What struck me the first time I saw Sarah MacDougall playing live was the smile. She smiles when she’s talking, when she’s tuning, when she’s playing and even when she’s singing. Like a musical Cheshire Cat but with a large dollop of sincerity. MacDougall was born in Malmo but moved to Vancouver as a teenager to study music. Having spent several years living in Whitehorse in Yukon, she is now based in Toronto.
MacDougall has issued 5 albums usually on her own label and pre-pandemic toured extensively in the UK and Europe. ‘It’s A Storm (What’s Going On)?’ which was featured on her third album ‘The Greatest Ones Alive’ (2011) has been a fixture and highlight of her live set for many years. Her music isn’t as widely known as it should be but once people do hear it, they are often captivated. I was at a club show early 2024 where one of her songs came on the walk-in tape and the person next to me was soon Shazzamming.
There used to be a fantastic video of MacDougall on guitar and Marie Jo Dandeneau on cello performing the song in a bathroom but sadly that has disappeared from YouTube. Happily, there is a live session from Stingray Music with a full band available. The music mirrors the subject of the title swirling around the hypnotic lyric driven by MacDougall’s guitar lines and vocals.
Hopefully she will put out new music and tour again in the not too far distant future but in the meantime, we have this Classic Clip to enjoy.
I was lucky to come across Sarah’s music with the album “Greatest Ones Alive” some 13/14 years ago now and was immediately transfixed by it. Saw her live in Norwich and at the Maverick Festival and I always thought she deserved a much bigger audience. Hope it happens for her one day. Many thanks, Richard, for highlighting her talent.