Sierra Ferrell Calls For Artists That Are Touring To Be Given Access To Healthcare & Therapy

Sierra Ferrell has lived enough of the artist’s life to know that the system could use some critiquing.

The artist that’s managed to pull together blues, roots, bluegrass, Americana and country all into one, beautiful melting pot sat down with John Mayer on his How’s Life with John Mayer SiriusXM show to discuss anything and everything about her career. The topic mainly revolved around how much of a whirlwind things have been ever since she released Trail of Flowers in the spring of 2024.

After her debut record Long Time Coming stunned the music community (in a good way), her highly anticipated sophomore record lived up to the hype. Ferrell’s Trail of Flowers earned Grammy nominations for Best Americana Album, Best Americana Performance (“American Dreaming”), Best American Roots Song (“American Dreaming”), and Best American Roots Performance (“Lighthouse”).

She won all four of those Grammys.

Obviously, that’s a stellar accomplishment… but it has thrust her into the spotlight a bit more. Ferrell told John Mayer that she naturally feels more pressure at this point in her career, and that’s been hard to adjust to:

“Since I’ve become more under a microscope, it does feel like there is more pressure. I used to love myself more the way I am, but I find myself being in such an environment where people are judging you on how you look or taking pictures of you and then you’re like, ‘Oh I really don’t like the way I look in that angle.'”

Ferrell even shared that she breaks out in a rash every time she’s in too much of a stressful situation, and that she’s unfortunately had that health issue pop up a number of times in the past couple of years.

The “Dollar Bill Bar” singer says most of the stress comes from the never ending cycle of being an artist:

“I feel like it’s hard for an artist to just exist. We’re either working at our craft with songwriting or we’re touring. At least that’s where I’m at.”

Sierra Ferrell might have won four Grammys, but it’s not like she was able to go away forever and sit with those four trophies. The machine kept churning, and as many other artists do, she felt as though it was an obligation to get back on the ride and keep things moving.

But she feels as though the music industry should be providing more incentives to artists if they are going to push this quality of life on them:

“As a musician, we feel like it’s our duty (to tour). It’s hard to explain… we are consistently and constantly having to live in the future. That’s not right or fair. Second off, we were talking about how artists don’t talk about this stuff, or when they do, they’re not being heard.

If you think about it, the people who are projecting that into that realm of having to tour a lot, they should be finding systems for us to have a moment for us to breathe. They need to have a good health system for us to talk to people about it.”

Translation: Give the artists some health care and access to therapy.

Of course, that begs the question, or a few questions… who is the “they” that should be finding these systems? Obviously, the most successful artists have enough wealth to access the best mental health resources in the world. So, where do we draw the line on who gets what and who doesn’t? Are we talking about labels providing those services for their artists? What if you’re independent? What if you’re on a label, but super rich and can afford your own therapy?

It’s safe to say that touring musicians should absolutely receive the mental healthcare that they need, but if you’re an indie artist, which accounts for a LARGE chunk of the industry, there’s no label to pick up the tab. You’re on your own. And if you are on your own, you’re probably the kind of road warrior that could use it the most. You can’t afford to take a mental health break. It’s certainly a tough situation.

Ferrell went on to mention that, while she was sitting down for the interview, she was supposed to be off from music for a month or so. But she couldn’t turn her brain off, and had wrote five songs in the period that was intended to be a reset for her:

“I’m supposed to be off this month. Somehow, I’ve written half of my album. And I was supposed to go home and relax. So I get home and I’m just hanging out, and then all of the sudden I’m writing with my friends. We wrote what feels like the next ‘American Dreaming’ to me. But I’m not giving myself permission to rest.”

Next “American Dreaming?” That’s exciting… but obviously it’s coming at a cost for Sierra Ferrell.

You can check out the trailer for the How’s Life with John Mayer episode below (you’ll need SiriusXM to access the full interview):

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