SIERRA FERRELL WILL PERFORM THURSDAY, JULY 24

Songwriter and singer extraordinaire Sierra Ferrell’s musical journey was etched during childhood. Growing up in a West Virginia trailer with a single mom meant scant technology thus oodles of time outside, moments for noticing ripples in streams and in dreams while the family moved hither and thither. Ferrell’s music does the same – notices ripples, minute flashes in which lifetimes are revealed – giving her songs the enchanting quality of being borrowed from beyond time while rambling from genre to vagabond genre, treading upon the stuff goosebumps are made of.

From singing along to commercials and her mom’s 10,000 Maniacs tapes as a kid to trading the earthy outdoor grunge under her nails for musical grunge under the notes of a Nirvanic era of music, this West Virginian let country roads take her home via boxcar and van, playing truck stops, alleyways and dive bars as she criss-crossed her way from Seattle to New Orleans over and over while busking. During the journey, she soaked up bluegrass, swing and calypso, uttering “I have a country heart but a jazz mind.” The pilgrimage brought Ferrell to her destiny, the Grand Ole Opry, and into a different spotlight to breezily pick up four Grammy Awards in 2025.

To listen to this profoundly gifted vocalist sing is to fall under a spell you long to never be broken. Hearing her voice for the first time eclipses a first kiss as her music spins tales of life’s ramble toward the grave, sure, but a gratifying life exploring the canyons and precipices that enrich mere existence.

- Mary-Lynn Wardle