Emotional Moments Mark Sierra Ferrell’s Return to Telluride Bluegrass

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All photos by Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos. For more coverage from the 2024 Telluride Bluegrass Festival and other events, follow Saving Country Music on Instagram.

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The world is a better place because the music of Sierra Ferrell. Country music is better because Sierra Ferrell plays and performs. You are a better person if you partake in the music of Sierra Ferrell.

Telluride, Colorado is like something out of a fairy tale. The picturesque town seems to be untouched by time, aside from the streets being paved, which some locals still bemoan. On both sides of the town are the walls of a box canyon with incredible rock formations and trees that shape shift according to the cloud cover and the light of day. The view from the end of town opens up on a waterfall straight out of a scenic painting.

As if a character bounding out of the pages of a work of fairy tale fiction that only Telluride could be the setting of, Sierra Ferrell manifested on the stage of the 51st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Saturday evening (6-22). Saturday was officially Sam Bush’s night as he was celebrating 50 consecutive years playing the festival. But who better to play setup for Sam than Sierra.

In many respects, it was a full circle moment for Sierra, and a return to the place that in part helped catapult her meteoric rise over the last year. In 2023 she played a midday set at Telluride to a crowd that probably wasn’t especially familiar with her music. It was during her original fiddle tune “Fox Hunt” when many years of decorum were broken and the crowd rose to their feet, causing such a ruckus, they let the dancing masses swell into the portion of the site where you’re not supposed to stand until the night’s final headliners.

Now Ferrell returned as a headliner herself, showcasing songs from her new album Trail of Flowers. Along with flowers in her hair, flowers down her mic stand, there was a solitary sunflower peaking up from the crowd as she took the stage. A dozen or so sprouted from the crowd and were swaying to and fro by the end of the set. Some devoted were also wearing flowers pinned to their hats and collars.


The last year has only made Sierra Ferrell and her music that much more entertaining and focused. Ferrell also featured a drummer in her band for one of the first times. She turned emotional when talking and singing to the audience on a couple of occasions, especially during one of the verses of her new song, “American Dreaming.”

The song is all about the hard work we go through to realize our dreams. Sierra has achieved those dreams and then some. Standing on the Telluride stage as the sun was setting off the mountains in one of the most inspiring views in music, all of this must have come into stark realization for her.


Sierra also did a super rousing version of “Me and Bobby McGee” to the delight of the crowd. And to finish it all off, Ferrell couldn’t help but go back to where the love affair with the Telluride crowd all started, her song “Fox Hunt.” Somehow Ferrell did herself one better with the song in 2024.

But it wasn’t just the entertainment value Sierra Ferrell brought to her 2024 Telluride Bluegrass Festival set. It was the emotional connection and sincerity that left the audience at times in stunned silence, at other times calling out at the top of their lungs, and ultimately beyond sated.

Sierra Ferrell might feel like she comes from the fantasy world. But seeing her perform live is one of the most starkly real and alive experiences you can ever encounter.

Mandolin player Joshua Rilko
Guitarist Oliver Bates Craven
Bassist Geoff Saunders
Drummer Matty Meyer
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