Road on Radio Britfolk -- click on http://www.radiobritfolkhome.co.uk to listen live.

I had a brilliant time at Sidmouth Folk Week earlier this month, gave a very well-attended workshop on the DADGAD tuning (at the close of which I sold every one of the 20 copies of the book I'd brought with me -- have now had to order more copies from Music Sales!) and did two concert appearances, one at the Rugby Club and the other at the Bedford Hotel. Dutch fan Karin Pronk took a rather nice photo of me during the latter set -- you can see it on http://www.sarahmcquaid.com/photos.html. Also heard loads of great music, notably the wonderful a cappella trio Cockersdale and the lovely Jackie Oates, whom I'd not come across before and whose CD I purchased on the spot.

The CD has been getting some nice reviews recently as well, on NetRhythms and in Folknews Kernow. To read them, click on http://www.sarahmcquaid.com/press.html and then on "Read Reviews/Articles".

Many, many thanks for your support, and feel free to email me with any questions or comments. All the best until next time!

Hello there. The family and I are now installed in our new home in Cornwall, and the weather is making us feel right at home. I think there's been at least some rain on every day of the four weeks we've been here thus far.

We are still neck deep in boxes that need to be unpacked, but it'll all get done eventually, and things seem to be working themselves out in the most unexpected ways. For example, the movers managed to rip a chunk of wood off the piano (just trim, nothing that has anything to do with the production of sound, thank heavens) -- and the absence of that particular chunk of wood enables said piano to slide with nary a millimetre to spare into the alcove we had earmarked for it. I guess it'll be staying off, then.

When Two Lovers Meet is being released here in the UK tomorrow, 30 July, with distribution through Proper Records -- click here for details! I've been doing a few interviews to promote it -- had a lovely chat with Robbie Shepherd of BBC Radio Scotland today, and with Mike Ganley of Radio Britfolk earlier in the week. I also spoke with Sharon Ni Chonchuir of The Irish Post for a profile that should be appearing in their new entertainment supplement sometime soon.

And Gerry (O'Beirne) and Trevor (Hutchinson) are going to be doing the final mixdown of my new album (recorded last May) in Dublin next weekend. I won't be there, obviously, but am confident that they'll do a much better job without me hanging about and annoying them with silly questions.

There are lots of gigs in the pipeline now, including a just-confirmed appearance at the Return To Camden Town festival in London, about which I'm very chuffed! See the CALENDAR page for a full list.

All the best until next time ...

Hello there. I'm on day nine of the recording of my new album, and it's sounding really lovely so far. All thanks, I must immediately point out, to the good offices of Gerry O'Beirne and Trevor Hutchinson, who are back in the producer's and engineer's seats, respectively, just over ten years on from when we recorded When Two Lovers Meet. We're back in Trevor's house in Glasnevin, Dublin, where the first album was made as well, and it all feels strange and familiar at the same time.

It's going to be quite a different album from the last one in terms of the material; the focus this time round is going to be on the American old-timey songs and tunes that I remember from my childhood. But we're still aiming for the same spare, uncluttered feel.

There are two new original songs as well, both written within the last month. The melody for one of them, in fact, was just written last Friday night. Liam Bradley had been in the studio most of the day, putting down some very cool percussion on three tracks and gorgeous vocals on a fourth. I wish Liam would make an album featuring his singing sometime -- he has an amazing high tenor voice that deserves to be heard. Anyway, he finished up, packed up all his numerous bits and pieces (a chunk of stone from Iceland, seashells on a rope, bells and blocks of wood and all sorts, not to mention several huge drums that all somehow fitted into the boot of his car, as if in a reversal of the old circus gag with the dozens of clowns getting out of the Mini) and got back on the road to his house in Donegal, which he'd left at 6.30 that morning, poor fellow ... and then I started to try and record a song I'd written a few weeks back, and it just didn't seem to be working.

At 8 in the evening or so, Gerry told me he had an assignment for me: I was to go off to the place where I was staying and write a new melody for the song. I went back to my friend Mary's tiny flat behind the Guinness brewery, feeling utterly disconsolate and crestfallen. Fortunately for her, she was working late that night, so didn't have to listen to me moan about how discouraged I felt. Instead, I poured myself a glass of wine, sat down and wrote an infinitely better melody than the one I'd had before, with a completely different rhythm and chord structure. So fair play to Gerry for making me do it. It's a song that's very close to my heart -- I wrote it for my daughter, who was born in 2005, and my mother, who died in 2004, and on Saturday morning when I tried to play the new version through for Gerry and Trevor, I started crying halfway through the song and had to take a break. But in the end I managed to pull myself together and record it, and it's good.

I've also recorded one cover -- 'Ode to Billie Joe' by Bobbie Gentry. Gerry wanted to hear the original version of the song for comparison purposes, so I went onto Amazon and ordered a brilliant compilation called 'Chickasaw County Child: The Artistry of Bobbie Gentry'. Having now listened to it several dozen times over, I'm going to order every recording she's ever made. She's a phenomenally talented woman and has supplanted Ella Fitzgerald as my favourite singer of all time. She wrote (and that's wrote, not co-wrote) nearly all of the 23 songs on the compilation I have, and the one thing they have in common is the excellence with which they're crafted. The styles of the individual songs vary wildly, but in terms of lyrics, melody and structure, they're hard to beat. She's a nifty guitar player as well, and even produced one of her own albums -- most unusual for that era. And then there's that voice, raw and husky but always perfectly controlled, with an incredibly elastic range. Born in 1944 in rural Chickasaw County, Mississippi, and raised mostly by her grandparents in a house with no electricity or indoor plumbing, Gentry set off for Las Vegas after graduating from secondary school and found work dancing at a casino in a Folies Bergere-style revue. In the mid-60s she moved to California, where she reportedly studied philosophy at UCLA (something this philosophy graduate was intrigued to discover), then transferred to the LA Conservatory of Music and started doing gigs at a club in Pasadena. That led to a publishing deal and then to the release of 'Ode To Billie Joe' as her debut single on Capitol Records in July 1967. Four albums followed, and Gentry eventually became a fixture on the stages of Las Vegas and Reno casinos (and was briefly married to gambling-hall tycoon Bill Harrah). There's a great quote in the compilation CD's liner notes from Tom Jones, who reminisces about how he, Gentry and Elvis Presley would congregate in Elvis' hotel suite after their gigs and stay up singing and jamming together until dawn. Those must have been some sessions ....

And yesterday (Sunday), Máire Breatnach came in and put down some utterly beautiful fiddle and viola tracks. I feel so very privileged to have had her on this recording -- she's a lovely person and a brilliant musician; I'm in awe of her ability to hear a song for the first time, sense instinctively what it needs, translate that to her instrument and get it spot-on in one take. Respect, as Ali G might say.

Speaking of respect -- Gerry and I were talking with Máire about Omos, the concert at Vicar Street in honour of the late Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, which we all attended last Thursday night. There were some uproariously funny moments, as when Máirtín Ó Connor introduced a tune as "'The Tongs By The Fire' ... without the 'h' ..." and some deeply poignant moments, as when a reunited Bothy Band -- Tríona Ní Dhomnaill, Kevin Burke, Matt Molloy, Paddy Keenan, Paddy Glackin and Donal Lunny -- assembled around an empty chair, the unplayed guitar on its stand beside it reminding us why we were there. Earlier, Paddy Keenan had played a powerful solo set on the uilleann pipes, probably the high point of the evening from a musical point of view. And at the start of the second set, Mícheál himself had appeared on a large screen above the stage, in an old clip from 'As I Roved Out', over the course of which the camera panned back to reveal Kevin Burke on the fiddle ... and none other than Gerry O'Beirne, in a much younger and rather more hirsute incarnation, playing a 12-string guitar.

I'll be finishing up in the studio on Thursday, then heading off up to Coleraine on Friday to start the next round of gigs. Have a look at the calendar for an updated schedule; note the change of date for the Bridge Tavern gig, which will now take place on Weds June 13 instead of Tues June 19 as previously announced.

The plan at the moment is to wait to release the new album until February or thereabouts, so as not to interfere with the ongoing re-release of When Two Lovers Meet. But in the meantime I might put a taster track or two up on the website -- we'll see. All will be revealed ....

Finally, infinite thanks to my long-suffering husband, Feargal Shiels, who's been doing far more than his fair share of looking after the children while Mummy is away playing her guitar; I've been spending two nights out of every three in Dublin, in order to minimise the time I spend driving up and down to Ballycanew. Don't worry, lads, he'll get his revenge in due course -- he's already making plans for a long solo holiday on the bike after we move to Cornwall!

Many, many thanks for your support, and feel free to email me with any questions or comments. All the best until next time!

Hello again. My recent interviews with Pat Kenny, Aine Hensey and Charlie McGettigan are all up on the website now – just go to the PRESS page and click on "Listen to radio interviews". If you've already had a look there, you might have heard a version of the Charlie McGettigan interview that had a bit of distortion on it. However, Charlie being the true gent that he is, he's just sent me a replacement sound file that's crystal clear and has now been uploaded to replace the old one. Thanks, Charlie!

Just a few days to go until my television debut (gulp!) next Tuesday, 3 April. If you can manage to stay up until the last few moments of The View, John Kelly's late-night chat show on RTE 1, you'll be able to catch a glimpse of yours truly playing the title track from When Two Lovers Meet behind the closing credits of the show, which airs at 11pm GMT. You can also watch the clip for a week afterwards on http://www.rte.ie/tv/theview/index.html.

And for what it's worth, the day before yesterday I wrote a song for the first time since 1998. It's too early to know whether it's any good or not, but a big relief to have that particular dry spell come to an end.

A few more gigs have been added to the CALENDAR page – notably, the good people at the Bridge Tavern in Wicklow Town (where I had a most enjoyable gig last week -- nice pub, lovely relaxed crowd) have asked me to come back for three return dates in April, May and June, so I guess they must have liked me. I must say that the response I've had since my return to the music scene continues to amaze me. If I'd had any inkling that it would be this good, I wouldn't have waited ten years to get the album out there! I honestly thought that there couldn't be any market for the kind of stuff I do, so it's astonishing and wonderful to discover that there is.

We're pushing on with plans to move over to Cornwall in July, despite having had no bites on our house here in Ireland. If anybody out there knows anyone who might be interested in a four-bedroom semi-D in Ballycanew, please do send them my way. It's a nice house, really it is. You can even check it out on the web -- here's the link:
http://www3.myhome.ie/search/property.asp?id=294380&np=&rt=search&searchlist=

Until next time!

The day before yesterday, my three-year-old son Eli, while looking at a picture of a tiger, having already observed that said tiger was orange and black, uttered the following: "Tigers are made from fire and they're made from night-time." And no, he hasn't been dipping into William Blake behind my back ....

Thanks to all the good work of the supremely competent Bernie at Gael Linn, I'm spending quite a bit of time on the airwaves these days.

Charlie McGettigan (http://www.charliemcgettigan.com) does a brilliant show on Shannonside/Northern Sound Radio (http://www.shannonside.ie) that airs every Saturday from 10am to 12 noon. He was kind enough to have me on the show for a full hour last weekend, during which I managed to get in four songs and lots and lots of chat! I've posted the full interview on the website -- here's the link if you'd like to listen back to it: http://sarahmcquaid.com/press-group-3.html

This coming Sunday night, 11 March, I'll be talking with Aine Hensey on her show 'The Late Session' on RTE Radio 1. The show airs from 10 to 11pm GMT but can be caught on the web for up to a week after that via this link: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thelatesession/

On Thursday, 15 March, I'll be doing an interview and a few songs on Today With Pat Kenny. The programme is on from 10am to 12 noon GMT, and as with Aine Hensey's show, you can listen to it online for one week afterwards. Here's the link:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/

On Tuesday, 3 April, I'll be making my first-ever television appearance (gulp!) on The View. Hosted by writer and broadcaster John Kelly every Tuesday night on RTE 1, the show airs at 11pm GMT and I'll be playing the title track from When Two Lovers Meet at the close of the show. Once again, if you miss the show, you can still watch the clip for a week afterwards on http://www.rte.ie/tv/theview/index.html

Finally, on Sunday, 6 May, I'll be the guest on June Carley's show, 'Best Of Irish', on Midlands 103 (link for more info about June and her show: http://www.midlandsradio.fm/page.aspx?page_id=137). The show airs from 11pm to 12 midnight GMT, and you can listen live at http://www.midlands103.com/

There are a few more gigs in the pipeline, too. See the calendar for an updated list.

Howdy, folks. The big news is that my album When Two Lovers Meet has officially been re-released today, Friday February 23, with distribution throughout Ireland by Gael Linn Records. Bernie Gillespie at Gael Linn has been doing a brilliant job organising newspaper interviews and live radio appearances up and down the country, and I've got a fair few gigs coming up in March and April as well -- see details on the CALENDAR page. The good people at Gael Linn have also organised a UK release for July 30, with distribution through Proper Records, so it's all go. Our house in Ireland is still on the market (any takers for a lovely four-bedroom house in Ballycanew?) but we hope to have moved over to Cornwall by the end of July if not earlier, as I'll be appearing at the Sidmouth Festival in August and our little boy is due to start school over there in September! He'll be in a class of seven children -- not much chance of that in Ireland … Hope to see you at one of the gigs.

The big news at the moment is that Feargal and I have put our house on the market (a dandy 4-bedroom res in Ballycanew, near Gorey, Co. Wexford, for anyone out there who’s interested). Whenever it sells – which could be many months from now, given all the dismal news reports I’ve been hearing about the slowdown in Ireland’s property market – we’ll be moving lock, stock and barrel to my parents’ house near Penzance, Cornwall. Since my mother’s death two years ago, my stepfather has been rattling around the place on his own, so he’s now in the process of renovating one of the sheds into a little cottage for himself, on the understanding that we and the kids will move into the main house. It’s all a bit scary but should mean a better quality of life for the whole family: we’re harbouring optimistic hopes of growing our own vegetables, keeping chickens and so forth, ‘River Cottage Forever’ style. With a bit of luck, I might even finally finish the novel I’ve been trying to write for the past six years! Again, it may be some time before this actually happens, but if anyone has any handy contacts for gigs, festivals and the like in the UK, do let me know.

What with having two children in three years and one thing and another, I didn’t actually take my guitar out of its case from the summer of 2003 until the summer of 2006, at which point I received an email from Seamie O’Dowd of the Strandhill Guitar Festival asking whether I’d be interested in doing a workshop on DADGAD with Dick Gaughan. The prospect of joining one of my all-time heroes (musical and otherwise) onstage was daunting, to say the least, especially given the rusty state of my skills. But I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I’d said no, so I said yes and set about frantically trying to re-learn how to play the guitar. This task was made considerably easier by the discovery that practising tunes was a great way of getting my kids to sleep – if only I’d found that out three years previously! Anyway, the big day finally came. It was damn scary at first, especially as the audience consisted almost entirely of bored-looking teenagers in Metallica T-shirts. But after a couple of tunes and songs it started to be fun instead of scary, and then it was all over and I was wishing we had time to try a few more numbers. I stood up, feeling a little shaky, and Dick gave me a big hug and told me to promise him that from then on the guitar would come out of its case on a regular basis. I did and it will. Big, big thanks to Messrs. O’Dowd and Gaughan – it’s thanks entirely to the two of you that my album is now reissued and my musical career starting to get back on track. I owe you both.