McQuaid ready to give it Hollies

MUSICIAN Sarah McQuaid will be performing at the Hollies in Enniskeane on April 27th, performing songs from her live-in-lockdown album The St Buryan Sessions.

McQuaid now has  six critically acclaimed albums under her belt.

Born in Spain to a Spanish father and American mother, Sarah grew up in Chicago and in the mid-1990s she made her way to Ireland, where her authorship of The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book led to invitations to write regular music columns and reviews for Hot Press magazine and Dublin’s Evening Herald.

In 2007, she switched roles, launching her first solo tour with an appearance as musical guest on John Kelly’s Friday night arts television programme The View on RTÉ One.

The same year saw her moving to rural Cornwall, where she struck up a friendship with a fellow mum outside the gates of her children’s school. That fellow mum turned out to be Zoë Pollock, writer and performer of 1991 UK top five single Sunshine On A Rainy Day.

The pair found themselves co-writing songs for an album released in 2008 under the band name Mama.

‘I owe Zoë a massive debt of gratitude for getting me into songwriting in a serious way,’ says Sarah.

Zoë also introduced her to  Martin Stansbury, a longtime collaborator and former bandmate of Zoë’s who produced and engineered the Mama album, then became Sarah’s manager and sound engineer.

He produced and engineered Sarah’s sixth solo album, The St Buryan Sessions, recorded live in lockdown in the beautiful medieval church of St Buryan, just over a mile from Sarah’s home. The album and videos can be seen on Sarah’s website.

Sarah returned to Ireland on tour earlier this month, with eight dates nationwide, and you can catch the penultimate one on April 27th at the Hollies.