William Crossley meets one of the stars of this weekend's Wallingford Bunkfest Sarah McQuaid

Wallingford’s Bunkfest and Sarah McQuaid can’t get enough of each other, with the singer-songwriter appearing at the festival for the third year running.

Her set tomorrow will be the first performance of the festival, but the first of a 65-show tour of the UK and US.

Just two days later she will be flying out to the States to spend seven weeks on the road, playing concerts from coast to coast.

Globetrotting is nothing new for McQuaid. Born in Madrid to a Spanish father and an American mother – who taught her to play guitar and piano – she was raised in Chicago, then lived and worked as a music journalist and editor in Ireland from 1994 to 2007.

That year she decide to re-release her 1997 debut album, When Two Lovers Meet, and moved to Cornwall to build a second career as a musician.

She says: "Bunkfest is a lovely festival, with such a good atmosphere all around the town and it's run by a fantastic group of volunteers."

After the Stateside shows and spending November playing gigs at venues across Britain, McQuaid will be taking a year-long rest from touring.

However, her ‘year off’ will be anything but quiet.

She plans to write and record her fifth solo album, play a few selected live shows and write a guitar tutor book.

She says: “I’m looking forward to having a good long break from living out of a suitcase. After spending a huge chunk of the past seven years on the road, I do feel I’ve earned a bit of a break.

“I’ll still do local gigs and I’ll also do festivals that only take me away from home for a couple of days at a time.

“There are a number of festivals that I haven’t been able to get to, because I’m always away on tour in other countries when they’re happening, so it’ll be great to be actually available for those.”

Her other 2017 project will be a sequel to The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, a tutor book she wrote about the alternative guitar tuning she uses exclusively. The new book will focus on song accompaniment and demonstrate the versatility of DADGAD, often thought of as a specifically ‘Celtic’ tuning, but which Sarah says is ideal for other genres as well.

“But,” she insists, “mostly I really want to be able to focus on the new album. So watch this space.”

Her set is expected to be a highlight of Bunkfest, which also features sets by Space Elevator, The Epstein, CC Smugglers, Demon Barbers XL and Rusty Shackle.

There are also dance shows, a beer festival, town centre Street Fair, the Children’s Bunkfest and the Singing Train on the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway, with live music on the branch line train known as The Bunk, which inspired the festival’s name.

"Last year I did an evening concert in the Corn Exchange, which is a gorgeous venue," says Sarah. "This year they've given me the honour of opening the festival."

Bunkfest 2016 takes place from tomorrow to Sunday at venues across Wallingford.

For details of the full Bunkfest programme and to buy tickets, see bunkfest.co.uk or call 07955 254945.