Photograph: Mark Francis.

Coinciding with the release of her new album The Plum Tree and The Rose (currently charting at number three on the Folk Radio Chart, number four on the UK Roots Radio Airplay Chart and number five on the Euro Americana chart), Sarah McQuaid is starting a tour through Ireland and Northern Ireland this week.

Produced by Gerry O’Beirne, engineered by Trevor Hutchinson and released on the Chicago-based Waterbug Records label, The Plum Tree and The Rose is the third album by McQuaid. Although she is a song collector and arranger, equally at home with traditional Irish and Appalachian folk songs, Elizabethan ballads and 1930s jazz numbers, with nine of the thirteen tracks on this album being originals it represents a departure from her previous albums, which focused more on traditional material.

Her songs reflect her own eclectic background: McQuaid was born in Spain, raised in Chicago, holds dual US and Irish citizenship, and currently lives in rural England. She lived in Ireland for thirteen years, and while here published the widely used Irish DADGAD Guitar Book.

The tour dates are as follows:

Thursday, April 19 Omagh: An Creagán
Saturday, April 21 Dublin: Whelan’s
Sunday, April 22 Dingle: McCarthy’s Bar
Monday, April 23 Kilworth: Village Arts Centre
Tuesday, April 24 Dungarvan: The Local
Wednesday, April 25 Monaghan: The Market House
Thursday, April 26 Arklow: Roots Fifty-Six
Friday, April 27 Castlerock: Crusoe’s Coffee Shop
Saturday, April 28 Clonmel: New Music Club @ Moran’s Bar
Sunday, April 29 Ballycotton: The Blackbird

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