http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html Sarah McQuaid: News Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:15:56 -0700 http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#31

CD Baby and Haiti relief
For those of you who don’t already know it, beginning today (Monday, January 25th) and continuing for two weeks, the good people at CD Baby are donating US$1 of their cut from every CD sale, and $1 from every download sale over $8.99, to the American Red Cross and to Mercy Corps, a Portland-based relief organization with a large presence in Haiti. So if you’ve been thinking about buying either my CDs or any of the other excellent albums available through CD Baby (Gerry O’Beirne’s beautiful Half Moon Bay and The Bog Bodies And Other Stories spring to mind), now would be a good time to do that. Visit CD Baby for more info.

Street teamers wanted
I’ll be heading off shortly to do a few UK gigs before I leave for Spain and the USA, and could do with a bit of help getting the word out: the organiser of the London gig, for one, has just emailed me to say that thus far he’s sold a grand total of one ticket! I’d be hugely grateful if you could have a look down through the list of gigs at the end of this email and pass on the info to any friends of yours in the places I’m passing through, if you think they’d like my music. I also have stacks of flyers listing all my upcoming tour dates from February through April, and would be delighted to send a few out in the post to anyone who’s in an area where I’m going to be playing and has a place to put them.

The week after the aforementioned London gig, I’m off to Bilbao, Spain, to perform at the grandly named Palacio de Congresos y de la Música Euskalduna, and straight on from there to the USA. I’ll be attending the International Folk Alliance conference in Memphis from February 16-21, then embarking on a whirlwind tour, playing 20 shows in 23 days.

Double CD
Along with my first-ever solo US tour comes the re-release of my first two albums as a double CD for the North American market. The idea for the double CD package came from Kari Estrin, an amazing woman in Nashville who’s been manager or tour manager in the past for such illustrious names as Janis Ian, Tony Rice, Suzanne Vega and 3 Mustaphas 3. In the short time I’ve been working with her she’s been a real inspiration. She’s looking after the radio publicity for the US release, and will be sending out 550 copies to stations around the country. The two individual albums have already been getting quite a bit of airplay on folk radio programs over there; I was particularly chuffed when I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning was named “CD of the Week” by WFMT’s The Midnight Special, a show I can remember listening to it as a child in Chicago on New Year’s Eve – the only night of the year I was allowed to stay up late enough to hear it!

Singers wanted
The week after my return from the US, I’m going to be playing a double-bill gig with Cornish band Dalla at Grampound Community Hall in Cornwall ... which leads me to mention that I’m still looking for fellow singers to join me for ‘In Gratitude I Sing’, the canon I debuted at that same gig back in March 2009. On that occasion, members of Dalla and fellow Cornwall-based band Corncrow bravely volunteered to sing it with me, despite the fact that I’d written the song that afternoon and had only five minutes to rehearse it with the others before the show. Now anyone who wants can download the sheet music and MIDI file from my website, so there’s no excuse for not giving it a go. If you’re coming to any of my gigs over the next year or two and fancy joining me onstage, please do look it up!

New album
The new recording is still being tweaked and twiddled as I write. Máire Breatnach came in last week to put a few fiddle and viola tracks down, and thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to listen to them on the computer less than an hour after she’d left the studio, despite the fact that the studio is in Dublin and I’m in Penzance. They sounded lovely and I can’t wait to hear the finished album, but that’ll have to wait until Gerry and Trevor’s hectic schedules once again leave them with a few free days that coincide, like some rare conjunction of the planets.

New idea
When I recorded my last album, I had a grant from the Arts Council of Ireland, which was a considerable help. Now that I’m living in the UK, I’m a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond, and in any case arts budgets are being slashed left, right and centre.

So I think I’m going to try something new. It’s been suggested to me that I invite people to become sponsors for the new album – helping me out with the recording costs in exchange for various rewards, depending on the amount contributed – for example, a sponsorship credit in the booklet, a concert in your home, signed gifts and memorabilia for you and your friends? This is unfamiliar territory for me, so I’m very much open to advice. If any of you would like to get in touch with me to discuss your thoughts, that would be wonderful.]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#31 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#30
It's going to be called The Plum Tree And The Rose, and features six of my own songs (including the title track) together with nine pieces from the 13th-16th centuries. In the latter category are Elizabethan songs and instrumentals as well as songs in Old French, Old Occitan, Italian, Middle High German and Latin. On advice from Joseph Baldassarre (a professor of music history at Boise State University, who very kindly scanned and emailed pages from several books in his collection), I'd taken the precaution of buying Timothy McGee's excellent book and CD set Singing Early Music: The Pronunciation of European Languages in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and it became my bible for the duration of the recording. I can only hope that I've done an adequate job of getting the pronunciation right.

Like my previous two solo recordings, the new album was recorded at Trevor Hutchinson's home studio in Dublin, with Trevor engineering and Gerry O'Beirne engineering. It was lovely to be able to work with the two of them once again, and lovely as well to be able to enjoy the brilliant hospitality provided by Trevor and his wife Frances.

Niamh Parsons, who last recorded with me on my first album When Two Lovers Meet, came along to sing on two tracks: my canon 'In Gratitude I Sing' and the rather earlier 'New Oysters New', written by Thomas Ravenscroft back in 1609. Tom Barry sang on the same two tracks; other guest singers on 'In Gratitude I Sing' included Frances Hutchinson (who was roped in at the last minute after being overheard warbling in the kitchen whilst preparing dinner for the rest of us!), Gerry O'Beirne and Emer Ní Bhrádaigh.

Noel Eccles (of Moving Hearts fame, now principal percussionist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland) arrived with a bewildering array of drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments, which he used to brilliant effect on several tracks.

Repeat guests from I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning included fiddler Rosie Shipley, Trevor Hutchinson on double bass, and of course Gerry O'Beirne on tiple and classical guitar.

And I got to try out a new instrument of my own: a Shruti box made by Stefan Cartwright of Stroud, Gloucestershire (see http://www.shrutibox.co.uk for more info), which we thought worked very well on the Occitan troubadour song 'S'Anc Fuy Belha Ni Prezada' by Cadenet (c. 1160-c. 1235), despite the clash of periods and places!

Amazingly, we managed to finish on schedule at a very civilised 7.30pm on the final day of recording. Here are Gerry, Trevor, myself and Frances raising a glass to celebrate the occasion; unfortunately, all of us except Gerry had our eyes not on the camera but on the antics of Nina -- Frances and Trevor's beautiful and hilarious Irish setter.

I'm not entirely certain when the album will be out, as it hasn't even been mixed as yet, but I imagine that it will be sometime in 2010. Watch this space.]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#30 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#28
There was an impressive take-up to my open invitation for concertgoers to join me in singing my canon "In Gratitude I Sing" (for anyone else out there who wants to give it a go, it's still up on the Home page). At my show at St. John's Theatre & Arts Centre in Listowel (to which I'm happy to say I'll be returning the same time next year), fellow guitarist Paul de Grae went way beyond the call of duty: not only did he organise the choir for the canon, he also loaned me his wonderful G7 capo, then made me a present of it at the end of the concert after telling me the story of how Johnny Cash famously gave his guitar to Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival. "I'm not going to give you my guitar," said Paul, "but I will give you my capo." And he did.

On the Photos page, you'll find a snap taken of myself, Paul and the other two members of "the choir" at the pub later that evening, alongside a photo of the prettiest toilet in Ireland (or so I'm told — have a look and judge for yourself!) and a couple of pics from the final night of the tour — a packed triple bill at the Hawk's Well Theatre in Sligo with NoCrows and The Unwanted.

Cathy Jordan (of the Unwanted, and of course also of Dervish) joined me onstage during my set for an a cappella duet on Peggy Lee's "Fever", and the entire ensemble joined forces at the end of the evening for a grand finale.

This latter included the aforementioned canon sung by no less than 13 singers: myself, NoCrows (Felip Carbonell, Steve Wickham, Eddie Lee and Anna Houston), The Unwanted (Cathy, Seamie O'Dowd and Rick Epping) and the four members, plus the conductor, of barber shop quartet Own-A-Chord, who opened the show. For those who weren't there on the night, my entire 45-minute set, incuding the duet with Cathy Jordan, is viewable from start to finish on SligoTV.

In June I had my first-ever gig in Germany, at the Greenfarm Festival near Munich. A superbly run event, where I met up with a few old friends and made some lovely new ones. Now I'm getting ready to set off for various shows around England's midlands before heading over to Ireland, where I'll return to Trevor Hutchinson's Glasnevin studio for the recording of my third solo album, once again with Trevor engineering and Gerry O'Beirne producing.

I'm not a little apprehensive about the trip, as I've had difficulties with driving for the past three months: it appears that a very nasty cold I had in late March (which forced the rescheduling of my planned gig at the Barley Sheaf in Liskeard to September) has left me with inflammation in my ears that's causing me to have attacks of vertigo, particularly when I'm driving. Very scary. I've managed to organise trains for the UK tour, but I'll still have to drive from Cardiff over to Ireland and then around Ireland once I'm there. If you spot a red Berlingo trundling along very slowly and carefully in the outside lane, that'll be me.

On a happier note, Aled Jones played (for the second time!) a track from I Won't Go Home Til Morning on his BBC Radio 2 show in May — "A lovely voice this lady's got", he said. Very nice. I've also recently had airplay on Fiona Ritchie's Thistle & Shamrock, Radio ISW-FM in Germany, Folk Radio UK, Roz Larman's FolkScene, Gene Shay's Folk Show on WXPN, Death Valley Radio, KVMR, KBCS, WFRG, WPSU and several plays on Karen Miller's The Miller Tells Her Tale, which can be heard on podcast as well as on kYouRadio.com and Radio Six International — see www.themillertellshertale.co.uk for more info. Various reviews have been added to the Press page, including a lovely one from the US folk magazine Sing Out! as well as several reviews in Dutch magazines for which Renee Koopman was kind enough to supply English translations.

Listed on the Calendar page are all the upcoming shows I've managed to upload. There are a fair few more still to be added, as I'm struggling to cope with the email avalanche, so do check back in a few months for more — I'm hoping that I can catch up with everything once the new album is recorded!]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#28 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#22 Calling all singers
A couple of weeks ago, I started writing a song, and realised a few lines into it that it was taking the form of a canon. Luckily, that very evening -- 14 March -- I was playing a double bill with the excellent Cornish band Dalla (www.dalla.co.uk) and managed to recruit three of its members, plus Kim Guy of Cornish duo Corncrow, to give it a whirl. Even with only five of the six parts, it sounded lovely, and I'd really like to keep the song in the set ... so I'll be needing a few more singers to join me! If you're coming to one of my shows and you're able to sing in parts, please do go to my homepage, www.sarahmcquaid.com, where you'll find a link to download the sheet music (small file, quick download) and see if you fancy having a go.

To tweet or not to tweet?
A great big heartfelt thank you to everyone who's sent messages of support, guestbook signatures and comments on my various webpages. I do read everything that comes in, and all those kind words give me a huge lift. I try to write to everyone individually to thank them, but sometimes it's hard to keep up, between MySpace and Facebook and Twitter and Reverbnation and all the rest. I'm a bit bemused and confused by it all, and have just written a "Guest Blog" on the subject for the excellent online folk music magazine Spiral Earth (www.spiralearth.co.uk). It'll also be published in the Musicians' Union "Grass Roots" newsletter, and if you'd like to read it yourself, just click here.

New videos, new pics, new reviews
I've added loads of stuff to the website since the last of these missives went out. There are seven new videos from concerts I did in Holland in February, including my rendition of the three (three!) Dutch birthday songs, plus a great big hootenany when I joined Dutch bluegrass band the Lazy Taters (www.lazytater.nl) for 'Mama Don't Allow'. Lots of new pics (including older ones from March 2008 and November 2008 that I've only just got round to uploading, as well as recent ones from January and February 2009) on the photos page, and some very nice reviews of the new album on the press page. Among these are reviews from Living Tradition, fRoots, FATEA and The Irish Times -- all good, I'm relieved to say! The Mama CD has been getting some amazing reviews as well, from MOJO and Rock'n'Reel among others; click here to read them.

On the airwaves
The CD has been getting airplay in all sorts of places, including the USA's WYSO, WDET, WRFG, KMSU, K-TAOS, Kansas Public Radio, Australia's Spectrum FM and 2MCE-FM, plus assorted stations in the UK and Ireland. Over in the Netherlands, host Berrie Koetsier of 'Songriver' on Omroep  IJsselmond 104.1 FM made my version of 'Ode To Billie Joe' his 'Cover Song Of The Week' in January 2009. The album has also been reviewed in three different Dutch magazines, and I'm looking for translators, please, as my limited Nederlands isn't quite up to the job!

Coming soon to a venue near you
Listed on the calendar page are all the gigs I have coming up. Many, many thanks for all your support, and I hope to meet you at a gig down the road.
]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#22 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#21 here to read it if you’re interested!]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#21 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#19 Have a look and let me know what you think.

In other news, no less a personage than Aled Jones made me the subject of his ‘Sunday Spotlight’ on his BBC Radio 2 show Good Morning Sunday last weekend, saying in his intro to ‘Wondrous Love’ that it was “likely to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck”. If you’re reading this on Saturday the 31st, you’ve still got until tomorrow morning to go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/goodmorningsun/ontheshow.shtml and click on ‘Listen Again’ to hear it – it’s about an hour and 25 minutes into the show. You’ll find it on the playlist as well, in amongst the likes of Supertramp, The Proclaimers and Bruce Springsteen ...

Over at Mama headquarters we’ve got a bit to crow about as well, having achieved that Holy Grail of independent recording artists, a review in MOJO! Reviewer Colin Irwin gave us three stars and described Crow Coyote Buffalo as “a pleasingly maverick mix” that “recalls both the eccentricity of The Incredible String Band and the pastoral narratives of Lal Waterson.” If you’d like to be on the Mama mailing list, do sign up on www.mamamusic.co.uk.

There are also a couple of changes to the tour schedule sent out previously.

On 22 February at TwickFolk in London, I was originally meant to be playing support to Peter Case, but now that Case is recovering from double heart bypass surgery there’s been a change of plan. Crosby Tyler, a Californian singer-songwriter whose latest album was produced by Case, has taken over Case’s tour dates and the format has now been changed to a double-header, with Crosby and myself each playing a one-hour set and the advance ticket price reduced to £8 from the original £10. Crosby is donating half of his tour proceeds to help meet the extensive costs of Case’s medical treatment, and there will be Peter Case merchandise on sale at the gig in addition to a fundraising raffle.

And there are two new dates added – one in Wadebridge, Cornwall on February 5 and the other in Liskeard, Cornwall, on March 25 – see the CALENDAR page for details!

Until the next time ...

Sarah]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#19 Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#18
The last few months have been busy, to say the least, what with gigs in Holland, Belgium, Ireland and the UK, the release in October of I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning and most recently the launch of Crow Coyote Buffalo – the debut album from Mama, my new band with fellow singer-songwriter Zoë Pollock. Both CDs have been getting airplay around the globe and brilliant reviews; those of you who are on the Mama mailing list will have already seen the press quotes for that one (if you’re not on the Mama mailing list and would like to be, visit www.mamamusic.co.uk to sign up). Here’s a sampling of what the critics have been saying about I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning:

“Her singing has shades of Baez minus the operatic warble and Gillian Welch without so much Nashville twang.” – Spiral Earth

“Her own songwriting is beautifully spare ... a melancholy but somehow celebratory collection.” – The Irish Times

“One of those rare things, a very lovely personal album but also an incredibly good introduction to Appalachian folk music. Highly recommended.” – Americana UK

“Quietly expressive and supremely affecting performances ... Not a weak link anywhere in earshot ... This is a truly lovely record.” – NetRhythms

“The depth and warmth of McQuaid’s voice is best sampled on the a cappella ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’, while the hymn ‘Wondrous Love’ is truly spine-tingling ... A touching album from a genuine artist.” – Hot Press

The CD has had airplay on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Late Junction’ and ‘World On 3’, RTE Radio 1, BBC Wales, BBC Ulster, BBC Shropshire, BBC Leeds, BBC Cornwall, BBC Gloucestershire, Blast FM (Reading), AllFM (Manchester) and VRN Radio (Kircaldy) among others. It’s been played on WDIY-FM (Pennsylvania), WFDU-FM (New Jersey) and KMSU (Minnesota); and over in New South Wales, Australia, it was the featured album on Bruce Cameron’s 2MCE-FM show ‘Come All Ye’ on 28 December.

You can read the full text of all the reviews on the PRESS page, where you’ll also find a nice video from my November show at Toogenblik in Brussels. I’ve also put loads of new photos: some great shots of the gig I did at the Seamus Ennis Centre in Navan with Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne (and a magical evening it was – the three of us did the gig together, with Graham putting some lovely guitar touches on my songs and me harmonising with Niamh where I could); a friendly cuppa with Colum Sands at Groucho’s in Richhill; brandishing a magnificent Halloween pumpkin with Pamela Wyn Shannon at Woodend Barn in Banchory, Scotland; and playing my heart out at the Ards Guitar Festival despite having spent the previous night being violently ill with a tummy bug!

I’m heading off this evening for a short run of gigs in Holland, getting the sleeper train to London and then on to Groningen via Brussels. I’ll be at various locations around the UK in early spring, then heading over to Holland again in February and to Ireland in April. As always, tour dates are listed on the CALENDAR page. Many thanks for your support, and I wish you a happy and healthy 2009!

All the best,

Sarah

]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#18 Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#17 I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning – with a 24-page (!) booklet including original cover artwork by the lovely and talented Mary Guinan – is now available to friends and supporters in advance of the 20 October release date.

You can listen to a selection of tracks on the MUSIC page – or just go straight to the BUY page if you’re already sure you want it!

I’m doing a once-off “early bird” deal for anyone who buys the CD directly from my website in the month of its release. Both I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning and its predecessor can from 1-31 October only be purchased here for the discounted price of Stg £10.00 – including postage to wherever you happen to be, whether that’s Devon, Dublin or Dakar! And if you’d like me to sign the CD with a personal note to you or whoever the intended recipient is, I’ll be delighted and honoured to do so. Christmas is coming ... think stocking stuffers ... and apologies for this foray into blatant commercialism, which I promise will be brief. From the release date on, the CD will be available through the usual outlets of CD Baby, the Proper Music Store on Amazon, and your local record shop (distributed by Proper in the UK, EMD in Ireland and Super D worldwide including the USA). To take advantage of this offer, just click here.

On the 12th of September, Zoë Young and I played our debut gig as the band Mama, with special guests Jarvis and Tiffany of the Rosemarie Band, at the St Ives Theatre as part of the St Ives September Festival. The evening was a resounding success, apart from my purse being stolen from the dressing room while we were on stage; it was later recovered from the toilets, minus cash but with cards still present, thank heavens. Artists and punters alike take note: if it’s not locked, it’s not secure.

We’re now proud to announce the launch of Mama on the web at both www.mamamusic.co.uk and www.myspace.com/mamamusicmyspace.

Do pay us a visit when you have time, and sign up to the mailing list there if you’d like to be kept apprised of Mama news, including the release of our debut CD at the end of November.

I have a fairly full gig schedule in the coming months, and there have been a number of changes in the last few days, so please refer to the updated version on the CALENDAR page. Among the latest additions is a double bill in January with Linde Nijland, a wonderful Dutch singer I met on one of my early forays to Holland. From now until the beginning of December, Linde and her partner (musical and otherwise) Bert Ridderbos are on an amazing-sounding road trip to Bhutan, with plenty of music along the way – keep an eye on http://roadtobhutanmusic.wordpress.com for all the latest news of their journey!

Many thanks for your support – do keep in touch, and feel free to leave comments on either the GUESTBOOK page here or at www.myspace.com/sarahmcquaid (or both!) if the spirit moves you.]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#17 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#16
Contrary to what I told you last time round, my new solo album, "I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning", is now set for release on the 20th October! About time, too. Again, watch this space ....

In the meantime, when I haven't been collaborating with Zoë I've been collaborating with lots of other fascinating and talented individuals.

Soon after my move to Cornwall, my fellow music journo/book author/musician/songwriter Colin Harper got in touch with me to ask if I'd be willing to sing a song on a new album he was making, consisting of his compositions performed by various singers and bands. I jumped at the chance, and thanks to today's technology I didn't even have to travel to Colin's base in Belfast to do it. He emailed the backing track to the Sawmills Studio just up the road from me in Fowey (a most exotic place, accessible only by either a boat or a precarious walk across a railroad bridge, used for recording by the likes of Oasis, Stone Roses, XTC et al -- see www.sawmills.co.uk for more info), and I spent a beautiful afternoon there putting down lead and harmony vocals on Colin's song "Three Syllable Time". The result can now be heard on the new album "Freedom & the Dream Penguin", released under the collective name The Field Mouse Conspiracy. Besides myself, other artists featured include Judy Dyble (ex-Fairport Convention), Alison O’Donnell (ex-Mellow Candle), Peter Wilson (a.k.a. Duke Special), Susie Young, Joe Echo and Tina McSherry, not to mention numerous others -- see www.thefieldmouseconspiracy.com or www.myspace.com/thefieldmouseconspiracy for the full list! If you'd like to hear a sample of "Three Syllable Time", the track on which I sang, click here:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/fieldmouseconspiracy.

In December, I did a double bill with Rob King and Pippa Marland of the excellent trad/jazz outfit Carmina (www.carmina.co.uk) at the Nova Scotia in Bristol. I joined them for four songs at the end of their set, and it went so well that we decided to have another go in June -- same lineup, same venue, but this time I'd sat down with their CD for a proper rehearsal beforehand, so was able to contribute harmony vocals and backing guitar for most of their set. It was such a pleasure to work with them, and I do hope that we can do more together in the months and years to come!

In the lead-up to the Alcester Folk Festival, where I played in June, I spotted a familiar name on the bill -- Mike Agranoff (www.mikeagranoff.com), a musician I'd met years before in New Jersey, where he ran a lovely little folk club called the Minstrel Coffeehouse. I sent him a "remember me?" email and was delighted when he not only replied within minutes, but asked if I'd like to play some backing guitar during his set. We met at the festival, had a frenzied three-minute rehearsal, and I duly joined him on guitar when he played "The Temperance Reel" on the concertina, then trotted back up to sing harmonies on his encore rendition of "The Water Is Wide". It was brilliant fun -- as indeed was the whole of the festival -- and wonderful to be able to renew an old acquaintance.

A few more collaborations are still in the offing. In November I'll be sharing a bill with Holland-based Irish singer/songwrter Danny Guinan (www.dannyguinan.com) at the Theater Karroessel in Geleen, Netherlands, and in December there's a double bill at the Séamus Ennis Centre in Navan with the great Niamh Parsons (www.niamhparsons.com). I've jammed with Danny at his home place in Ferbane, County Offaly, and Niamh was kind enough to duet with me on my first album, so you never know what might happen ....

Meanwhile, the relentless touring continues -- see upcoming dates on my CALENDAR. I've got a wonderful new agent now, Bob Butler -- see the CONTACT page for details -- so don't expect any letup in the near future!]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#16 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#14
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!]]> http://sarahmcquaid.com/news.html#14 Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Words and Music - Sarah McQuaid - News