From Appalachian folk songs to early English music, Sarah McQuaid is an artist who is unafraid of traversing genres in search of musical inspiration and she will be showcasing her eclectic repertoire in a concert at Thames Ditton’s Ram Folk Club next Friday.

“I’ll be my doing my own wildly eclectic mixture of stuff,” she says.

“I’ll play some of my own songs, some Irish and Appalachian stuff and some odd ball covers including an old jazz number from the 30s. Since I play solo I like to vary the material so people don’t get bored just seeing me!”

The diversity of McQuaid’s music is perhaps not surprising as she has, over the years, called many countries “home”, having been born in Spain and raised in America before moving to Ireland and then Cornwall, where she currently resides with her husband and two children.

“I don’t feel like I’m from anywhere because I’ve lived in so many different places,” she says.

“I suppose it has freed me up in terms of the material that I feel OK doing. If someone has lived all their life in Ireland they may not feel comfortable playing American bluegrass music, but there isn’t one particular country that I owe more of my musical allegiance to.”

McQuaid is currently working on songs for her third album which will see songs from the 13th to 16th centuries sit alongside her own compositions. These news songs include ones inspired by that period and others with a more contemporary edge.

She has been a fixture on the folk scene for more than a decade but has recently enjoyed something of breakthrough, reaching number one on the folk radio chart in America with a compilation album.

This success has, she says, had a big impact on her latest batch of songs.

“I suddenly had this number one record and needed to think seriously about the follow up - the stakes had been raised,” she says.

“I still write my songs to please myself and not worry about ‘the market’ but the chance has been raised of being able to tour with a band and so I can think about writing songs that sound nice with other instruments rather than just with me and my guitar.”

Sarah McQuaid, Ram Folk Club, Old Cranleighan Club, Thames Ditton, June 25, 8.15pm, theramclub.co. uk