Sierra Ferrell self-released her debut album Pretty Magic Spell in 2018 followed by Washington by the Sea the next year. Those albums generated some buzz in the roots music community. However, it wasn’t until she released her label debut Long Time Coming in 2021 via Rounder Records that she found a larger audience. Earlier this month, she released Trail of Flowers to widespread acclaim. However, her journey to Nashville and being a rising star is much longer than that.
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Recently, the West Virginia native sat down with CBS Mornings correspondent Anthony Mason to talk about her long road and how it shaped her into the artist she is today. Her path was not paved with flowers. Instead, it was one of hardships, hitchhiking, and hopping trains.
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Sierra Ferrell Reflects on the Long Road to Nashville
Mason points out that Ferrell left West Virginia when the opioid epidemic started to envelop the state. About her departure from her home state, she said, “I left because I feel like I always had a wild side to me. And I knew that if I stayed there I probably wouldn’t still be alive.” She added, “I left there in search of maybe myself, maybe to find out what else there is, maybe even a reason to live.”
With no real destination in mind, Ferrell and a friend started hitchhiking across the country. When she wasn’t riding her thumb across the country, she was hopping trains and riding the rails. “I felt like I was an outlaw,” she said of those days. “I felt more free.”
While traveling, Ferrell busked on street corners in cities like Chicago, Seattle, and New Orleans. She honed her craft and became more comfortable singing in front of an ever-changing crowd of people. That comfort serves her well today as she travels the country on tour.
A Life-Changing Experience
After some time on the road, Ferrell returned home. That homecoming was fatal. Mason mentioned that she almost died after going back to West Virginia. “I died,” she corrected. She added, “I did die. I had a relapse with a friend who is also gone now.”.
“I collapsed on the floor and I looked up and Chris was smacking me in the face like, ‘Sierra, wake up,’” Ferrell recalled. “And it was like time didn’t exist anymore. Before I knew it, I was in the corner of the room looking and I was looking down on myself,” she continued.
She went on to say that she saw a “pin” of light above her that slowly grew until her fear fell away. “The only thing I knew that existed was pure bliss,” she said At that point, beings from beyond the light began to call her to them, asking her to come to join them.
“I feel like I’m not very scared of dying,” Ferrell said of how she feels after the experience. “I’m not very scared of what’s after this.”
Not long after that, Ferrell moved to Nashville, settled down, and started going to therapy. “Taking accountability is huge. Miraculously, things in your life just start to happen better,” she said. “I needed to get that wildness out. It kind of really grounded me,” she added.
Her experiences didn’t just change her outlook on life and shape her as a person. Ferrell says the things she experienced also helped her as an artist. “I feel like it helped characterize even my voice, perhaps. It gave it maybe that specialness, that longing, or maybe even the sadness that is in some of my music,” she explained.
Ferrell ended her interview with Mason with some heavy wisdom. “Well, you know, you’ve got to go through the sadness to appreciate the joy and to know what the joy is.”
Featured Image by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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