Sierra Ferrell is as genuine and talented as they come, truly.
She just announced a her sophomore album Trail of Flowers is due out everywhere on March 22nd, and so far, she’s released two fantastic singles in “Fox Hunt” and “Dollar Bill Bar.”
In addition to being one of the genres best artists at the moment, Sierra has an incredible backstory in terms of how she’s gotten to this point.
The West Virginia native spent years busking all over the world, in places like New Orleans, and lived a nomadic lifestyle most of us couldn’t imagine now, and she knows a helluva lot of about train hopping, too, which is fascinating (more on that later).
She appeared on the Zach Sang Show podcast earlier this week, and they got into so many interesting topics that are very unique to who she is and her broader inspirations in terms of music.
When asked to define what country music is in today’s world, Sierra noted correctly that it’s always ultimately been about the “human condition,” though over the years, it’s been so overly-polished and refined that sometimes the genre is unrecognizable (think bro country for a quick and easy example):
“It’s the human condition. I feel like human’s always want to polish things up, and they want to make things perfect.
It’s like they see something that’s from the past and they’re like, oh, let’s take this and make it our own and then file out the edges a little bit to make it more round or whatever. That’s just what it feels like.”
Amen…
She explained that the heart of country music is “pure and genuine,” and that it traditionally came from working class people with real struggles singing the honest truth about their life.
Sierra also said that much of today’s country music (mostly mainstream… my words, not hers), lacks that very essential ingredient of “real, raw genuineness.”
While on the whole, I do think it’s getting better in a lot of ways, I couldn’t agree with her more and think she is the perfect person to speak on this because she has all of that in spades:
“The heart of country music is pure and genuine, it comes from a place of the working class people, traditionally.
And they’re talking about the hard time that they went through, and the hard times they’re still going through, but they smile about it and joke about it and they make a show of it.
Today, it’s more about being a thoroughbred and you look good, you sound pretty good. You look great, actually, you know. You’re dancing around, you’re doing all the parts, but it’s missing a core ingredient sometimes. It’s missing that real, raw genuineness. It’s more L.A., I guess.”
She nailed it, and as an artist who has always been very true to herself and the more traditional aspects of the genre, while obviously still making music for people in 2024, I get more excited for this album by the day.
Sierra does things her way, in a way that is so unpretentious and real, yet extremely captivating and unique that you cannot help but fall in love with every part of her artistry.
She’s poised for a massive year in 2024, though I struggle to call it a “breakout” year, because she’s been doing this for so long and has already earned the respect of so many music fans who appreciate her work.
You can watch the full clip here, and I highly recommend doing so because she is an incredibly fascinating individual:
@zachsangshow @Sierra Ferrell says today’s country music is missing key ingredient #sierraferrell #country #countrymusic #zachsangshow #zachsang #fyp #foryou @Amazon Music ♬ original sound – Zach Sang Show
If you haven’t jumped on the Sierra Ferrell train yet, you’re very late, but there’s still a little room and you absolutely will be better for it.
And speaking of trains, that clip of her talking about train hopping while homeless is beyond interesting:
@zachsangshow @Sierra Ferrell shares her experience train hopping to travel while homeless #sierraferrell #homeless #train #trainhopping #travel #railroad #zachsangshow #zachsang #danzolot #fyp #foryou @Amazon Music ♬ original sound – Zach Sang Show
“Fox Hunt”
“Dollar Bill Bar”
