Jingle-janglin gypsy tornado Sierra Ferrell and band lit up the stage at The Forum in Melbourne on Thursday night. Performing an almost two hour show, one of only two headline appearances as part of her six-date tour A Day On The Green tour with Teskey Brothers and Band Of Horses.
Opening with a fiddle-heavy “I Could Drive You Crazy”, from her latest release, and 4th Place International Album in Rhythms readers poll, ‘Trail of Flowers‘. The set drew heavily from ‘Trail of Flowers’ with a brilliant run of “American Dreaming”, “Fox Hunt”, into “Dollar Bill Bar” towards the end of the main set. Highlights from her previous album ‘Long Time Coming’, included “Jeremiah”, “The Sea” and a tender “West Virginia Waltz”. The show also included some great covers: Dolly Parton‘s “Here I Am”, Kris Kristofferson‘s “Me and Bobby McGee”, a short run through Slim Dusty‘s “G’day G’day”, and her fantastic version of John Anderson‘s “Years” to open the encore.
Also performed in an acoustic arrangement with Sierra and the band gathered around the center stage mic was “The Garden”. The song first appeared on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes but now, amplified with pedal steel, piano, percussion, and strings, has been released as a single and will appear on the forthcoming deluxe edition of Trail of Flowers. Out digitally via Rounder Records on January 31st, along with its original twelve-song tracklist Trail of Flowers: Deluxe Edition features two new recordings: “The Garden”, as well as Sierra’s take on the classic bluegrass barnburner, “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”. In addition to the digital release, a very limited number of physical deluxe albums will be available on honeydew vinyl.