Here are the common facts about Sierra Ferrell: She grew up in a small town in West Virginia. She used to live in a van with a troupe of nomadic musicians and busk on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle. After years of performing in just about everywhere – truck stops, alleyways, freight-train boxcars – she moved to Nashville. And now, she is taking country music by storm.
Let’s get to know her more, shall we?
She was very observant as a young child.
Sierra Ferrell’s music showcased keen observation skills, describing things and telling experiences in detail. And this was something she had picked up on as a child. She remembered when she was a little kid, she and her mom were driving over train tracks on a little bridge. She pointed out that she saw people riding inside a gondola, to which her mom responded that there was none.
“I feel like this was what sparked this whole thing for me. When I became a young adult, I discovered that subculture of riding trains and hitchhiking, and I fell in love with it,” she said.
She had to grow up fast.
Being raised by a single mom, she found herself growing up pretty fast. Music became her escape, and eventually, it became her weapon. And she equipped herself not just vocally but also instrumentally. Back in high school, she took a couple of semesters of guitar training. She also listened to records from the Carter Family to help hone her picking style.
But more importantly, she worked to refine her voice.
She sang solo covers and even joined a cover group called the Grateful Dead. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out because she felt her growth had stagnated in the band. She wanted to play guitar, but they wanted her to do backup vocals and dance around the stage. That was when she decided she was ready to branch out and explore other things.
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She scrammed out of West Virginia after that.
Her first taste of music was actually ‘90s rock radio tunes.
Coming from the Mountain State and the fact that her sound evoked old-time country music, people assumed that she had grown up listening to the genre. But that wasn’t the case for her.
In her interview with Forbes, Ferrell shared that the first music she listened to was ‘90s radio, like Matchbox 20 and 3 Doors Down, which weren’t country at all. However, she did get acquainted with Shania Twain, whose songs she liked to cover in local bars and commercial jingles.
Then, she eventually fell in love with the old tunes.
Ferrell recalls a busking group named Yes Ma’am who really made an impression on her. They played old music, and she felt the songs touch her. “There’s just magic in the old music, there’s something there.” She then went on to do some busking herself with other like-minded nomadic musicians. Her mom made her carry a flip phone as she went on the road, but she always tried to disconnect. From her perspective, people were not supposed to be in touch with so many others.
The music she grew up listening to and the music she had heard on the road definitely influenced her. But instead of leaning into one, she embraced her genuine self and refused to be encapsulated into a single genre. As All Music described, her sound is a “spirited, idiosyncratic blend of country, jazz, folk, and blues.”
And that’s a wrap on facts you probably didn’t know (and now you do) about Sierra Ferrell.
