[Editor’s Note] Sarah McQuaid is a singer-songwriter who was born in Spain, raised in Chicago, holds dual Irish and American citizenship and is now based in Cornwall, England. She’s released six critically acclaimed solo albums, plus an album as a duo with Zoë Pollock, writer and performer of 1991 UK Top 5 hit single “Sunshine On A Rainy Day”, featuring songs co-written by the pair under the band name Mama.
Earlier this year, she released a live album entitled Walking Into White Live In Rapid City, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of her album Walking Into White and captures McQuaid in her element on the live stage. She’s also started a session video series called “Garage Sessions” and is currently working on writing songs for a new album she intends to record in the garage she’s converting to a studio.
“The work on the studio is nearly finished,” says McQuaid via press release, “and I’m looking forward to getting properly stuck into tracking the album! I’ve already been playing a few of the new songs in my current concert set and they’ve been going down really well, so I can’t wait to share them with a wider audience.”
Below is the session video for the title track of her new album, “I’m Slowing Down As I Get Older (And That’s Good),” which has a bluesy feel and pays respects to her Chicago roots.
Here’s a cover of her performing Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” as well as another new song, “When I Held Up My Phone To The Sky”.
According to a press release, “the garage studio — where Sarah plans to write, rehearse and record all her future albums — has been made possible in part by a crowdfunding campaign that’s still in progress, with thank-you gifts for donors ranging from CDs and LPs to original artwork, online guitar lessons and free downloads for life to all Sarah’s current and future releases.”
Below, McQuaid pens an essay about the challenges she faces as a full-time touring artist and why she doesn’t plan to give up anytime soon.
The night after I got home from my latest tour, I celebrated by going out with my husband for dinner and a movie. This was a Sunday evening in September, the sun coming out between occasional spits of drizzle, no major events happening that I was aware of either in the neighbourhood or on TV, and the film we went to see had only been released the week before.
We were the only people in the restaurant, and there were five other people besides ourselves in the otherwise empty cinema.
It’s a comfort in one way, and profoundly depressing in others, to know that it’s not just the music industry that’s struggling in these straitened times. Every day seems to bring news of another venue shutting down, another folk club or concert series announcing that the current season will be their last … but I’m also seeing pubs, theatres and even community centres closing.
I’ve been earning a living (albeit a pretty small one) as a musician since giving up my last day job way back in 2007, nearly two decades ago, and for most of that time have been playing over 100 shows a year, touring in the UK, USA, Ireland and Europe. And it’s never been as difficult to scrape by as it is now.
During Covid, there was a deeply comforting wave of support — both from government and from individuals — for artists and other professionals who couldn’t work due to lockdown; and immediately after Covid there was a bit of a resurgence as venues reopened and live performances started up again.
The novelty soon seemed to wear off, though, and people got out of the habit of going out; or maybe they’re just feeling the pinch and/or worrying about the future. Either way, the result is the same: audiences are down … way down.
Meanwhile, travel costs are up across the board. Hotel prices now seem to be about three times what they were before Covid, and fuel and food costs have also skyrocketed. With ticket sales down and ticket prices staying at much the same levels as they’ve been for nigh on 10 years, gig fees have decreased accordingly.
And merch sales have plummeted: even at rare well-attended shows, I’m not selling merch in the quantities I’d have expected pre-Covid.
Much of this is because peoples’ listening habits have changed, shifting from physical product to online streaming. People come up to my merch table and stand there looking wistfully at my CDs and LPs, saying “I don’t have a record player or a CD player — even my car doesn’t have a CD player in it any more.” It used to be that merch sales often amounted to as much as or more than the fee for a gig. No more.
So why keep going, when things are so bad?
Well, partly because I may be a crazy optimist, but I have a feeling that things are going to turn around. The archaeological evidence demonstrates that human beings have been gathering together in groups to enjoy live music for about as long as human beings have existed. It’s part of who we are, and I can testify that it generates joy for all those who take part, whether that be as performers or spectators.
If the whole Covid lockdown taught me anything, it was that it’s not possible — certainly not possible for me, and I strongly suspect not for anyone else, either — to get that same level of joy from music performed to a screen or on a screen. While audience numbers are down, the level of enthusiasm I’m seeing from people who DO come out to shows is as high as or higher than it’s ever been.
There genuinely seems to be something about sharing an emotional experience with others that makes it … well, more emotional, for want of a better way to put it. “Make ’em laugh, make ’em cry,” goes the cliché, and when I see people laughing and crying at my shows, I know they’re going to go home feeling like it was worth their while coming out.
If they do, and if they go on to tell their friends about it, maybe their friends will join them for the next show that comes through their part of the world, and maybe those friends will tell their friends ….
Whatever happens, I’m not quitting now. I’m nearly 60 years old, and I don’t have a plan B. When I left my full time job as a magazine editor to become a full time musician all those years ago, I knew exactly what I was giving up, and exactly what I was gaining in return. I love touring and I love performing, and as long as people keep coming to my shows — even if it’s only in small numbers — I’m going to keep doing them. I hope I see you at a gig down the road.
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Sarah McQuaid will be on tour in the USA for eight weeks in October and November 2025, with shows in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Denmark already scheduled for the first half of 2026. Visit SarahMcQuaid.com
Sarah McQuaid
Contributor
Born in Spain, raised in Chicago, holding dual Irish and American citizenship and now settled in rural England, Sarah McQuaid has released six critically acclaimed solo albums, plus an album as a duo with Zoë Pollock, writer and performer of 1991 UK Top 5 hit single “Sunshine On A Rainy Day” featuring songs co-written by the pair under the band name Mama. Her most recent album and video series The St Buryan Sessions, recorded and filmed live during lockdown in a beautiful medieval church near her home in Cornwall, was described by Acoustic Guitar magazine as “an instant classic.”
