Nashville’s Sierra Ferrell Celebrates ‘Trail of Flowers’ | The Spin

Sierra Ferrell at the Ryman, 3/21/2024
Photo: Kristen Drum

“We’re gonna do a song from the record that's coming out in a few days,” Sierra Ferrell said, tuning her guitar a few minutes into Thursday’s show at the Ryman. Then she laughed and shook her head. “Er, tomorrow! What year is it? Where am I?”

She could be forgiven for a little confusion during the second show of the two-night release party for her new LP Trail of Flowers; the past several years have been a whirlwind for the widely traveled West Virginia-born and Music City-residing roots-centric musical polymath. As the music world inched back toward full speed in late-summer 2021, she released her stunning third LP and Rounder Records debut Long Time Coming, followed by hundreds and hundreds of tour dates at progressively larger venues — including a circus-themed NYE 2023 blowout at Brooklyn Bowl. The first of Ferrell’s two release shows at the Mother Church sold out, and if the second didn’t, it was hard to spot an empty seat.

Vaden Landers at the Ryman, 3/21/2024
Photo: Kristen Drum

Nashville’s rocking country singer-songwriter Nikki Lane opened the first night, and East Tennessean Vaden Landers, who aptly describes himself as “The Yodelin’ Country Bluesman,” warmed up the crowd Thursday. Landers and his crack band, dubbed The Doe River Playboys, looked and sounded like they stepped out of the 1950s. For a solid hour, they played old-school honky-tonk stompers and weepers, as well as originals and covers that emphasized how the boundaries between country, blues and R&B are both arbitrary and pernicious.

It’s fitting that Landers’ recent single, which he mentioned is a preview of a forthcoming album, is called “Goin’ Hog Wild,” since he is — in the most endearing sense of the word — a ham. He had a wealth of self-deprecating bits, and his animated hiccups and horsey snorts during “White Lightning” owed as much to June Foray or Mel Blanc as to George Jones. “These aisles weren’t made for this band — we’re a boogeying band,” Landers said on a brief tuning break. The set was well-executed, but the applause was on the polite side; the only thing that would make it better is experiencing it with a dance floor and with time to get in a shot and a beer first.

After a short interval, the stage lights dimmed to a warm, rosy glow and Ferrell and her band eased into “Lonesome Feeling,” a song made famous by the Osborne Brothers (not to be confused with Brothers Osborne, they’re the ones who had a mega hit with “Rocky Top”) about the dull ache of being alone in the world. Why is it that so many of the most resonant and beautiful songs are so incredibly sad? The best answer I can come up with is that writing, performing, listening and singing along to them helps us process those experiences and live a happier life in spite of them. “If a song makes me cry, I’m gonna learn it,” Ferrell said as she introduced “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” near the end of the show.

Among Ferrell’s many gifts is her ability to tap into and embody the rich nuances of what the character in a song is singing about — whether the piece is about her life or not, she makes it easy to envision the narrative instead of just hearing and seeing her sing about it. Another gift is her omnivorous musical taste, which draws together threads from string-band music, blues, country, an array of folk traditions from Appalachia to Eastern Europe and — notably on Trail of Flowers — rock ’n’ roll, creating a tapestry you’d never mistake for someone else’s.

Ferrell was a busker early in her career, and you get the idea she could hold the crowd in the palm of her hand using just one of the several instruments she plays and her evocative and finely tuned voice, with which she can drawl, croon and holler as needed. But she also consistently works with an exceptional band. Thursday, bassman Geoff Saunders and drummer Matty Meyer held down the foundation of the rhythm, while Josh Rilke played mandolin and Oliver Bates Craven doubled expertly on fiddle and guitars; Billy Contreras played another fiddle, and Cory Walker added banjo to a few tunes. Several guests came out as well: In the gravelliest of voices, Tim Bolo pleaded with Ferrell’s character on the duet “Golden Ring,” Cole Ritter played sparkling electric guitar and sang along on Dolly Parton’s “Old Flames,” and string-band guitar hero Tim O’Brien joined in on John Anderson’s “Years” and his own heartbreaking song “The Garden.”

There were no circus acts this time, but the two-hour run flew by just as fast with only Ferrell and her fellow musicians onstage. Newer songs like Trail of Flowers opener “American Dreaming” — a look at the disconnect between the capitalistic drive to acquire and the things that actually fulfill you — and the bittersweet “Wish You Well” sat naturally alongside longtime fan favorites “At the End of the Rainbow” and “I’d Do It Again,” both odes to persistence. In the wake of the unmiked, all-hands-on-deck sing-along to “Goodnight Irene” that ended the night, it felt like it’s only a matter of time before Ferrell returns to this stage — or takes ones that are even bigger.

Set List

1. Lonesome Feeling

2. Bells of Every Chapel

3. I'll Come Off the Mountain

4. Before I Met You

5. Silver Dollar

6. Redwood Hill

7. Little Bird

8. Whispering Waltz

9. I'd Do It Again

10. Backdrop change, costume change, band interlude: Tennessee Waltz instrumental

11. At the End of the Rainbow