Author: Editor

Sarah McQuaid gears up for her warm-up UK tour starting in January – with a new album in the works!

Having just returned from a successful two-month tour in the USA, Cornwall-based singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid is gearing up for a short “warm-up” UK tour starting on 16 January — and she’s already at work on her much-anticipated new album.

“My new studio is nearly finished”, she says happily. “When I first got home from the US tour we had to get the builders to sort out a few places where water was still coming through the tanking — but they’ve done that now, so it’s just a question of getting the walls and floor sealed and decorated in order for us to be able to start tracking the new album over the Christmas break!

“In the meantime, I’ve got a bunch of half-written songs that I’m in the process of completing. Some of them are words needing music, others are little recordings I’ve made of guitar parts that might become either songs or instrumentals.

“And then there’s an a cappella demo I recorded on my phone one morning during the tour, which I need to figure out an accompaniment for. I’ll be sharing some of these early incarnations with my Patreon and Ko-Fi supporters, to give them a taste of the work in progress.

“As I finish more new tracks, I’ll be adding them to the set lists for my 2026 tours, and I’m really excited about that — it was so good to be able to try out the new songs I’ve already written on audiences during the autumn UK and US tours!”

One that drew a particularly rapturous response on those tours was an upbeat bluesy number called ‘I’m Slowing Down As I Get Older (And That’s Good)’. That’s also the working title of her new album … but McQuaid is showing little sign of actually slowing down.

In addition to the January-February UK outing, her tour plans for 2026 include a six-week EU tour in February and March, taking in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, followed by a longer UK tour that starts in April and doesn’t finish until early June.

After that, she’ll be heading out on a few more UK forays over the summer before returning to the USA for an autumn tour that spans early September through early November. A final run of UK shows in late November will round off the year and see Sarah considerably exceeding the 104 concerts she performed in 2025.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, she’ll be putting the finishing touches on the aforementioned new album.

“I’m confident that once the new studio is up and running, I’ll be able to really ramp up my recorded output,” she says. “I’m already looking beyond the new album to what comes next … maybe some shorter themed EPs exploring different aspects of what I do.

“And because we’ve got room in the studio for full PA and stage lighting, we can start doing a lot more in the video department, too.”

The first three “Garage Sessions” videos filmed in the then-unfinished studio (formerly a garage attached to Sarah’s house, hence the name) can be viewed on Sarah’s website and YouTube channel; a fourth is on the way, with more to follow.

“The idea is to have the Garage Sessions become an ongoing series”, explains Martin Stansbury, Sarah’s longtime manager and sound engineer, “and to get a few guests in to collaborate with Sarah on future live performance videos from Sarah’s Garage, which we’re going to stick with as the studio name”.

Stansbury will be producing the new album as well as recording and mixing it. The pair have been working together since 2008, when Zoë Pollock (writer and performer of 1991 hit single ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’) brought Stansbury in to produce and record Crow Coyote Buffalo, the album of co-written songs she and McQuaid made under the band name Mama.

Sarah’s January-February concert dates

Jan 16     PENZANCE: The Acorn
Jan 17     BODMIN: IntoBodmin @The Old Library
Jan 18     TOTTON: Hanger Farm
Jan 21     EASTBOURNE: The Lamb Folk Club
Jan 22     BRIDPORT: Shipton Gorge Village Hall (Artsreach)
Jan 23     STONY STRATFORD: The Song Loft @York House Centre (Stony Words)
Jan 24     SWANAGE: Studland Village Hall (Artsreach)
Jan 25     BLANDFORD: Milborne St Andrew Village Hall (Artsreach)
Jan 28     HERTFORD: Backroads House Concerts
Jan 30     RUGBY Library & Information Centre
Jan 31     BISHOPS CASTLE Town Hall
Feb 1      KNUTSFORD Little Theatre
Feb 3      TEWKESBURY: The Roses Theatre
Feb 4      TOPSHAM: The Bridge Inn

Artist’s website: https://sarahmcquaid.com

‘I’m Slowing Down As I Get Older (And That’s Good)’ – official live video: