Sierra Ferrell is opening up for Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats on a few of the dates of his current tour. We were lucky to have her at on-board at his date at the Red Hat Amphitheater in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina on September 27, 2023. We will admit that we were no familiar with her, but after reading her bio from website (see below) we were very interested in her upcoming performance.

Website bio:  “With her spellbinding voice and time-bending sensibilities, Sierra Ferrell makes music that’s as fantastically vagabond as the artist herself. Growing up in small-town West Virginia, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troupe of nomadic musicians, playing everywhere from truck stops to alleyways to freight-train boxcars speeding down the railroad tracks. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, she moved to Nashville and soon landed a deal with Rounder Records on the strength of her magnetic live show. Now, on her highly anticipated label debut Long Time Coming, Ferrells shares a dozen songs beautifully unbound by genre or era, instantly transporting her audience to an infinitely more enchanted world.”

Her voice is one of the first things that struck us. It was very distinct, powerful yet subtle when it needed to be. She, along with her bandmates, were an incredibly tight and seasoned group of musicians. The music couldn’t be confined to a certain musical labeled box. It was a blend of country, bluegrass, Americana, folk and more. We found ourselves fixated to the point that we didn’t want to miss any of it. We would love to see her in a headlining role where she could fully expand her musical wings with a longer time to play. Maybe that will happen in the near future because she’s worthy of it. We absolutely loved every minute of her performance!

Review & pix by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price