Life Is a Carnival for Sierra Ferrell & Co.

Sierra Ferrell high res-12.jpg — Sierra Ferrell
Photo: H.N. James

Sierra Ferrell greeted 2023 in a way that was absolutely a delight — no surprise if you’ve been following her over the past year. Trailing prismatic silk from her perch on a hoop some 15 feet above the stage at Brooklyn Bowl, she led the sold-out room in a sing-along of her jaunty fan-favorite tune about persistence, “At the End of the Rainbow.”

Saturday's show, billed as Sierra Ferrell’s New Year's Eve Circus Extravaganza, put an exclamation point on a banner year for Ferrell. The roots-schooled, stylistically omnivorous singer-songwriter — born in West Virginia, widely traveled and now living in Nashville — and her band wowed crowds across the country in a long run of tour dates following Long Time Coming, her stellar 2021 LP that marked her debut for Rounder Records. As she explained to Scene contributor Brittney McKenna, it was a big year of growth, which included taking home the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year trophy. What better way to set the scene for the next phase than to add spellbinding feats of strength and skill to her already dynamic stage show?

Resonant Rogues high res-1.jpg — The Resonant Rogues
Photo: H.N. James

Fans were still streaming into the venue shortly after 9 p.m., buying drinks and finding spots to the danceable sounds of The Resonant Rogues. The North Carolina group, anchored around married couple Sparrow and Keith Smith, has toured extensively with Ferrell and recently finished a new LP in Nashville with producer-engineer Andrija Tokic at The Bomb Shelter. Like Ferrell, a sizable portion of the Rogues’ sound comes from string-band traditions, but there are many more ingredients in the stew. The band is far from anything you’d call reserved, but they found another gear when Sparrow Smith traded out her banjo for an accordion and the influences of Eastern European and Balkan folk music (and Django Reinhardt and his associates’ jazzy takes on them) came to the fore.

Sierra Ferrell high res-18.jpg — Sierra Ferrell
Photo: H.N. James

During the changeover, it was interesting to note that Ferrell’s band was set up to take only half the stage. The rest, as it turned out, was reserved for an array of variety performers who put on acts neatly integrated into or cleverly accompanying the songs. Ferrell herself took part in one to open the set; while performing “Why’d Ya Do It,” a lively tango from Long Time Coming, she and the evening’s emcee Clay Mazing reprised the passionate dance they did in the music video (with some whip tricks added, because why not). Among the other highlights were Tanya Pioneer’s aerial routine on a saddle during “Made Like That,” Coney Island’s own Wendy Blades demonstrating her sword-swallowing abilities and Leila Noone landing a bullseye on Clay Mazing’s giant cardboard heart — using a bow and arrow that she shot with her feet — while Ferrell & Co. played “Far Away Across the Sea.”

Sierra Ferrell high res-25.jpg — Sierra Ferrell
Photo: H.N. James

While the circus portion of the gig was sensational, the music was by no means secondary. Ferrell and the core of her band — fiddler Josie Toney, mandolinist Joshua Rilko and bassist Geoff Saunders — are a well-oiled machine. Ferrell’s stage presence makes pretty much any show feel like a house party to remember, with an inclusive vibe and joie de vivre to spare. There were old songs, as-yet-unreleased songs, a levitation routine leading into “Auld Lang Syne” and Clay Mazing’s dramatic rendering of Edward Lear’s poem “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” featuring cast members plucked from the audience. It hardly felt like two hours had gone by when the show wrapped with all the performers onstage for a sing-along rendition of “Goodnight, Irene.”

Near the end of the show, Ferrell told the audience that her wireless mic was bugging her a bit, saying, “Please, somebody ask Justin Bieber how the hell you sing with one of these.” Not that you could tell from her phenomenal, wide-ranging vocal performance that anything was wrong, but it’s worth noting that the mic was among the newest gear involved in the production — no projection mapping or LED walls here. Cutting-edge techniques can be deployed to fantastically creative effect, but it’s never the tools by themselves that make the show one you’re going to talk about for weeks to come; it’s always the artist who’s using them.