Sarah McQuaid: Press

Click here to read an article about a forthcoming appearance at the Ram Folk Club that appeared in the Surrey Comet.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
When you mention traditional folk music to audiences on this side of the Atlantic, people naturally think of American folk music. But there is, of course, a healthy folk music scene in the British Isles. Back in the 1960s, there was the rise of the English folk scene with groups like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and the Pentangle which found audiences in the US. In recent decades, Celtic music from Ireland and Scotland has been enjoying considerable popularity. But there has not been a whole lot of mixing of folk from the America and the British Isles. This week's album is all about combining American and Celtic folk music from an artist whose life has embodied that transatlantic fusion. It's Sarah McQuaid, whose second CD is called I Won't Go Home 'til Morning.

The mixing of traditions comes naturally to the peripatetic, 43-year-old Ms. McQuaid, who was born in Madrid, Spain, grew up in Chicago, holds dual American and Irish citizenship, and is currently residing in the West of England. At age 11, she was touring nationally with the Chicago Children's Choir. At age 18, she spent a year in France studying philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, where she also did some performing.

Sarah McQuaid learned folk music from her mother, to whom she dedicates her CD, who sang her traditional Appalachian folk songs. Ms. McQuaid's mother was a Chicago native, who volunteered with the Quakers in poverty projects in Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia, and there learned of the music of Jean Ritchie, Peggy Seeger and others who helped to popularize the music of the region back in the traditional folk music boom of the late 1950s and 1960s. Later, Sarah became enchanted with Irish music, and lived and performed in Ireland from the mid 1990s until 2007. There she also served as a newspaper columnist on music and also wrote a tutorial book on Irish guitar technique.

But when her mother passed away in 2004, Ms. McQuaid began to revisit the songs her mother introduced her to, and the result is I Won't Go Home 'til Morning, a collection of well-annotated mostly-traditional American folk songs recorded in Ireland with Irish musicians. It's a delightful set that shows some of the transatlantic connections that have always existed, with many of the old American folk songs having their genesis in very old songs that came over from England and Ireland.

Ms. McQuaid is a fine guitarist, and her vocals evoke the classic English folk alto of people like Sandy Denny or June Tabor. The accompaniment on the CD is quite spare, mainly with Ms. McQuaid's guitar and a little bass or percussion. There are also some a cappella tracks and one instrumental. Joining her on the CD are Gerry O'Beirne on various string instruments, Trevor Hutchinson on bass, fiddle player Maire Breatnach, and vocalist and percussionist Liam Bradley, though rarely do more than one or two appear at the same time.

The CD leads off with an excellent example of Ms. McQuaid's transatlantic folk fusion, The Chickens They Are Crowing. The musical setting is very British Isles, with Ms. McQuaid's vocals evoking the style of June Tabor or Sandy Denny, in this decidedly American folk song, from which the CD's title comes.

One of the more distinctive tracks is West Virginia Boys, whose sole accompaniment is percussion that hints more at jazz or blues than traditional folk. Ms. McQuaid's liner notes talk about the different forms and variations the lyrics have taken.

Ms. McQuaid said that in college, she heard Rory Block, the folk and blues musician, play a concert and Ms. McQuaid said she was taken by Ms. Block's guitar style. One of the songs Ms. McQuaid remembered from that concert is Uncloudy Day, which she performs on the album, and then includes the results of her research into the song in her CD booklet.

There are a couple of original songs. One of them is Only an Emotion, a song inspired by the sadness of brought on by events in her life, and her realization that people are trying to cure the sadness, rather than letting it run its course. It doesn't make an attempt to sound like a traditional song.

In thinking about the Appalachian roots of the songs on this CD, Ms. McQuaid was inspired to take up a somewhat more contemporary song, Bobby Gentry's classic Southern musical tale, Ode to Billie Joe. It's a kind of odd man out on the CD, but it works well, in a kind of laid-back acoustic version of the song that is not too far from the original.

On the other hand, In the Pines is a classic traditional Appalachian song that dates back to the 1870s or so, in various versions. Ms. McQuaid's treatment here sounds more American than Celtic.

The more striking of the a cappella tracks is The Wagoner's Lad, another classic traditional piece -- one of the songs that Ms. McQuaid's late mother taught her.

The CD ends with an original composition, a kind of elegy to her mother, Last Song, in which she reminisces on being sung to sleep by the traditional songs.

Sarah McQuaid's second CD, I Won't Go Home 'til Morning -- her first one appeared back in 1997 -- was actually released late in 2008 in the UK, but apparently there is now an effort to bring her music to audiences here in the country where she grew up. It's an all-around fine album, that mixes good elements from American and British Isles folk. The musicianship is outstanding, Ms. McQuaid's vocals are impressive, and the CD is annotated like an old Folkways album of old -- a 24 page booklet with explanations of the sources of the songs, and sets of alternate lyrics from the different variations she has found.

We'll give the CD a grade A for audio quality. The recording has a warm intimate sound, there are minimal studio effects, and the dynamic range is much better than is typical for pop albums these days.

If you like both American and British Isles folk, but realized that it was hard to find something that effectively and tastefully mixes both, then Sarah McQuaid's I Won't Go Home 'til Morning may be just the ticket.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
Cornish singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid (born in Madrid, raised in Chicago, studied in France, lived in Ireland) taps effortlessly into the spirit of Sandy Denny and Shirley Collins on her second solo album, the near faultless I Won’t Go Home ‘Til Morning. Fully aware of (and informed by) the folk music traditions of N. America and the Celts, there’s nothing pure about McQuaid’s method, but let’s not concern ourselves with minor stylistic details when we can steep ourselves in her warm vocals and engaging songs – a blend of self-penned material, traditional pieces and well chosen covers. To describe it as central heating for grown-ups might seem a little offhand, but have a listen to a couple of tracks on her MySpace page and you’ll understand.

Sarah McQuaid:
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
(English translation appears below Nederlands original)
De Amerikaanse Sarah McQuaid doet in haar zang nog het meest denken aan de bijna vergeten Britse folkzangeres Bridget St John. Zelfde licht hese warme stem, zelfde ontspannen manier van zingen, zelfde repertoire van mooie, gevoelige liedjes, en vergelijkbare fraaie, ingetogen arrangementen. We laten hier twee fragmenten horen, van de enige liedjes op haar cd die ze zelf geschreven heeft. Verder zingt ze hier vooral traditionals, ook Amerikaanse als In The Pines, en een paar covers als Uncloudy Day en Bobbie Gentry's Ode to Billie Joe. Dat worden allemaal haar eigen intieme liedjes. Een bescheiden album, dat wat tijd nodig heeft om te kunnen groeien, maar dat is zeker de moeite waard. Het album werd overigens in Dublin opgenomen in de studio van Trevor Hutchinson, die ook meespeelt op dit album, dat daardoor ook een beetje een Ierse sfeer uitstraalt. Mooi album.

Thanks to Renee Koopman for the translation below!
American Sarah McQuaid reminds you most through her songs of the almost forgotten British folk singer Bridget St. John. The same slightly hoarse warm voice, the same relaxed way of singing, the same repertoire of pretty, sensitive songs, and comparable pleasing, unpretentious arrangements. We share two fragments, from the only songs on her CD written by herself. Apart from these she mostly sings traditional numbers, also American, like In The Pines, and a few covers, like Uncloudy Day and Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billy Joe. They all become her own intimate songs. A modest album, which needs some time to grow on you, but this is certainly worth the trouble. The album was recorded in Dublin in the studio of Trevor Hutchinson, who participates on this album, which acquires a bit of an Irish mood because of this. Beautiful album.

Sarah McQuaid:
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
(English translation appears below Nederlands original. This review also appears on http://www.rootsville.be and http://www.luckydice.nl)
“You can’t have the one without the other” bezingt Sarah in haar eigen geschreven ‘Only An Emotion’. Sarah McQuaid is meesterlijk wanneer het gaat om iets wonderschoons neer te zetten, ook al komt dat voort uit verdriet. Haar 2de CD handelt zich om dit soort balansen. De balans die iedereen voor zichzelf tracht te vinden. ‘Last Song’ is eveneens door haar zelf geschreven, terwijl de overige nummers arrangementen van traditionals betreft. ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ van Bobbie Gentry behoort ook al bijna tot die classificatie. Sarah McQuaid hoort thuis tussen al die Britse singers & songwriters die kwalitatief mooi en nostalgische muziek maken. Muziek om bij weg te dromen, of om op een rustige ontspannen wijze van te genieten. Als dochter van een Spaanse vader, en Amerikaanse moeder is ze daarom een markante eend in de bijt, maar luisterend naar haar muziek niet een onwelkome verrassing.

Opgegroeid in Chicago, en woont na een aantal jaren in Ierland sinds kort op de plaats waar ze voegt met haar muzikale bagage. Het spirituele land van Bert Jansch, Dick Gaughan, maar ook Matha Tilston. Sarah heeft dit album opgedragen aan haar moeder Jane, die begin 2004 overleed. De keuze van de muziek op I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is direct afgeleid van de liedjes die ze als kind samen met haar moeder zong. Geen wonder dus dat de verbinding tussen haar moeder, en de muziek duidelijk doorresoneert in de werkelijk adembenemende uitvoeringen. Uitzonderlijk mooi is het instrumentloos gezongen ‘Wondrous Love’. Aan dit album is veel zorg besteedt, en de liefde voor de rijke geschiedenis van de ten gehore gebrachte traditionals straalt van dit album. Deze muziek is bijna onaards te noemen. Ze maakt je onverbiddelijk los van de dagelijkse vulgariteiten zoals: concurrentie, reclame, winst en geldbejag. Verademend dus!

Thanks to Renee Koopman for the translation below!
“You can’t have the one without the other”, sings Sarah in her self-penned ‘Only An Emotion’. Sarah McQuaid is a master of evoking something achingly lovely, even if it evolves from sorrow. Her second CD is all about these kind of balancing acts. The balance all of us are trying to find for ourselves. She wrote ‘Last Song’ herself as well, whilst the rest of the songs are newly arranged traditionals. ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ by Bobbie Gentry is one of the latter. Sarah McQuaid is one of all those British singers and songwriters who produce beautiful and nostalgic quality music. Music to dream away to, or to enjoy whilst relaxing. As the daughter of a Spanish father and an American mother, she stands out in the herd and listening to her music is a very welcome surprise.

She grew up in Chicago, and now lives, after a couple of years in Ireland, in the place where she merges with her musical inheritance. The spiritual country of Bert Jansch, Dick Gaughan, but of Matha Tilston as well. Sarah has dedicated this album to her mother Jane, who died at the beginning of 2004. The musical choice of I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning has come directly from the songs she sang with her mother when she was a child. So it’s no surprise that the connection between her mother and the music resonates in the truly breathtaking renditions. Exceptionally beautiful is the a capella sung ‘Wondrous Love’. A lot of care has been taken with this album, and the love for the rich history of the chosen traditional tracks shines through. This music could almost be called unearthly. It remorselessly tears you loose from daily vulgarities like competition, commercials, profit and gain. A breath of fresh air!

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
Sarah McQuaid is certainly a cosmopolitan woman. She was born in Madrid, raised in Chicago, studied in Strasbourg, and lived for many years in Ireland before relocating to Cornwall in 2007. She is a master of the DADGAD guitar, and has written an acclaimed tutorial on the style. Her first CD, released 11 years ago, is a collection of traditional Irish music. I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning, the long awaited follow-up, is a return to her Appalachian roots. The recording, which features Sarah’s sparkling guitar and compelling alto voice, is reminiscent of Pentangle’s best efforts.

Producer Gerry O’Beirne joins in on guitar, tiple and ukulele, along with Rosie Shipley and Máire Breatnach, fiddle; Liam Bradley, percussion and vocals; and Trevor Hutchinson on double bass.

I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning opens with the tune that lends the title to the CD. ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’ was learned from the singing of Peggy Seeger. It’s important to note that the liner notes are quite well researched, and crammed with wonderful stories of her first exposure to this special music. Up next is ‘West Virginia Boys’, all done up with swing percussion from Liam, which accompanies Sarah’s smoky vocals. Quite a different rendition, but it works. The listener is treated to Sarah’s distinctive guitar style with ‘Shady Grove/Cluck Old Hen.’ Gerry offers harp-like accompaniment on the 12-string guitar and tiple.

Most of the recording is comprised of traditional tunes, but Sarah offers two fine original songs. Both ‘Only An Emotion’ and ‘Last Song’ are dedicated to her mother, Jane Addams Guthrie, who introduced the young Sarah to the beauty of folk music and died in 2004. We can all feel fortunate that Sarah McQuaid took these early songs to heart, for she has produced a gentle and magical recording that I will return to time and again.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
Own label, 2008
Sarah McQuaid was born in Spain, raised in Chicago and came back to Europe as an adult young woman. She spent 13 years in Ireland where she recorded her debut album with Irish traditional songs. 2007 she crossed the Irish Sea to live in her mother’s house in Cornwall. Her new album is dedicated to her departed mother and features eight Appalachian songs and tunes she used to sing with her mother Jane when she was a child, a jazzy Bobbie Gentry cover version and two self-crafted songs. Sarah sings and plays the guitar and has recorded the CD with a bunch of excellent guest musicians in Trevor Hutchinson’s studio in Dublin. Hutchinson (Lunasa) also plays double and electric bass. Irish songwriter Gerry O’Beirne (guitars, ukulele and producer), Liam Bradley from Beoga (percussion, vocals), Máire Breatnach (fiddle, viola) and Rosie Shipley (fiddle) complete the line-up.

The CD opens with the traditional soft ballad ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’ and Sarah’s warm and mature voice. Her gifted singing is accompanied by the gentle sound of O’Beirne’s 12-string guitar, the Ebow and Shipley’s soft fiddle playing. ‘West Virginia Boys’, another traditional song, stands out with brilliant percussion playing and Sarah’s jazziest singing. ‘Shady Grove/Cluck Old Hen’ has been interpreted by McQuaid and O’Beirne as an instrumental set. Sarah learned ‘Wondrous Love’ from Jean Ritchie and sings it a capella together with Bradley and she brings forward the traditional ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’ solo with just some guitar chords. Finally ‘The Last Song’ is one of her two own songs, beautifully accompanied by Breatnach on viola and Hutchinson on double bass.

McQuaid is a brilliant singer and chose some beautiful songs for her album. The arrangements are simple but striking and the musicians accompany her singing perfectly. The style changes from a capella singing to guitar songs, from folk to jazz and from rhythmic to melancholic. For me this singer with both Irish and American citizenship is certainly a revelation and I’m sure her album will be a great success.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
(English translation appears below Nederlands original)
(3 stars)
Het lijkt wel of oorsponkelijke folk uit het Amerikaanse Appalachen-gebergte helemaal ‘hot’ is, want na Diana Jones en onze eigen Inlaw Sisters laat ook Sarah McQuaid zich op haar nieuwe album door deze streek inspireren. Daar heeft ze trouwens een goede reden voor: ze groeide op in deze kale heuvels [sorry, I’m afraid it was actually Chicago –S.McQ.] en leerde als jong meisje van haar moeder de lokale volksdeuntjes. Ma overleed enkele jaren geleden en McQuaid houdt met traditionals als Shady Grove, Wondrous Love en In The Pines de nagedachtenis aan haar in ere. En dat doet ze op gepast ingetogen wijze, met spaarzame begleiding van bas, viool en haar eigen akoestische gitaar. Overigens gaat het hier niet alleen om in de volksmond ontstane liedjes, met Only An Emotion brengt de al jaren in Ierland [England! –S.McQ.] wonende McQuaid halverwege de plaat een zelfgeschreven groet aan haar moeder. En daar straalt zoveel warmte vanaf dat je er even stil van wordt.

Thanks to Renee Koopman for the translation below!
Original folk from the Appalachian region seems to be completely “hot”. After Diana Jones and our own Inlaw Sisters, now Sarah McQuaid too gets her inspiration from this region. She happens to have a very good reason for that: she grew up in these remote hills [sorry, I’m afraid it was actually Chicago –S.McQ.] and learned the local folk songs as a young girl from her mother. Ma died a few years ago, and McQuaid keeps her memory alive with traditional songs like ‘Shady Grove’, ‘Wondrous Love’ and ‘In The Pines’. She does this in a fittingly understated manner, with sparse accompaniment of bass, violin and her own acoustic guitar. There is more than just the traditional songs; with ‘Only An Emotion’, the Ireland [England! –S.McQ.] based McQuaid sends a greeting to her mother halfway through the recording. And this song projects so much warmth that it makes you go quiet for a spell.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
It’s been a long while since I got up extremely early on a Sunday morning, before light even, curled up on the sofa with the old iPod, rested my head on a cushion and read through all the sleeve notes from start to finish including the lyrics, the comments, the personnel list and production credits, even where the artist might buy his or in this case her strings from. With Sarah McQuaid’s new album I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning, so portentous are the sleeve notes, printed in a handsomely packaged booklet, that it takes roughly the same time to read through the booklet as it does to listen to the songs included within, if you run ahead with the lyrics that is.

Such an intimate hour with Sarah McQuaid is a rewarding experience before breakfast on a Sunday morning. Reading accounts of where she first encountered these songs, from old recordings of Jean Richie and Joan Baez, or from books published by Cecil Sharpe or Alan Lomax, sidetracks me into thinking about where I might have first heard these songs myself. In all honesty, I don’t go that far back and I admit that my first encounters with many of these songs, would no doubt have been via Bert Jansch and Doc Watson vinyls; the focal point of my mis-spent youth.

Dedicated to Sarah’s late mother, the songs on the album were recorded partly for cathartic purposes, to exorcise the ghosts of grief that goes with coming to terms with a parent’s death – most of the songs they sang together when Sarah was young – and partly because since Sarah now lives in her mother’s house with her own family, the songs are probably as much a part of the fabric of the place as the walls and the floorboards.

The album’s title is taken from a line in the opening song ‘The Chicken’s They Are Crowing’, a song learned from a Peggy Seeger album entitled Folk Songs and Ballads, which a very young Sarah heard via her Mickey Mouse record player. These songs were learned at a very young age it would seem. Reminiscent of Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’, but with some ethereal vocal humming instead of the big violin, the song immediately invites us into Sarah McQuaid’s enchanting world.

The unexpected surprise on the album is a pretty faithful version of the old Bobbie Gentry classic ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, which maintains all that Southern back porch swamp ballad feel as well as once again conveying an air of mystery and ambiguity that we loved in the original.

‘In The Pines’ has weaved its way up through the history of folksong from the days of Cecil Sharpe’s travels through the Appalachians in the late 1800s, to Huddie Ledbetter fresh from the penitentiary, claiming the song as his own, and then even turning up unexpectedly as Kurt Cobain’s swansong under the guise of ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’ in the last days of Nirvana. Sarah McQuaid manages to roll all these facets into one and provides a spellbinding reading, which sends “shivers”, especially when the cold winds blow.

With a couple of personal self-penned songs thrown into the brew, the touching ‘Only An Emotion’ and the aptly titled ‘Last Song’, which brings the album to a close with its familiar coda of “Froggy went a courtin’”, Sarah McQuaid provides us with a rare beauty of an album, which I imagine will be revisited on this reviewer’s iPod, time and again.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
(English translation appears below Nederlands original)
Sarah McQuaid werd geboren in Spanje, groeide op in Chicago met een dubbele Amerikaans-Ierse nationaliteit. Ze woonde in Ierland van 1994 tot 2007 en verhuisde onlangs naar het zuiden van Engeland, waar ze haar intrek nam in het huis waar haar ouders ooit woonden. Een paar maanden geleden was deze artieste nog te bewonderen in Toogenblik in Haren en verder maakte ze ook recent een tournee door Nederland. Haar debuutalbum When Two Lovers Meet verscheen in 1997 en bevatte vooral traditionele Ierse folksongs. Haar nieuwe plaat is volledig opgedragen aan haar Amerikaanse moeder, die enkele jaren geleden overleed. Muzikaal zoemt McQuaid vooral in op de ‘Appalachian Folk’, die haar wortels kent in de muziek die door de Schotse, Engelse en Ierse immigranten werd meegebracht naar het oosten van de Verenigde Staten. De traditionele songs op dit album leerde McQuaid van haar moeder, die net als zijzelf ook zong en gitaar speelde. Zo treffen we hier mooie versies aan van onder andere ‘In The Pines’ en ‘East Virginia’. McQuaid’s heldere, warme stem brengt de traditionals met een grote waardigheid. Soms klinkt er een zekere droefheid of melancholie in haar stem, maar ze laat zich nooit door haar emoties overmannen. Een paar keer zingt McQuaid volledig a capella, zoals in ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’ en ook dat is zondermeer indrukwekkend. Hier worden we echt stil van. De enige cover waarvan de auteur bekend is, is ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ van Bobby Gentry waarvan Sarah een slepende versie neerzet, die onder meer opgefleurd wordt door spaarzaam werk op de slide gitaar van Gerry O’Beirne. Twee nummers werden door McQuaid zelf geschreven. ‘Only An Emotion’ gaat over ‘droefenis’ en hoe deze door dokters als een ziekte wordt beschouwd die kost wat kost met pillen moet genezen worden. En in ‘Last Song’ verwijst Sarah een laatste keer naar haar moeder die toen ze nog kind was songs voor haar speelde, net voor het slapengaan. Nu McQuaid zelf jonge kinderen heeft, zet ze deze traditie voort als een liefdevolle nagedachtenis voor haar overleden moeder. I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is een rustige, sfeervolle folkplaat van een artieste die vooral maturiteit en waardigheid uitstraalt. Zo moesten er meer zijn.

Thanks to Renee Koopman for the translation below!
Sarah McQuaid was born in Spain and grew up in Chicago with a double American-Irish nationality. She lived in Ireland from 1994 to 2007 and moved recently to the south of England, where she moved into the house where her parents had lived in the past. A few months ago this artist could be enjoyed in Toogenblik in Haren and she toured the Netherlands recently. Her debut album When Two Lovers Meet was released in 1997 and contained mostly traditional Irish folk songs. Her new recording is dedicated completely to her American mother, who passed away a few years ago. In her music McQuaid focuses on ‘Appalachian Folk’, which has its roots in the music brought to the east of The United States by Scottish, English and Irish immigrants. McQuaid was taught the traditional songs on this album by her mother, who – just like her – sang and played the guitar. Here we find beautiful versions of, amongst others, ‘In The Pines’ and ‘East Virginia’. McQuaid’s clear, warm voice conveys these traditional songs with a great dignity. Sometimes there is a certain sadness or melancholy in her voice, but she never lets the emotions run away with her. A few times McQuaid sings a cappella, as in ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’, which is absolutely awe-inspiring. This really stopped us in our tracks. The only well-known cover from a well-known author is ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ by Bobby Gentry, which Sarah turns into a slowly spun out version highlighted by a sparse slide guitar from Gerry O’Beirne. Sarah has written two songs herself. ‘Only An Emotion’ is about ‘Sadness’ and about how doctors consider this to be an illness to be cured at all cost by taking pills. And in ‘Last Song’ Sarah points for a last time to her mother, who played her bedtime songs when she was a child. Now that McQuaid is a mother of young children herself, she honours this tradition as a loving memorial to her late mother. I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is a tranquil, atmospheric folk recording by an artist who projects, above all, maturity and dignity. There should be more like this.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
SMQCD002
Sarah McQuaid’s might be a new name to a fair few but when next you’re at your computer, tap into YouTube, and there are some of the loveliest songs you’ll hear all year. Her press release for ‘Won’t Go Home’ contains the strapline “Appalachian album takes Cornwall-based Sarah back to her roots” but that doesn’t even begin to describe the sense of just-rightness, the yearning, alluring quality to her voice nailing the subtle sharpness of these 11 songs. At a time when people are buying fewer CDs, new converts needn’t fear credit card misery acquiring an avalanche of back catalogue either – this surprisingly, is just McQuaid’s second offering in 10 years.

Born in Madrid, the daughter of a Spanish father and American mother, raised in Chicago she spent many years in Ireland before bedding down in Penzance last year with her family. The album is dedicated to the memory of her mother, (“she had a lovely natural style of singing and playing guitar”) who, though she never performed professionally, was obviously a formative influence, acquainting Sarah with the music of Jean Ritchie, Peggy Seeger and other singers and collectors. Whilst describing herself as a singer-writer, there is enough Trad.arr. material here to engage the most ardent devotees of careworn women, relationship betrayal, and heavenly homes and if you’ve a penchant for exhaustive and scholarly booklet notes, you’ve got them – 24 pages in all!

From rolling-sky soundtracks (East Virginia) to the snow-soft poignancy of Last Song for her late mother, McQuaid displays an elegant inventiveness, complemented by the precision of her eloquent backing musicians. With voice and arrangement not unlike Judee Sill’s on J.K. Alwood’s Uncloudy Day alongside a cover of Ode To Billy Joe that rivals Bobbie Gentry’s sun-dappled, yet menacing ambience, there’s no doubting the breadth of vision in these performances. Her lyrical world may be vulnerable and bittersweet imbued with an ache of loneliness and candid personal reflections, but it’s accessible without being slight. Revealing an honest and undisguised emotion, the effect is of a natural, unselfconscious feel. Sarah McQuaid has poured her heart into this record – but it’s also firmly attached to her sleeve and this is Folk music in every sense. It’s that good.

Sarah McQuaid:
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning (SMQCD002)
In this follow-up to her quietly sublime debut, McQuaid mines her American folk background for inspiration. Subtlety and poise rank among the hallmarks – a quiet, elegant reading of Bobbie Gentry’s Ode To Billie Joe, the subdued authority of Only An Emotion. An album that further defines McQuaid as an artist of restraint and subtlety.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
(English translation appears below Nederlands original)
In de schaduw van de Appalachen
(4 stars)
Sarah McQuaids derde [second, actually! –S.McQ.] CD I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is een eerbetoon aan de Appalachen folkcatalogus. Met producer Gerry O’Beirne, die tevens talrijke snaarinstrumenten bespeelt (o.a. 6- en 12-snarige akoustische gitaar, ukelele, National Steel slidegitaar) heeft dat een aantal prachtige folkliedjes opgeleverd. Sarahs mooie, volle stem in combinatie met haar ingetogen gitaarbegeleiding (ze is de auteur van het lesboek Irish DADGAD Guitar Book) is alleen al een streling voor het gehoor. Voeg daar elf van de mooiste folkliedjes uit de Appalachen aan toe, O’Beirne’s snarenpracht en een hier en daar opduikende vioolpartij en je hebt een formule die van de eerste tot de laatste minuut imponeert. Liedjes als opener ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’, de Bobbie Gentry hit ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, de hymne ‘Wondrous Love’ en het a cappella gezongen ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’ rechtvaardigen alleen al de aanschaf van deze cd. U krijgt daar nog een flinke bonus bij in de vorm van de overige, prachtige liedjes. Standaardwerk!

Thanks to Renee Koopman for the translation below!
In the shadow of the Appalachians
(4 stars)
Sarah McQuaid’s third [second, actually! –S.McQ.] CD I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is a tribute to the Appalachian folk catalogue. In co-operation with Gerry O’Beirne, who also plays numerous string instruments (amongst others 6- and 12-string acoustic guitar, ukulele, National Steel slide guitar), this has produced a few beautiful folk songs. Sarah’s wonderful, full voice in combination with her subdued guitar playing (she’s the author of the Irish DADGAD Guitar Book) alone, is a caress to the ear. Add eleven of the most wonderful folk songs of the Appalachians, O’Beirne’s string-beauty and the occasional emerging violin and you have a combination that impresses from the first to the last minute. Such songs as opening song ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’, the Bobby Gentry hit ‘Ode to Billie Joe’, the hymn ‘Wondrous Love’ and the a cappella sung ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’ alone justify the purchase of this CD. You get a large bonus in the form of the other, beautiful, songs. A signature work!

I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
Sarah McQuaid
Sarah McQuaid has led a peripatetic life, having been born in Spain and raised in Chicago. Subsequently, after a thirteen year spell in Ireland, she now lives with her husband and two children in the home formerly occupied by her parents, near Penzance, Cornwall. How has this affected her music? Well, her previous release, When Two Lovers Meet, was an exploration of all things Irish, whereas this new album has found most of its inspiration from the Appalachian region of America, her mother’s favourite music.

Sarah has previously explained that it was her mother who introduced her to folk music and all the songs on this album have a particular emotional connection to her and their relationship. Of course, purely musically this is a perfectly logical move in one sense, as these songs and instrumentals are mostly based upon anglo-celtic folk origins.

Having run workshops for the guitar and written a tuition book on the subject Sarah certainly isn’t a slouch on six strings. And when coupled with a voice that has been described as ‘matured cognac’ she has all the fundamentals for performance firmly in place.

This material is usually treated to a rustic approach, sort of sparse and dusty, however, Sarah’s angle is different, teasing out the warmly embracing hymn-like qualities of the music, which are in line with her original motivation to record these songs. Her singing has shades of Baez minus the operatic warble and Gillian Welch without so much Nashville twang. It’s perfect for the reading of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, ‘In The Pines’ and ‘West Virginia Boys’. Whereas ‘Shady Grove’ is just fine as an instrumental.

Sarah has included two self-penned numbers. The first, ‘Only An Emotion’, she describes as ‘a song in defence of sadness’ and the flippancy of comments to ‘cheer up’. The second, ‘Last Song’, is a deeply personal ode to her mother and daughter who never had the chance to meet each other.

I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning illustrates the cyclical nature of life with piercing clarity. It’s highly appropriate that these songs are full of detail regarding two of the mainstays of our existence – food and love. It makes for a moving tribute to her mother and a unique evocation of the great Appalachian songbook.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
One look at the track listing and I started to feel happy. The bulk of the songs are of the kind that got me into this music in the first place and which I still love half a century later. Songs like ‘Wagoner’s Lad’, ‘Wondrous Love’, ‘In The Pines’ and ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’ are a few of the delights to be heard here.

The titles may be familiar but the songs get a personal treatment from Ms McQuaid, which is as it should be. ‘Chickens’ for instance gets a lovely, wistful treatment backed by a gently supportive guitar, joined later by fiddle, 12-string and percussion to take the tune out as an instrumental. ‘Shady Grove’ and ‘Cluck Old Hen’, two tunes that exemplify Appalachian music, are led by Sarah’s guitar, along with Gerry O’Beirne’s guitars and tiple, after which the changes are rung once again with a performance of ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ that would gain praise from Bobbie Gentry herself.

There’s no need to be an Appalachian song lover to enjoy McQuaid’s velvet voice and all around musicality, it speaks for itself.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
EMD
***
The benefits of reflection are evident on Sarah McQuaid’s second album. Here she shifts her focus from Irish traditional to the Appalachian music beloved of her late mother. McQuaid’s voice has evolved in texture as well, and she inhabits Loretta Lynn’s In the Pines with an ease that reflects her lifelong acquaintance with the songs of the high country. Her cover of Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe is particularly elegiac, the spare arrangements revealing the full impact of the winding storyline. Her own songwriting is beautifully spare, and Only an Emotion casts a weary eye on the embarrassment with which society deals with grief these days. Producer Trevor Hutchinson and guitarist Gerry O’Beirne bring a muted, perfectly pitched presence to what is a melancholy but somehow celebratory collection.
www.sarahmcquaid.com

Download tracks: The Wagoner’s Lad, In the Pines

Click here to read a review by Michel Preumont, in the grand French – sorry, Belgian! – manner, of my gig at Toogenblik, Brussels, in November 2008. And we thought they only liked beer and chocolate ...

Sarah McQuaid
I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning
Beautiful Collection of Appalachian Folk Songs
Sarah McQuaid makes a return eleven years after the original release of her debut album "When Two Lovers Meet". While this debut was steeped in traditional Irish music, her follow up "I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning" sees her revisit some of the Southern Appalachian folk songs that she learned during her childhood. The album is lovingly dedicated to the memory of her mother who taught some of these songs to McQuaid but sadly passed away in 2004.

There is plenty of evidence of Sarah McQuaid's exceptional guitar playing throughout the album, especially on the instrumental "Shady Grove/Cluck Old Hen". Elsewhere on the album it is McQuaid's rich warm voice that comes to the fore, namely on the two acapella tracks "Wondrous Love" and "The Wagoner's Lad". There are also very good versions of Leadbelly's "In The Pines", Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" and the wondrously cheeky "West Virginia Boys".

The CD comes with a wonderfully presented 24-page booklet which delves into the detailed histories and the backgrounds of the songs and is a fascinating read in itself.

There are two original tracks on the album which sit very nicely among the traditional songs. "Only An Emotion" is a lovely song about dealing with grief while realising that it is a natural way to feel and "Last Song" which is about the singing of songs before bedtime by mother to daughter, a tradition that has been passed on through the generations.

"I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning" is one of those rare things, a very lovely personal album but also an incredibly good introduction to Appalachian folk music. Highly Recommended.

Reviewer's Rating: 9 out of 10

Click here to read a feature on me that appeared in Cornwall Today magazine (www.cornwalltoday.co.uk).

Sarah McQuaid - I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning (Own Label)
You might recall that last year, Sarah managed belatedly to re-release her fine debut disc, 1997's When Two Lovers Meet, to be greeted with even wider acclaim than on its first appearance, for its timeless properties: the gently sensuous singing, quiet lyricism and tasteful arrangements, which I felt had a certain kinship with the output of Niamh Parsons. Hardly surprising, given the time Sarah had spent in Ireland, immersing herself in its cultural heritage. Now safely Cornwall-based, however, in her (American) mother's former home, Sarah has taken stock and decided to revisit the Southern Appalachian songs and tunes that she learned during her childhood, to many of which she had been introduced by her mother. It's clear from her quietly expressive and supremely affecting performances that these songs have powerful emotional resonances for Sarah, and on this new CD she takes us on a cathartic spiritual journey through this material. It's a lovingly produced (and incidentally, beautifully packaged) release, containing several standout tracks and not a weak link anywhere in earshot. Sarah leads off the CD with a marvellously atmospheric and idiomatic The Chickens They Are Crowing (Peggy Seeger's seminal 1958 recording of which she wore out on her Mickey Mouse record-player!), following this with a delicious rendition of West Virginia Boys (with deftly cheeky percussion accompaniment from Liam Bradley) and the disc's sole instrumental cut, a version of Shady Grove backed by Gerry O'Beirne on tiple and guitars. Although Sarah openly admits her cover of Ode To Billie Joe can't hope to match Bobbie G's original, it's a pretty authentic stab, as is her attempt at emulating Rory Block's muscular treatment of J.K. Alwood's Uncloudy Day. The disc's two acappella tracks provide definite highlights: there's a well-turned rendition of a song Sarah had learned directly from her mother, a North Carolina variant of The Wagoner's Lad, but even finer is her spellbinding vocal duet with Liam Bradley on the sacred harp hymn Wondrous Love that forms the disc's centrepiece. It's also impossible to fault Sarah's well-judged take on East Virginia (based on the 1960 Joan Baez recording of Jean Ritchie's version), which benefits additionally from Máire Breatnach's wonderful guest fiddle contribution. Máire also appears on Only An Emotion, the first of two original songs by Sarah that complete the disc's tasty menu; the second of these, appropriately entitled Last Song, closes the disc in affectionate childhood reminiscence mode. This is a truly lovely record: it proves a thoroughly delightful listening experience that arises completely naturally out of a deeply satisfying personal artistic statement.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning
****
Irish-American songwriter Sarah McQuaid’s follow-up to her much-vaunted debut album When Two Lovers Meet brings a sharp shift in focus with an intriguing collection of old-time Appalachian songs, a couple of originals, plus a stirring version of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe’.

I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning was inspired by the death of McQuaid’s mother, prompting her to re-explore her childhood roots via such works as the title track, ‘East Virginia’ and the minstrel song ‘West Virginia Boys’. The instrumental ‘Shady Grove’ showcases her subtle guitar skills, and her enchanting take on ‘In The Pines’ will surprise those who might only know the song from Nirvana’s version. But 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. She’s written ‘Only An Emotion’ to say it’s ok to feel down, and ‘Last Song’ is a touching tribute to both her mother and her own daughter.

The package includes a generous illustrated booklet giving background info on the songs. So you get a touching album from a genuine artist, and history lessons to boot.

Sarah McQuaid
I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning
Sarah McQuaid dedicates "I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning" to her late mother. It's an album that feels like a journey along her musical roots, most of the songs coming from a combination of the Americana trail that goes through the Appalachians and McQuaid's own pen, including "Last Song", the ultimate track of tribute and redemption, also hinting at her more Celtic roots. Those taken from the American songbook are traditional pieces that Sarah arranges well, the exception being "Ode To Billie Joe" which is performed well, but seems to sit outside of the canon.

In the spring of 2008, my alma mater contacted me to request that I contribute an article to their ongoing "Roads Taken and Not Taken" series. The text follows; you can also read it online (with photo!) here.

Roads Taken & Not Taken - Sarah (Allen) McQuaid ’87

From magazine editor to folk musician living in Cornwall, England, find out about Sarah's journey -- including a performance on "The View". Our latest first-person account of life after graduation.

Virtually every important decision I’ve taken in my life has come about more or less by accident, and the decision to attend Haverford was no exception.

I’d already visited several colleges as a prospective student, feeling increasingly lost, invisible and uneasy. Not so at Haverford: there, people bent over backwards to make me feel welcome. One particularly friendly and enthusiastic group of freshmen practically frog-marched me into Paul Desjardins’ Philosophy 101 class, and when I came out again an hour later, I was determined not only to go to Haverford but to major in philosophy.

Which I did, and it’s a decision I’ve never regretted. What I do regret is that I didn’t take my studies further. Dick Bernstein had even offered to help me expand my senior thesis into a book, and to this day I’m still kicking myself for letting such an incredible opportunity slip by; of all the stupid things I’ve done in my life, that’s the one I’d most like to undo.

But I was young and foolish, as the song goes, and all I wanted was to get out of academia and into the “real world”. I’d met a woman at a party who told me that she was leaving her job at a music shop in Philadelphia. Her soon-to-be-former boss was there, too – did I want to meet him?

So it was that I spent the next seven years working in Vintage Instruments, an Aladdin’s cave of a place that sold fine violins and other old and rare instrument: 18th century flutes, Martin and Gibson guitars, theremins and sousaphones, nyckelharpas and chittarones.

I’d spent my junior year abroad at the University of Strasbourg, struggling though French translations of Hegel and Wittgenstein while singing and playing guitar with an Irish band whose members I’d met at, you guessed it, a party.

The banjo player in that band became my first husband, and while the marriage eventually foundered, my love affair with folk and traditional music didn’t. By the time Noel and I split up, we’d moved to Ireland. I took Irish citizenship and stayed there for thirteen years.

I spent eleven of those years working as a magazine editor, a job I fell into by accident and eventually left when I couldn’t stand it any more. I decided to try playing music for a living – and to my utter astonishment, it’s been more successful than I could ever have envisaged.

Last year, I moved with my husband Feargal (another Irishman!) and our two children to Cornwall, in the southwest of England. My mother had died three years previously, and my stepfather, unable to manage on his own, made us an offer we couldn’t refuse whereby he would renovate an outbuilding into a cottage for himself and hand the main house over to us.

We’re living in a beautiful place, just a few miles from Land’s End, and now I’m very excited about a new project I’m working on with another singer/songwriter I’ve met locally. I still play a guitar I bought from Vintage Instruments while working there, the payments coming out of my wages each month. My experience as a journalist comes in handy for writing press releases and newsletters, and philosophy continues to dominate my thinking and my reading.

So in a way it all makes sense...but there was no master plan, and still isn’t. I’ve no idea what the next ten or twenty years will bring. The one thing I’m certain of is that whatever it is, it’s the last thing I could imagine at the moment.

Sarah McQuaid ’87 lives with her husband and two children in Cornwall, in the southwest of England.

Sarah McQuaid
Ballina Arts Centre, Co. Mayo
27 March 2008
While walking around in the rain looking for the Ballina Arts Centre, I began to think that maybe I was in the wrong town. Nobody could give me directions: to Supermacs yes, but an arts centre? My impression was that these residents didn’t seem to know what they had. Somebody or something was not engaging them; not properly getting their attention.

The Ballina Arts Centre occupies a pleasant, but very modest, setting, with one room serving as both a gallery and an events space. In this minimalised setting, and to an audience of little over twenty people, Sarah McQuaid held sway with no more than her guitar, voice and smile – no mean feat in a situation where every audience member is a distinct face and each hand clap is noticeable for its percussive timbre. McQuaid comes across as an experienced, confident musician and she imbues the songs with her own, definitive mark. Whether an a-cappella version of ‘The Parting Glass’ or an unusually subdued version of ‘The Holy Ground (Once More)’, one is convinced that here is a woman singing with her own voice and listening with her own ears. This assured individuality carried over into her precise, measured guitar playing on a guitar which matches her voice’s bel canto persuasion. McQuaid’s voice is indeed warm, mature and a connoisseur’s delight.

But, as rich and palatable as her music is, I did wish for a dash of bitters, more tonal discord to balance it out. There were flashes of blue-note-twists – hints of tearing – that came out in places, such as her version of Bobby Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Jo’ and her own recently-written ‘The Plum Tree and The Rose’, but I hoped for just a hint more. Some day I would like to hear McQuaid in a bigger musical setting, in which her smooth style could be accentuated, counter-parted and contrasted with other musical voices.

Whether that could happen on another similar night in Ballina is questionable: the limited concert space would challenge both audience and performers. Hopefully Ballina town and Mayo County Council’s proposed development of the arts centre will go ahead sooner rather than later. The planned 250-seat theatre must be regarded as essential infrastructure. Such a venue would allow the Ballina Arts Centre to expand the scope of its performance schedule, allow hard-working musicians such as Sarah McQuaid appropriate performance space, and allow the people of Ballina/North Mayo a better engagement with their cultural options on such cold Thursday nights.

Sarah McQuaid
When Two Lovers Meet
Sarah McQuaid was born in Spain and raised in Chicago. She moved to Ireland in 1994. To my shame, Sarah’s was a new name to me. I say “to my shame” because this is a re-release of a CD first seeing the light of day in 1997.

Clearly it’s been my loss. She is a real talent. And she has come up with an album here that has perhaps “gracefulness” as its watchword. Everything is done with elegance and a certain economy of style and emotion. It ticks all the boxes for those of us wanting a quality album based largely on the Irish tradition.

She is joined on one track by Niamh Parsons on vocals, and throughout the album by the following talented bunch of musicians: Gerry O’Beirne (guitar and ukulele, and who also produced the CD); Trevor Hutchinson (double bass); John McSherry (whistle and pipes); Rod McVey (keyboards); Kevin Murphy (cello); Colm McCaughey (fiddle).

It is no coincidence that she chose to ask Niamh to contribute. There is much in Sarah’s delivery that reminds one of that celebrated Irish singer. Outstanding vocal control, almost to the point of a June Tabor.

But for me, I would prefer it if she let her guard drop a bit, and allow a bit of IMPERFECTION to enter her delivery. I am not asking for a ragged edge exactly: just a little something that marks her out as a human with feet of clay, rather than a singing goddess (which frankly is the image that her stunning vocal control portrayed for me). Using one’s voice as a pitch perfect musical instrument is one thing, but it does not always speak to the heart. Just the ear.

But that said, I must admit that it’s oh so nice on the ear. It is an album that can send you off into a deep reverie.

The liner notes too, also impress. Sarah penned them, and they interested me more than most I read these days. For instance, she’s surprisingly modest about the best track on the album, her self-penned Charlie’s Gone Home. The song’s construction made me think of a young Rosie Hardman at her best.

What I like most about the notes is the way she puts an idea in one’s head. Talking of When A Man’s In Love she says “I was struck by its sensuous lyrics (her hands so soft her breath so sweet/her tongue did gently glide … mmmm!”).

Golly, a song I had heard a million times suddenly took on a whole new aura for me! But Sarah, I would now call the lyrics decidedly SENSUAL rather than sensuous!

And I appreciated her observation re this particular track “I love the wide-open, lonely sound of the wooden and steel guitars together”. How grateful I am that she flagged that up for me. And her choice there of the word “lonely” is an inspired one.