With her new recording and rehearsal studio nearing completion, Sarah McQuaid is once again heading out on the road, this time for a 9-week, 36-show coast-to-coast US tour beginning on the 11th of September, and a short UK run following that. It will bring her 2026 total to 118 concerts between mid-January and the end of November: an average of one show every 2.6 days.
“It’s been quite the marathon”, she admits, “but having put every penny I had plus a whole lot of pennies I didn’t have into the studio, I basically took every gig I could get. On the plus side, it’s been fantastic to get the opportunity to try out my new material on live audiences before I record it. Pretty much every song has changed and developed along the way, so that’ll make our task a lot easier when we finally do get started on the next album. And in the meantime, even in its unfinished state, we’ve already been using the studio for rehearsals, without which there’s no way some of the new songs would have been concert-ready. For example, there’s one where I start off a cappella, then bring in my acoustic guitar, then use looping to layer up percussion, keyboards, electric guitar, and harmony vocals. That one needed a LOT of rehearsing, but it’s working beautifully now!”
Born in Spain, raised in Chicago, and now living in rural England after spending many years in Ireland, Sarah is as multinational as she is multitalented. She met her longtime manager, Martin Stansbury, soon after moving in 2007 to Cornwall, in the UK’s southwesternmost corner. Outside the gates of her children’s school, Sarah struck up a friendship with a fellow mum who turned out to be Zoë Pollock, writer and performer of the 1991 UK Top 5 hit single Sunshine On A Rainy Day.
The pair soon found themselves co-writing songs, and in January 2009, they released the critically acclaimed album Crow Coyote Buffalo under the band name Mama. That album was produced and recorded by Stansbury, who’d collaborated previously with Zoë on a variety of projects. Ever since then, for nearly 17 years now, Stansbury has accompanied Sarah on all her tours, looking after everything from logistics to sound and stage lighting. “And he does all the driving,” laughs Sarah, “which is a good thing because I’m a terrible driver!”
Stansbury produced and recorded Sarah’s latest album, The St Buryan Sessions, and has recently been recording and filming a series of Garage Sessions videos in the above-mentioned studio (formerly a derelict garage, hence the name). The first four of these can already be viewed on Sarah’s website and YouTube channel, as well as below this article; a fifth is currently in the works, with more to come very soon. Tickets for the dates are available here.
Sarah McQuaid UK Tour Dates 2026:
Nov 19 OTTRINGHAM (HULL): The Beggar’s Folk Club
Nov 20 LLANIDLOES: The Hanging Gardens
Nov 21 LLANGOED Village Hall
Nov 22 MATLOCK: The Grand Pavilion, Matlock Bath
Nov 25 BIDDULPH Up In Arms
Nov 26 ILKLEY Manor House
