A few songs into Sierra Ferrell’s mesmerizing two-hour set at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO, Thursday night, my 15-year-old daughter turned to me and asked, surely loud enough that people for rows around could hear, “Should I learn the mandolin?”

I’ll admit I shushed her, and then whispered, “Yes, definitely.”

After an obsessive Nirvana and Deftones phase, for the last year she’s been deep into country music back to the Carter Family and knows that the pop-country and bro-country on the radio are about as country as Poison was a metal band or Olivia Rodrigo is a punk artist. She also adores West Virginia native Sierra Ferrell, a creative, siren-voiced singer-songwriter who has collaborated with everyone from Post Malone and Billy Strings to Denver’s own honky-tonk hero Casey Prestwood while distilling her own blend of Grammy-winning progressive-country.

Related: Billy Strings & Sierra Ferrell Ride Horses, Cover Cher In Montana [Photos/Videos]

The 7:30 p.m. sunset performance by Greenville, SC’s Nikki Lane hit a similar mark, too, juxtaposing genuine country music—from way back when Leo Fender was running on stage, handing homemade electric guitars to western-swing players to get more volume—with the raucous, ornery attitude of The Kinks and The Stones. In flowing cowgirl clothes and tattoos, Lane led her band (joined by an adorable, mullet-haired little boy named Cecil who played a toy guitar and couldn’t have been more than four) through songs like “Jackpot” and “700,000 Rednecks” that lent downright cruel, Link Wray-style distortion and a devilish edge to honky-tonk rock ‘n’ roll. The result made much of what it harkened to—like Emmylou Harris’ immortal “Ain’t Living Long Like This”—sound quaint and innocent.

“It’s gonna be a badass party,” commented Lane, who said playing a late-summer show at Red Rocks had her “tickled pink.” She brought the high-flying Nashville barroom energy, with Denver in the distance and rainbows having dazzled concertgoers on the way to Morrison. However, the moment Ferrell took the stage—in a massive skunk dress/costume, flanked by incredible musicians in Nudie suits, all given their own private, glowing mushroom-castle stations—and started singing “I Could Drive You Crazy”, we were transported way beyond Nashville, beyond America, maybe beyond planet Earth; where Rainbow Brite is a former busking, train-hopping country singer trying to make things right with positive vibes and heavenly singing.

It was dark by the time Ferrell walked on, but the four stars on her guitar strap—matching the stars on her all-male backing band’s black suits—lit up the cloudy sky almost as much as her transporting voice, calling to mind the four Grammys she won earlier this year with her fourth album, Trail of Flowers. She initially played fiddle at her own mushroom station, nodding to the Carter Family with “I Could Drive You Crazy”. The slow-burning opener showcased her voice, which she projects with such force that it appears almost disembodied when you are just a few feet away from her, giving the impression she could sing effectively to the last row of Red Rocks without amplification.

Sierra Ferrell — “I Could Drive You Crazy”, “I’ll Come Off the Mountain”, “Silver Dollar” — 8/28/25

“What an honor to be here at Red Rocks,” Sierra Ferrell said before thanking Lane, who she described as having “been there for me more than anyone I’ve actually known in existence.”

Ferrell’s old-time fiddle melodies threaded together numerous songs in her 24-track set. Still, she’s so adept at diversifying her music with touches of old-America darkness that at times musicality, moxie, and authenticity merged to make her seem somewhere between Patsy Cline, Annie Oakley, and Joanna Newsom.

“These are all my favorite songs,” my daughter told me at one point, having worried on the way that Ferrell might not deliver the best of her menu of mostly originals. She did, and brought spontaneous personality as dessert, too.

With a touch of The Devil Makes Three in her murder ballad “Rosemary”, from Trail of Flowers, Ferrell stunned solo and added to the lyric “Nothing lasts forever in today’s world / Though it seems / When there’s so much evil” by quipping “Evil just like every single one of our leaders! We haven’t had a good leader even one time!”

Having learned from her previously meandering life of hitchhiking and from the lives of burning Roman candles like Janis Joplin, the 37-year-old Sierra Ferrell is now California sober, and asserted several times that she loved the incessant waft of pot smoke at Red Rocks.

“This place smells in the best way possible.”

She also threw in world-wise musings here and there.

“I really like God and I love Jesus, but I don’t like a lot of the things people do in the name of God and Jesus,” she said, urging people, “Make sure you love yourself and believe in yourself.”

Lane joined Ferrell late in her set for Dottie West‘s “Lesson In Leavin’”, wearing a moon costume to complement the tasseled, shining-silver-star outfit Ferrell had emerged in after a two-song detour in which her band covered Neil Young and Webb Pierce while she changed offstage. Ferrell banged on a huge bass drum with “Heavy Petal Music” written on it to lead her blazing band into the barnburning set closer “Fox Hunt” before channeling Janis Joplin on “Me and Bobby McGee”, beginning an encore that concluded with an “In Dreams” sing-along that had my kid beaming.

Sierra Ferrell, Nikki Lane — “Lesson In Leavin'” (Randy Goodrum, Brent Maher) — 8/28/25

[Video: Loma Deren]

This is an artist who’s changed her life for the better and is changing country music for the better, “a hunter just tryna survive,” and the best news is that because of that self-love, she’s got a long career ahead.

Sierra Ferrell has headlining dates throughout the Eastern United States scheduled through mid-September, after which she’ll link up with Mumford & Sons for a run of supporting appearances. Find tickets and tour dates here.

Sierra Ferrell — “Rosemary” — 8/28/25

[Video: Jibber131]

Sierra Ferrell — “Kickin’ Up Dust” — 8/28/25

[Video: Alexis B]

Sierra Ferrell — “Dollar Bill Bar” — 8/28/25

[Video: Jim Guess]

Setlist: Sierra Ferrell | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 8/28/25

Set: I Could Drive You Crazy, I’ll Come Off the Mountain, Silver Dollar, Bells of Every Chapel, West Virginia Waltz, Jeremiah, Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County (Arthur Smith Trio), Money Train, Rosemary, Lighthouse, Blue Virginia Blue (Larry Sparks), Love Is a Rose (Neil Young), Honky Tonk Song (Webb Pierce), American Dreaming, Far Away Across the Sea, Why Haven’t You Loved Me Yet, Why’d Ya Do It, Kickin’ Up Dust, Years (John Anderson), Lesson in Leavin’ (Randy Goodrum, Brent Maher) [1], Dollar Bill Bar, Fox Hunt
Encore: Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson), In Dreams

[1] w/ Nikki Lane