The 67th Grammy Awards in February 2025 saw Sierra Ferrell burst onto the scene in a shock of white lace and pearls, sweeping up a whopping four Grammy Awards for Best American Roots Performance (“Lighthouse”), Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song (“American Dreaming”), and Best Americana Album (Trail of Flowers).
Videos by American Songwriter
For those who have never witnessed the elaborate, vintage, and uniquely eccentric tour de force that is Sierra Ferrell, the headdress-clad artist might have appeared to come out of nowhere. But for Americana fans who have been watching her for years (like this writer), Ferrell’s 2025 Grammy sweep was a natural progression in what is sure to be a lengthy, prolific, and highly influential career.
Don’t believe us? Just check out these videos of a baby-faced Ferrell showing off her soon-to-be Grammy-winning vocal chops.
Sierra Ferrell Shows Off Grammy-Winning Vocal Chops
Before she was a household name in the Americana scene, Sierra Ferrell was a rambling busker whose nomadic lifestyle served as the perfect complement to her jangly, captivating 1930s sound. From her distinctive vibrato to her ear-tickling blend of gypsy jazz and bluegrass instrumentation, Ferrell managed to bridge the gap between old-timey music and something completely fresh and modern. The music industry has plenty of room for nostalgic acts that harken back to decades prior, but Ferrell seemed to be the only artist who was doing it in a way that was actually unique to them.
Such was certainly the case for her first appearances on the popular field recording series GemsOnVHS, who recorded a baby-faced Ferrell in 2017 after meeting at a Honky Tonk Tuesday night at Nashville’s American Legion. Ferrell’s first video performance was “Rosemary,” a single she released on Bandcamp in March 2018. With her face tattoo, blunt bangs, and giant septum ring, she had the potential to sound like any number of alternative indie artists flooding the sonic soundscape. Instead, what came out of her mouth was something almost ancient, definitely vintage, and indicative of the singular creative force she had the capacity to be.
Since GemsOnVHS released their video of Ferrell performing “Rosemary” in 2017, the video is at nearly four million views at the time of this writing. (A number we don’t doubt will keep rising as the shockwaves of Ferrell’s 2025 Grammys success continue to ripple into the musical world.)
Her Next Feature Was Even More Successful
After a young Sierra Ferrell’s GemsOnVHS debut began making its rounds on the internet, the online community quickly demanded to see more of this funky, retro artist with the inimitable voice and ability to write songs that sound like a train-hopping hobo from 1926 wrote them (instead of, say, a train-hopping hobo from the late aughts, like Ferrell). Her follow-up GemsOnVHS performance of “In Dreams” amassed even more of a viral following with a staggering ten million views.
GemsOnVHS’ Anthony Simpkins described accidentally running into Ferrell at a “hazy late-night old-time show” in New Orleans sometime after recording her song “Rosemary.” “Trying to track her down was always a failing effort. So, finding her in the wild was always one of those things you’re both surprised and not surprised by at the same time. It’s just the way of things.”
Seven years later, and Ferrell is now a highly successful Grammy Award-winning artist who is far easier to track down—musically speaking, anyway. And we don’t doubt that we’ll see plenty more of her, her fantastic songwriting, and her jaw-dropping stage and fashion aesthetics in the next seven years and beyond.
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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