I never heard (of) Sarah McQuaid before last Friday’s Concert for Haiti in Saffron Walden Baptist Church. The concert was organised by Joanna Eden and it was Joanna whom I really wanted to see live. Sarah McQuaid was closing the first half of the concert. The first song she sang — unaccompanied — was the best number of the whole evening.
In the interval, I went to the hall. Sarah McQuaid had three CDs for sale and I had enough cash on me to buy one. I had a little chat with her which was not very helpful because she said that all three are completely different. When Two Lovers Meet is mostly Irish songs and I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is a collection of traditional Appalachian folk songs. As for Crow Coyote Buffalo, this is a duo with Zoë Pollock, “I did not sing any of these songs tonight”. Right.
Naturally, Crow Coyote Buffalo won — I loved the design (black and white drawing on a 100% recycled cardboard sleeve) and there are no prizes for guessing the best album title. As for the music... indeed, it has very little to do with what I heard on the concert. But it is amazing nonetheless. “Folk duo”? Sure, in a way that Led Zeppelin were a folk band. I can imagine Robert Plant singing Pipe and Tabor and psychedelic-era The Beatles playing Dancing Girl. There is some mesmerising accordion and trumpet (both played by Andy Jarvis) on Liquid Sunshine, which could have been a Yes song. It is one of my favourites, together with The Lovers and the title track. Listen.
Hi there! Sorry you found my explanation unhelpful, but glad you liked the CD anyway -- as I explained, it's very much a duo production with Zoe, so I really can't do any of the Mama material when I'm on my own. If you'd like to listen to tracks from my two solo CDs, you can do so on the Music page of my website -- http://www.sarahmcquaid.com/music.html (and if you like them, you can buy them from the website too!)
ReplyDeleteCheers and I hope we cross paths again --
Sarah
PS -- my husband Feargal did the drawing!
ReplyDeleteDear Sarah,
ReplyDeletegreat to hear from you! Please excuse my writing style: when I said "not very helpful" that meant it really was a tough choice. But it worked! (Sometimes I do the same with books and with movies.) I hope you don't mind.
Yes I'd love to see a longer performance of yours, another time, another place.