Sierra Ferrell Regales DelFest in Performance with Water Tower

Editor’s Note: This story and photos are a contribution from writer and photographer Kevin Smith.


The annual DelFest festival 2026 was held over Memorial Day weekend in Cumberland Maryland at the Allegheny County Fairgrounds. The weekend has been an extremely wet one with music fans dressed in muck boots, rain ponchos, and multiple layers to deal with the cold temperatures and constant wetness that made it challenging. Nonetheless the music has been nothing short of spectacular. Always a Delfest favorite, Grammy winner Sierra Ferrell and California string band Water Tower brought joyful vibes and old-timey music to an enormous crowd who had been slogging it out throughout the day watching music and generally trying to stay dry.

Interestingly, earlier this year when the 2026 DelFest lineup was released, music fans did not see Sierra Ferrell’s name on the listing. So of course, many figured she perhaps had other plans. It might have been surprising to her fans, considering that she has been playing Delfest for many years now, and she had become such an important part of the fabric of the festival. Indeed, DelFest has been a personal favorite for Ferrell. But things were happening behind the scenes, conversations between the powers that be and various management teams were rapidly unfolding. Then at the last minute, a name was added to the line-up, “Water Tower featuring Sierra Ferrell.”

On Friday afternoon, Water Tower and Sierra Ferrell were introduced to the main stage by veteran DelFest announcer and musician Joe Craven. For those not in the know, Water Tower is a 5-piece string band from California who describe their music as “punk rock bluegrass.” They are led by guitarist /fiddler/singer Kenny Feinstein and been playing under that name since 2005.

When you listen to Water Tower, you hear a range of influences, and while some may cite Earl Scruggs and Black Flag as integral to their sound, one cannot help but be reminded of the early days of Old Crow Medicine Show, with a sort of old-timey, intentionally primitive sound. The band has played with former Old Crow member Willie Watson in the past. Additionally some of the band members cite Tony Rice, Tim O’ Brien and others as influential as well. In any event, Water Tower has been building a fan base the organic way by playing gigs everywhere they can and are a fixture in the California bluegrass scene. This is not the first time Sierra Ferrell has played with them. She’s shared the stage with them in various venues as a guest vocalist.

On this day the band of 5 dressed immaculately in suits filed on stage followed by a grinning Sierra Ferrell in front of a crowd dressed in a sea of rainwear. The response was immediate. Here was festival favorite Sierra Ferrell back once again to a stage she knew well before what must have felt like a hometown crowd, bringing energy, excitement, passion and enthusiasm to a performance made up of old-timey mountain music, bluegrass, folk, and even some honky tonk.

The DelFest crowd ate it up. Men, women, children, folks of all ages and backgrounds were assembled as far as the eye could see, filling the massive pit area near the stage and stretching far back into the vast lawn area where a few thousand sat in chairs, under pop-up canopy’s, and also into the grandstand off to the side where many were taking shelter from the rain. The music was infectious and Ferrell was in her element. She and bandleader Kenny Feinstein sawed away on twin fiddles playing an eclectic set of tunes, some familiar and others more obscure.

Ferrell held her own on fiddle and devoted considerable time in the set to the instrument. At one point she mentioned how enamored she was with band member John Seltzer’s mandolin prowess and hinted she might have to take up mandolin herself. She explained that knowing mandolin helps immensely with the fingerings on fiddle, which of course makes sense as they are tuned the same way.

Seltzer wasn’t the only musician who made a splash though. Multi-instrumentalist Tommy Drinkard dazzled with tasty dobro leads that added some serious punch to the overall sound—a fact noticed by the audience who cheered for his solos. Banjo man Jesse Blue Eads who is also a multi-instrumentalist played his 5 string impressively, while using restraint for the sake of the music. He has a background in jazz and progressive bluegrass, and for this set, managed to bring a sense of melodicism and intrigue to the sound.

Upright bassist Taylor Estes brought energy and fun to his playing while keeping the backbeat. Water Tower felt like a finely-tuned old-timey mountain music bluegrass machine, firing on all cylinders while bandleader/fiddler/guitarist Kenny Feinstein directed it all, at times running out to the stage-front to coax the audience into singing. Feinstein was quite the showman, frequently yelling out the next line before Ferrell sang it to encourage the audience to sing along. Clearly he’s a guy who understands the finer points of keeping an audience engaged.

As mentioned previously, the songs themselves were an eclectic mix. From the folk era we heard the classic “500 Miles” made famous by Joan Baez. But the big sing-along came with a cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” which had Feinstein and Ferrell in peak form as they belted out the words to a song that arguably is the most influential folk song of all time.

Honky tonk was also covered, with Ferrell paying tribute to Porter Wagoner on the classic “Satisfied Man,”—a song dozens of people have covered over the years for good reason, and it’s a bedrock staple in country music. More surprises came with a cover of the Larry Collins penned “Delta Dawn,”—the song that took one very young Tanya Tucker and made a star out of her practically overnight. This too became a sing-along for the crowd who were no doubt happy to be hearing songs they were familiar with.

At one point during the set, IBMA-awarded mandolin player Ronnie McCoury was invited to the stage to perform with the band, and they brought a rousing take on Bill Monroe’s “Workin’ on a Building” to the party. Once again, it was a huge sing-along with the audience, many of whom were dancing joyously in the mud that was now the pit area around the stage.

Finally near the end of the set, Sierra Ferrell played a couple of her own songs, and ones the crowd knew well. The final song was fitting as it was a song that took her from a career as an unknown busker to progressively larger stages including Delfest, where fans have watched her impressive rise over the last several years, and cheered her all the way. That song, “In Dreams” has a lot of meaning to Sierra Ferrell. It’s one she has played for years and remains a favorite of her many fans.

Sierra Ferrell and Water Tower brought just what Delfest needed in the mid-afternoon on Friday, and managed to simultaneously excite and uplift a crowd who had braved less than ideal weather conditions, standing in the rain and cold and trudging through mud to her. There can be no greater compliment.