Did you see this super-talented multi-instrumentalist play electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer and drum at ACE Space?
Sarah McQuaid, with support Ben Baron
at Ace Space, Newbury
on Saturday, September 21
Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON
BEN Baron, who has appeared at Ace Space before, provided a half-hour opening set accompanying himself on banjo.
He is a consummate professional and a superb instrumentalist, opening with the classic Appalachian, Ola Belle Reed track High On A Mountain he displayed impressive ‘claw-hammer’ style banjo skills on an entertaining mixture of American folk and self-penned songs.
He moved on to the more contemporary Steve Earle track The Mountain, before his touching and endearing composition Four Years On, which celebrates his relationship with his father.
Sarah McQuaid is around half-way through a mammoth 55-date tour, you certainly can't fault her work ethic, she has a wonderful resonance and timbre to her voice and used it to full effect particularly when using a little technology to become her own three-singer backing group!
Born in Spain, Sarah spent her formative years in America and Ireland before moving with her family to their current home in Cornwall.
She released her first album in 1997 and is currently working on her seventh, plus she also made an album with Zoe (Sunshine On A Rainy Day) Pollock under the name of Mama.
Tonight's set included a brilliant acapella rendition of the traditional The Wagoner's Lad, as well as some wonderful compositions of her own like the brand new Too Many Plates To Juggle, and Charlie’s Gone Home from her first album.
Sarah is a super-talented multi-instrumentalist playing electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer and drum during her set, and she likes to include a cover version on each of her albums, her versions of Ode To Billy Joe and Mr Bojangles were stunning, but I particularly loved her quirky songs drawn from personal experience such as When I hold My Phone Up to The Sky, One Sparrow Down and In Derby Cathedral.
She has a unique and intriguing way of looking at the world and putting those thoughts in to her lyrics.
She ended a captivating set with the traditional Parting Glass.
Another excellent night of folk music at ACE Space.
