"I'm going to Tampa today."
"Why?"
"I'm going to a concert."
Now I am wondering "what kind?" Since her divorce, she is out most every night, or so it seems to me, an online penpal.
"Who are you going to see?"
"Zach Bryan."
Oh. I know that name. My old friend, Sky, sent me a song long ago by a singer who, as it turns out, is on the one song I know by him.
Tennessee is a fan and tells me Zach is the shit. So, yea, ok, I like this song, but it is a bit too commercial for me to have posted it here. It is like a lot of things, like "back in the day" when I was a closet Prince fan. I just couldn't let anyone know.
I've tried listening to some of Bryan's other music, though, and it isn't making my play list. I would probably listen to it if I were driving through the west on some lonesome road, windows down, doing a hundred miles an hour, music blaring. Country music sounds pretty good at times.
I've been listening to a freakish, drug trip, Dog Patch Ellie May version of a musician, Sierra Ferrell. Do a search on YouTube. She has one of the best voices in America, I think, if you like that West Virginia hillbilly sound. It reminds me quite a bit of Dolly Parton's, and she's even more outrageous.
But. . . she scares me a bit the way a clown gives children nightmares. And it is true. I spent much of last night watching her video performances. I stayed up too late, then dreamed her weirdness furiously all night long. I'm beat this morning and will definitely need a nap. . . but we'll get to that.
Here's one of her Tiny Desk concerts and a Wiki description of her life.
Sierra Ferrell was born in West Virginia. After her parents divorced when she was around 5 years old, she lived with her mother and one of her two siblings in a trailer. This led to her spending less time with electronics and more time exploring outside. Despite her home state's deep-rooted history in bluegrass music, Ferrell instead grew up listening to 90s music of various genres, listening to and taking interest in cassette tapes of 10,000 Maniacs and Tracy Chapman that her mother owned.
Ferrell's musical journey began in childhood, playing clarinet and singing choir in school, eventually learning to play guitar and even once, performing Shania Twain covers at a local bar. In her teens, she joined a Grateful Dead cover group as a vocalist, but after feeling constrained creatively, she departed the band to independently pursue her musical aspirations.
In her early twenties, she adopted a nomadic lifestyle, hitch-hiking, freighthopping, and living in her van, with the majority of her time spent busking between Seattle and New Orleans. By this point, Ferrell had turned her attention towards playing folk music and its various offshoots, with fellow busking group Yes Ma'am making a particular impression on her musical style.
It was also during this time that Ferrell was also in the throes of drug addiction stemming from her wayfaring way of life, claiming to have died "five times" from narcotics overdoses. After these experiences, she decided to get clean and change her lifestyle in favor of improved health and positive relationships.
I like the whole Tiny Desk concert, but the second song is my favorite, so I made a copy of it for you if that's all you want to hear.
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