Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 196: Sierra Hull

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

A special reminder from our dear friend, Caleb Hawley to start the show. Then we get updates from the road in which the band chimes in periodically. Don't worry- it was NOT gout, afterall. But more importantly, on the Interview Hour, we welcome a virtuosic and generally, sparkly person: Sierra Hull! Mr Frasco gets inspired, so why not listen in and drink from the well of artistic insight along with us? Oh, and Dolav has feelings... SPORTS related feelings. New album is done AND we're out on the road with our buddies, Little Stranger?? Don't forget to catch the band in a town near you: andyfrasco.com/tour Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy Frasco & The U.N. (Feat Little Stranger)'s new song, "Oh, What A Life" on iTunes, Spotify  Catch Sierra in a town near you!  sierrahull.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Caleb Hawley Dolav Cohen Arno Bakker

And now, a message from Caleb Hawley. Don't you want somebody to lighten your load? Don't you want somebody to think of you when you're away? Don't you want somebody, somebody like me? Don't you want somebody to make all your favorite shows with you? Don't you want somebody, somebody like me? And as the world keeps spinning, we'll keep living by each other's side Until we pass on through this life It's you and I, it's you and I

Until we pass on through this life It's you and I, yeah Yeah Alright, and we're back Andy Frasco's World of Saving Podcast I'm Andy Frasco How's our heads doing? How's our minds? Are we staying out of trouble With The darkness that is our fucking anxiety.

Jesus. Some days you wake up and it's just, it's like anxiety. It's like, hey, remember Miho? Oh yeah, I'm still in your life. Even when you're feeling good, just, ah, it's like a wet blanket. It's like a nasty, nasty blanket. But we're here, we're still thriving We're still having a good time

Feeling good How's everyone going? This tour has been fucking amazing I got a shout out to everyone coming out Shout out Biggest turnout we ever had As a headliner I'd like to thank

Little Stranger for Helping with that for sure But I'd like to thank Lil Stranger for helping with that for sure. But I'd like to thank you guys. You guys have been coming out. I was worried. It's a weird time right now to be in a band. And you guys are showing up and you're kicking ass

and you're being there for us 110%. And it makes us work harder. It makes us want to get better as musicians. It makes us want to get better as people. And it makes us want to get better as just doing this thing collectively. Because when we feel your energy, we feel that shit heavy. So shout out to the fans.

Shout out to the fans. Shout out to the fans. This is the podcast We've had quadruple the downloads This last month I don't know what's happening Maybe I'm getting better at interviewing Or maybe one not

Or the guests are badass But yeah shout out to all the new listeners Hey I see the numbers I'm like holy shit what is going on So welcome to the family Welcome to the world-saving family. A lot of big things have happened. We're in the process of all this great stuff.

Our album's done. Let's go. All shout out to that. Let's go. Album's done, baby. Another one. Man, that was a fun process. It was tedious.

It was hard because it was just like working on every day off I had, but we got it done and I'm so fucking proud of it. And we're playing all these new songs from the record and people are freaking out. I'm just like, it revives me. That's what we need in life. Sometimes when we feel like we're in a stalemate, I think that's the right world. But sometimes when we're feeling in this mundane position and just everything seems to be doing, you've been doing the same thing forever or whatever you're doing,

maybe your job is weird as fuck or maybe your relationship boring, just spice it up a little bit, change it up. It's good to change. A lot of people you know this whole idea of the american dream being consistent and being this you know having the nine to five and the white picket fence and watching your dog grow old or kids grow old we forget about ourselves and we need to realize that we need to take care of ourselves. And if we need to change shit up, change the vibe up,

get a new haircut, go blonde. For all my cougars out there, go get that cougar wave, the short hair with the bob. I think they call it a bob. Fuck it, have fun with it. Because we're here for not that long a time in life. And if we can't be comfortable with how we're going to change up our lifestyle if we need it so we could be happy, not think about everyone else for a second and just think about you for a second. Take a deep breath.

Before we get into the other stuff, take a deep breath. Think about everything you do for everyone else. And I just want to applaud you for that because you're so selfless when you give to everyone else. But take a deep breath and realize, what can I do today to make myself happy? Maybe it's a weird, maybe like a hobby. Maybe you've always wanted to learn a language. Go fucking learn a language, even if you quit the next day. At least try. Go learn like what up in French or something and see if you like it.

We got to start thinking about ourselves again. We spend all this time thinking about everyone else that we forget about ourselves. And what does that do to us? Makes us empty when we get older, makes us confused when the shit's going down in our life and we have nowhere to go to. Yes, you do have someone to go to. Go to yourself, go inside your soul. Remember what it was like when you were a kid, not overthinking happiness. So it's so easy to forget how we made ourselves happy when we were a kid, when you throw all this bullshit life brings at you, all these chaos and financial issues and loving everyone else. You got to take a step back and realize, hey, I can't be entertaining everyone all the time. I need to entertain myself sometimes. Speaking of that, I got my own hotel room last

night in DC and I just watched shitty Bravo television. I'm like, damn, I haven't watched this in years, but I used to like it. I used to like trash like that when i was in high school like oh people are fighting i love when people fight and then um i realized that holy my life ain't that bad neither there's they're just dramatic dramatizing it but just everyone needs to take i had to turn off my phone tall my sick i told my significant other, hey, I'm taking the day off. I told my band, don't bother me with no bullshit. I am going to just zonk out. And, you know, the thing that zonks me out, I love watching shitty television. So shout out to shitty television for making me feel better about the day. You know, it's like you got a big two weeks, you know.

I feel bad for the boys. The boys got sick. A little stranger got sick. And what was it? I forgot. They had to cancel a show somewhere. I'm like, oh, shit. We broke these dudes.

We were partying pretty hard for a week. And they were losing their voice. No COVID. So don't worry. Don't tell the COVID police. But yeah, it wasn't COVID. We tested them 100 fucking times. It wasn't COVID.

They just had that old fashioned flu that just, it's just lingering. So, um, they had took care of themselves. They got some sleep and boom, we back. And I'm excited that they're back because tomorrow we play in Philadelphia, their hometown, and maybe the Phillies will win the world series. I don't know when I record this, they haven't won the World Series yet, so don't tell me who won. Or you could tell me on Tuesday when this comes out, but it's been a wild one.

Then our van started leaking. We put bunk beds in it, and our homie, God bless him, Marv. Shout out to Marv. Mayor Marv from St. Louis. The best. Takes care of us like his adopted alcoholic sons. And he put bunk beds in it, and we forgot to put a the best. Takes care of us like his adopted alcoholic sons. And he put bunk beds

in it and we forgot to put a couple ceilings back and it just started leaking. And it looked like El Nino up in this van for a little bit. But we got it all figured out. And Bo has been so good about just, you know, we call him Fireman Bo because

you never know what's going to happen on this road. You know, you feel like you could have everything organized, have everything popping, and then bam, someone gets an STD. No, I'm just kidding. But bam, fucking flood, flooding the van. Bam, tires blow out. Bam, you know, it's just like that's the beautiful thing about life that all this stuff is so unexpected.

So going back to what I was saying, if you count on things just going haywire and you count on things going, you know, shit, then the days that you get to yourself, go fucking take it. Go enjoy it. Oh, Floyd's here. Actually, get over here, Floyd.

Ladies and gentlemen, Floyd's back in the band. He gets to pick and choose when he wants to be here.'re sitting here to the mic what you get to pick and choose when you want to be in this band what's up yeah what songs you want to do today coming up it's gonna be gimme gimme gimme one more shot um what are you doing gimme gimme gimme what are you doing? Gimme gimme gimme What are you texting? You're on the show Yes That was Halloween It was good What'd you do?

I really liked it I dressed in some tights For my son How close do we have to be? I want you to sit close No, this is the closest ever I haven't seen you I haven't touched you

I haven't looked at you During an interview This is a little This is above my pay grade. So what's the island like on Halloween? Is everyone like, do they give good? Because it's a really rich island. They better be giving full-size candy bars.

The year-round community is not like this wealthy. They're not like passing out $100 bills or something. No, they're not. That's why you dressed up. I know that's what you think. I do. I think they're giving out hundreds and why you dressed up. I know that's what you think. I do. I think they're giving out hundreds and fucking king size Mars bars and shit. Yup.

Just full size candy bars. Are you ready to be on good behavior this tour? No gout. I don't know what that means. I can't have you have gout at the end of the tour. I didn't have gout. All right. Explain to the audience what it was.

The results are in. I don't have gout. Let's go. to the audience what it was. The results are in. I don't have gout. Let's go. Yeah, there we go. That's the button. That's the button. You didn't have gout? You just got your foot stepped on?

This is all self-diagnosed. Okay. You know? Okay, so I looked at it on the plane ride back from Europe. Yeah. And I was like, my foot was like, I was hobbling through the airport. And then I bought internet on the plane so I could look up what was going on with my toe. So you got nervous, you had like toe cancer?

Yes, yes. Yeah, totally. But I convinced myself I had gout. Yeah. Because that's easy to do. You can convince yourself you're dying if you had gout. Yeah. Because that's easy to do. You can convince yourself you're dying if you look up that. Yeah. Well, your diet is what gout gives you.

You drink beer and you eat processed meats. Yeah, there's processed meats in every dressing room there. Yeah. Oh, you're not going to blame the beer. You're in denial about the beer. No, not really. Why? Because that was just

the regular status quo with that, but I ate a lot more processed meat than ever. All the different prosciuttos and all that. Do you believe this bullshit, Sean? Do you think he didn't have gout? I mean, you know, when you

self-diagnose on WebMD and you just talk and you call your friends that are nurses or know doctors and then you start deducing what your real diagnosis is, there's a chance that the gout might have been real. I'm just saying. I was like, did you go to a doctor? He's like, no, but I looked some stuff up. Now you're doing research. There's certain people who do research and get conspiracy theories going on.

You're just doing your own research on Facebook now. I i'm glad it cleared up let's just say i'm glad it cleared up fair who knows i think you know but i i'm not without it there's not it's not gout without a doubt the day i left the day i left hello like literally the next day got better literally the next day. And then I looked it up again. And I looked it up and it was like, it's more in your back part of your toe.

And this was like up my front part of my toe. You're allergic to rock and roll. Only indie hip bands. That's what you're into. So you looked it up. So the day you got home, that must be saying something. It got better. Maybe you're, maybe your body's telling you not to fuck. All right. All right. Thank you. Later. Later. Thanks. I don't have gout. Thanks everyone. Thanks for all the well wishes and everything on social media. Welcome back.

All the cards. Welcome back. Welcome back later Later. Later. Well, the verdict's out. Floyd doesn't have gout. He's back on the road. He dressed up as a Minecraft. I didn't even know his old ass knew what Minecraft was. But that happened. So shout out to Floyd. He's back in the band.

Shout out to Chris. Chris is a fucking trooper. We put that man through the ringer. He never knows what date. The guy who edits our podcast, Chris Lorenz, he's also our bass player. We put him through the ringer because he never knows when he's going to play until the last minute

until Floyd's like, oh, I got to take my kid out to trick-or-treating so I can't make the first week. I'm like, all right, thanks. So shout out to Chris for always stepping up to the plate. Shout out to this band for, you know, we're working hard. We're still partying a little bit. We're partying a little less, but I'm happy for Sean. Sean stopped drinking. He stopped drinking for a month and I'm like, damn, what's up? I'm like, this is a new man. We're it's, it's amazing when you take a step back from just boozing hard and you could actually,

when you wake up, you actually have energy in the morning and we get shit done. And we're like working on new songs, we're working on new teasers. I'm like, God, we are like adults now. It's pretty wild. And I could feel it. The crowd is all responding hella crazy to all the new stuff we're doing because we're putting the time and effort. So that's going back to my final thing before we get Sierra Hall on the show. By the way, Sierra Hall, wow. What an artist. What an artist. I'll tell you about that later. She's on tour with Corey Wong right now. So we wanted to get her on the show, get her episode in to help promote the Corey Wong show. But what an artist. But going back to what I'm saying, when you feel like you're getting burnt out, feel like you're having a hard time with

whatever life is throwing at you, take a step back and realize what are the things that are going to make me hot meat to recharge me? Because the shittiness is always going to be around. The hard times of life, we get older and it seems like life gets harder and harder and harder. So we have to take a step back and realize what am I gonna do to recharge the batteries and I feel it into myself you know it's like you have to you could preach all you want but unless you do the work you're a hypocrite and I felt like the last couple months I was just like yeah telling everyone follow their dreams and get out there and do something about it and I I was I was doing it but I wasn't really taking care of

myself in the last month or so. I've been really taking care of myself and just shows I'm like, feel my energy levels better. My sadness is contained a lot more than it used to be. I'm feeling better. So, um, I'm a shout out to, um, one more time, shout out to Finding Inner Peace and finding out ways to take care of yourself. Speaking of finding inner ways, I'm finally back in America and I'm finally getting that dialed in gummies fix. Yes, dialed in gummies. Straight out of Colorado. I just started talking with Keith today. Shout out to Keith.

He had code for two weeks. He's back now. He's back in my life. I missed you, buddy. He's back now. He's back in my life. I missed you, buddy. World Saving Podcast is doing an artist collab with Dialed In Gummies.

Dialed In Gummies are rosin gummies. Yes, that pure, that pure, pure of the weed game. Nick has a better pitch on what that thing's called when every bite has a perfect amount of dosage in it.

Imogeny? Maybe that's it. They don't fuck around. They're good, and they're good for your brain. They're good for your health. Don't eat too many of them. They're strong as fuck. I normally take a half a cup, like a half a bite of it.

But we're out here deep in these streets, so go out there and get some dialed in gummies when you can hey Andy's here Andy come over here Andy Alva are you taking a video I wish I saw your camera I found 30 drum keys

in my backpack so I came to put them in my case because they're doing a real good job hanging out in my backpack so do you just buy them and put them in your backpack I keep buying them and then I keep collecting them and they're just in my backpack. So do you just buy them and then put them in your backpack? I buy them, I keep buying them, and then I keep collecting them, and they're just in my backpack. And today I was cleaning my shit out

because we had a day off and I was like, here they are. Usually I can never, I never have a drum key when I need it. I know, I think we've been to Guitar Center 50 times for the drum keys. I'm buying drum keys. See look, they're supposed to go on here, and you can notice there's not one in there because I always take it out.

Let's go. How's the tour? You I always take it out. Let's go. How's the tour? Do you have fun? Fuck yeah. It's killing. Yeah. We're killing. We're killing it.

Yeah, I love it. The next few shows are going to be killing, too. Yeah, it'll be destroying. Yeah, it's going to be great. And people are loving the new songs. New songs are killing. Yeah. I thought they were going to be harder to recreate than we did in the studio. Last album was harder to recreate these songs.

I feel like it was, but I think it's because, I don't know we were we know each other we know each other and like we were all part of the process last year we weren't really part of the line in some people were flying in some people weren't we were doing stuff remotely and we're taking more seriously yeah so yeah last year like i think we were just like let's put this out so we like did it and then we didn't really rehearse something i feel like this time you're getting into the new songs a little earlier than you did the last album. Yeah, true. Because of the quarantine and all that.

True, true, true. So you got your lady coming into New York? Yeah, she's flying into New York. What are you guys going to do? I don't know. Try not to spend too much money. Wow. It's expensive.

You always pick the most expensive places to bring your girlfriend. I sit there for like a week, and every day I look at hotels and figure out which one's the best one for the money. I'm really good at that shit. If it's too expensive, you could stay in the band house. Well, actually, I don't know if I want to stay in the band house. Yeah, you got to make love.

Well, yeah. And then I looked at the itinerary and each room has two beds in it. So I'm sharing with somebody if I stay there. That's what I was saying. Yeah. Where do you go? I got to get my own hotel room too yeah good luck i know it's expensive i'm gonna have to sleep on my friend's floor about to make love on the floor of my friend's house hell yeah i think they might uh sell tickets for that all right go ahead and go bye goodbye andy avalese

what a star-studded event you're getting everyone today today, guys. I was going to do this one solo, and the boys, we're in the green room today. Okay, so I talked about Dialed and Gummies. We have shows. Let me promote the shows that we have this week. Wednesday, we are in Burlington, Vermont. I love Burlington. We sold out Vermont at the Zen Barn

last time. It was fucking awesome. Vermont fucks. I'm really excited for that. So Burlington, Vermont on Wednesday. Thursday, we're coming back to Portland, Maine. I haven't been back to Portland, Maine in a long time. I used to have this old fling there. And now every time I see Portland, Maine on the calendar, I'm like, I just think of that. And it was very wild time in my life. It was very just ups and downs, toxic as hell, but I had a great time. Okay, then we're back for the 20th time this year, Rochester, New York on Friday.

I'm very excited. You know, Buffalo, Rochester, you guys are starting to become our biggest fan bases we've ever had, and holy shit I always like I try to detox like at least three or four days before I head to Rochester or Buffalo because I know

I'll be jumping through a fucking table and throwing up outside of a fucking trash can or what do they call it big dumpster okay then Saturday we're in Albany, New York. And then Sunday, we're in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Big ass weekend coming up, so drink your water, boys.

I hope you do. That's it. All right. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Sports with Dola. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Dola.

This week, we're going to be talking fucking sports. All of the sports, all at once. It's going down. I know, Andy, all your fans aren't really sports fans, but some of them are. And it's the Sports Equinox. Last week, we had what's only happened maybe 30 times in history. All of the major sports, all in one day. All at once.

Basketball, basketball, baseball, playoff, Thursday night football, football. Fucking, what's the other one? Fucking hockey. Epic shit. Let's fucking go. Shout out to Little Stranger. Phillies in the fucking World Series. Let's go. By the time you listen to this, they'll probably have already won it.

So shout out to them. Basketball's back, baby. All the fantasy leagues are back. I'm crushing it. I'm in first place in most of my football league. I co-managed one with fucking Frasco's dad, Bruce Bruno. We're in like third place. We're doing all right.

I'm fucking killing it in all my other leagues, but no big deal. Gerlach, I hear you talking shit. Shut up, bitch. Nah, I love you, Gerlach. Basketball's back. And unfortunately for Andy and Laker nation the Lakers I've started this season oh and five by the time we listen this it'll probably be oh and ten Lakers are a dumpster fire Hate that saying dumpster fire, but it's true and my jazz the jazz baby i was so bummed we lost our two stars we lost

rudy we lost donovan mitchell but we fucking don't give a fuck we came to play we're going to the playoffs baby it's sports with dola i'm sorry andy i want to keep, but it's sports with Andy's Lakers. Suck dick. Woo-woo. Sierra Hall. Child prodigy. Plays the mandolin. Used to play the fiddle. Big, big, big star.

She's a star in the making, and people are just catching on, and she's getting so big right now. Talented singer, talented songwriter. Her story about just growing up, she got her first record deal at 13 years old. Hey, Chris, play some Cyril Hall while we pimp her out a little bit. On first record deal at 13,

she had her idol produce it. It's just, it's an inspiring story of, you know, sometimes you get the bad rep, not Sierra, but like, you know, when your childhood start, you become an asshole. When you get old in your life, you get jaded and stuff, but Sierra's just so sweet, so inspiring. It makes me want to be a better and better person as I get older. So you're going to love this interview with Sierra Hull. So ladies and gentlemen, let's start the show. Second time's a charm. Love it. How you doing, Sierra?

I'm doing good. How about you, Andy? Oh, good. Oh, man. By the way, I just want to say thank you so much for watching our show at Sacred Rose. Oh, man. My pleasure. It was a blast.

I know we just, I felt like I was following you for a couple weekends there because we were at Hot August Festival. Right. And I missed you guys there. So I thought, well, I got to catch y'all. Yeah. Weekend two. You can't be two weekends in a row and miss them both.

I know. We need to be friends. Do a row and miss them both. I know. We need to be friends. Do you live in Nashville? Yes. I do. Where are you? I live in Denver, but I'm in Nashville all the time. Denver.

Love it. And I might have to move. I'm in Denver all the time, so. I know. What's the deal with bluegrass in Denver? It's such a thing. It's awesome, man. Colorado's one of my favorite places to come play. It's like such a thing. It's awesome, man. Colorado's one of my favorite places to come play.

It's just, it's so great. The music fans out there, they're just the best. They really know how to listen. You know, they're not there just to like, you know, kind of tune out and party only. You know, they really know how to listen and appreciate the music, but they're fun. They're never a drag to play for. You know, it's just always good energy in the room. And yeah, some of the best for sure.

Especially when your music is, it needs to be like, because you're playing acoustic instruments. When people are talking over it, it's got to be a pain in the fucking ass. It's tough and it's funny, I've done a lot of different styles of music using the mandolin over the years, but even with the DI,

I mean, it only can really get so loud. Right. You know what I mean? It wants to have fun and it wants to be loud and party down, but it sounds its best when it doesn't have to be. Yeah, totally. As do all acoustic instruments and and it's just kind of how it goes. Well, let's talk about your love with the mandolin. When did you start falling in love with it?

Man, I was eight when I got my first mandolin. I got an instrument for Christmas. My older brother was learning to play a little bit because my dad was always into music, but had really started learning to play a little bit. I grew up singing in church, as a lot of people do, and hearing music that way. My mom always had a real natural singing voice, so music was kind of always a thing. Then I lived next door to my great aunt and uncle. My uncle Jr., every time I'd walk in their house, he'd either be playing something like Wildwood Flower on the guitar. He wasn't a virtuosic musician in any way, but he just loved to play.

He'd play like old time fiddle where you don't even put it under your chin. You just play down there. He had a mandolin and he played, but I don't know that he knew that many chords and stuff. He could play little tunes and it was just music around the house. And so he sort of got my dad into learning guitar. My dad borrowed one of his guitars and had it down at our house and started going to some kind of local bluegrass jams.

And I think that's when my dad decided he wanted to learn to play mandolin a little bit himself. So he had just bought a mandolin. He was trying to get my brother into playing guitar. And I have a real distinct memory of being probably, I don't know, seven, almost eight. And my brother sitting there with my dad and dad teaching him a few chords and me kind of thinking, that seems fun. I want to learn to play something too. And I was completely the annoying little sister that wanted to do everything. Cody, my brother did. So I was like, oh, I want to do that too. And my granny and that same great aunt and uncle that I live next door to went in together to buy me a fiddle for Christmas. And my dad had told them, well, she's small, so make sure you get a half size fiddle. Because you see the little kids learning Suzuki or whatever, this little baby

violin. And they didn't really know the difference. They probably found me one at a flea market somewhere and bought it. And it was a full size. And I mean, I could not reach the end of it. So it's just like I couldn't do anything with it and so my dad who had just bought a mandolin you know knew enough about mandolin to say well you know the mandolin and the fiddle are tuned the same same tuning played more like guitar with a flat pick you know you have eight strings instead of four but you kind of think of it like four because they're they're tuned in pairs so he said I could go ahead and show you how to play a tune on the mandolin we We'll get you a smaller fiddle soon. We'll try to find

you a smaller one. But in the meantime, you know, let me show you something. And I'm sure that was just to save my disappointment from not being able to do anything with this Christmas present. You know, it's like, I got this present. I can't even get started on it, really. And so he showed me how to play my first tune on the mandolin just because the fiddle was too big, and I just fell in love with the mandolin, and that became my thing. I eventually got a fiddle, but you wouldn't want to hear me play fiddle now. It's not pretty. Tell me how important Suzuki Method is into learning as a kid. Well, I never actually did anything like that.

I know it's really popular for a lot of folks these days, and I know a lot of people who start with that and then make their way to bluegrass. I think it can be great for a lot of people. I didn't personally have any experience with that. My experience was more like my dad teaching me this tune just totally by ear. I mean, everything I learned early on was very organic in that, you know, somebody would sit in front of me with their instrument

and show me something and I'd watch and I'd listen and I'd learn and I'd try to, you know, kind of copy what they were doing. And at first that was my dad. And then I was lucky. I mean, I grew up here in Tennessee. I live in Nashville now, of course, but like I grew up two hours northeast of here, not too far away, but a very rural part of the state. So like, you know, 900 people. Yeah, we're going to talk about that. Yeah, we're going to talk about that. Yeah, yeah.

Little tiny place. So, you know, there wasn't like a lot of places to go hear professional musicians play, per se. Like it wasn't like any big name artists really came to our town very often. Well, ever really. But there was a lot of like local music and music is really a way of life for a lot of people, you know, around where I grew up. So bluegrass music is really common. And within a 30 minute drive on the weekends, we could go to a couple different jams every weekend. I started doing that with my dad pretty early on.

It was the best education anybody could get for playing music because it was just all these, mostly old dudes who just love the music and would sit in a circle and jam. Yeah. The back rooms of these community centers and then they might have a little stage out front that the local bands would play, I don't know, an hour or so. And then another local band might get up and play. And if you lived in the community, you could come out and grab a hot dog or a hamburger and enjoy some local music. But it was very chill. And I remember being eight or so and having just barely been playing

a couple months and those people welcoming me into those circles and even being like honey why don't you get up and play with us and i didn't know anything i'm just standing in the back at eight years old you know trying just i so young i know but they were that they were i know i know it's insane but that's sort, that's the beauty of growing up in the bluegrass community, you know, is that you, you really are welcomed, uh, in this beautiful way because people, the people in the audience half the time are also musicians, you know, it's like people, it's just one big, big community of people that really love to play the music as much as they love to listen to it. And it's a pretty cool thing cool thing to be brought up in that as a youngster.

You think of like the Jacksons, the Partridge families. You put out a record when you're eight years old, right? Did I hear that correctly? Well, I was 10. I had been not too much longer, but so I started playing at eight and then within a couple of years, I had been learning all these what we think of as traditional tunes.

Bluegrass isn't even really that old of a style of music. It really kind of got going in the 40s. But there's this kind of catalog from the music of, say, Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, people like that, that we sort of think of as all the traditional repertoire that people play and jam. So, I mean, I was learning all these, you know, we call them fiddle tunes, regardless of what instruments are played on, but these fiddle tunes on the mandolin. And so, I mean, I knew a bunch of those. And at some point, you know, a couple of years after playing, I got together with some of the local players that I

had been jamming with and made just a little CD. I mean, nothing to really write home about, but it was a great experience to just be able to go in and record 10 or 12 of those songs with some of these players. Now as a virtuoso, have you listened back to your records when you made when you were 10. i haven't heard that in so long i haven't heard it so long i'm not even sure what i'd think about it now i mean you know i know are you saying i was singing back then but not on that recording but i do have some like you know old tapes and vhs things of my brother and i would sing a lot in church and stuff early on before we

were even playing bluegrass at all. So, you know, there's definitely some of that out there in the old family collection somewhere. What was the dynamic of your family? Like, were they pushing you to do this as a business? Or was it more like recreationally, like an athlete? Yeah, it's funny. It's like, in a way, my parents are like the opposite of, you know, stage parents. It's like, you know, my dad, my dad played and started learning to play a little bit because he just enjoyed it, but he's kind of shy and wouldn't really want to be on a stage, you know, would never be trying to be the loudest person in the room or anything like that.

But it was pretty much once he realized that I really loved it and that I had, you know, some talent to do it. It's like he started kind of investing his time and energy into both me and my brother trying to help us get better and help us learn. get better and help us learn. And so, you know, at one point, my dad learned to play bass out of necessity, kind of because, you know, my brother was playing a little bit guitar, and I was playing mandolin. So dad's like, well, I'll learn to play bass a little bit. So we can play together. And so it was just a thing for fun. But it's one of those deals where, you know, looking back now, as an adult, you think, you know, how I still have friends I still have friends my age that still are not quite sure what they really want to do with their life or career. They're still sort of figuring it out, and that's totally fine. But a lot of people spend years and years and years trying to figure out what they want to do.

And for me, I pretty much knew I wanted to play music. I mean, it wasn't too long after I started playing mandolin. It's like I always sang and music, like I said, was part of my world with my family and just church everybody from my granny to my aunt to mom to whoever sang. But they weren't trying to be performers. They weren't trying to stand on a stage and do it or record or do anything like that it's just music was kind of part of our world but once bluegrass kind of came in the picture and you know playing mandolin became like a part of me it it didn't take me long at all i mean i i know probably

it might have even been before i turned nine years old but it was clear to me, this is what I want to do with my life. So, yeah, my parents never pushed me, you know, to do it. Like, it wasn't that they wanted me to do it, but I think they knew I really wanted it. I fell in love with it so deeply that then they gave me kind of the necessary reality checks that went with it. You know, I know my dad would push me sometimes, maybe even more than my brother, because my brother was always into other it. I know my dad would push me sometimes, maybe even more than my brother, because my brother was always into other stuff. I mean, he loved music and still does, but he never quite wanted it for a career the way that I knew I did early on. So my brother played baseball and did other things, and music was very much what my world was built around. And so I remember my dad

saying stuff like, Alison Krauss was my biggest hero ever as a kid. And I remember him saying, well, Sierra, you've been a little lazy lately. You've not been practicing that much. You know what's going to happen one of these days? Alison Krauss is going to call you to come play with her and you're not going to be ready. He was mind-fucking you.

He's like Michael Jordan's dad. You better start practicing, Sierra. I mean, yeah, he's like Michael Jordan's dad. Like you better start practicing this year. I mean, yeah, he was very real with me. I mean, I, even to the point where I remember,

you know, so, so it cracks me up sometimes when I see parents be a little like overly gung ho about like excited about their kid. It's like, you know, I get it. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a talented kid,

like whether it's music or something else. But I'm also like, I don't know, I'm always kind of like, oh, be careful. Don't overly praise. Make sure that you keep them knowing that it's a lot. You got to put the work in. There's a lot of work to be done. And I remember being like 10 years old and my dad was being so real with me. And I knew they were proud of me. It wasn't a matter of that. But they weren't like always overly praising me about it. It was kind of like, well, that was good. But you should work on this. That was good. But hey,

you still got a lot of work to do over here, you know. And I remember my dad saying something to me, like, when I was about 10 years old, he said, you know, the truth is, he said, you've been playing long enough now, you know, tons of is, he said, you've been playing long enough now, you know, tons of these fiddle tunes, you know, a lot of the repertoire, if you want to go jam and play music with people, you could probably not learn anything else and have fun with it for the rest of your life. Like you can improvise a little bit, you can go hear a song and maybe kind of play a little bit, you know, even if you don't know it and sit in a circle and have fun with people till you're an old lady but if you really want this as your career like you say you do you've got a lot of work to do because right now

you're 10 years old and you're cute and everybody gathers around and you go to play something and say wow look at that look at that little. She sure can play that mandolin. Oh, I love it. But he goes, and that's great. And if you just want to do it for fun, you don't really have to work that much harder. You can go do other things. You can do whatever. But if you really want it, like you say you do, you can't wake up someday and be 16, a 16 or 18- or 18 year old playing like a 10 year old, that cute thing's going to wear off. Yeah, you're going to have acne. And people aren't going to care anymore.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So people aren't going to care anymore. So when you're 25, you need to sound like somebody who's been playing and performing since they were eight and that they've worked hard to still sound good. And when you're 50, you need to sound like you've been working at it all those years if you really want to have impact with it. So it was good advice for sure.

Living in a town like a rural, poor city where people basically don't believe in dreams, they like to live simply, how did you break through that mind state to say, you know what, I'm more than this? Man, I don't know other than just saying that there was nobody that ever told me I couldn't do it. That's so cool.

I mean, I must say I was only surrounded by loving people who encouraged me, you know? And I think I was lucky too that, you know, I wasn't 18 starting to play and had never had any opportunity yet. It wasn't like I was starting nearing adulthood. I think I was lucky that I started early enough that I was surrounded by people that helped cultivate the thing I really love. Right. of. And then these opportunities came, which therefore I'm sure made other people think, oh, well, if she gets to go play with Alison Krauss and she's like 11, then she must be

able to go do this at some point. And so I think there was a certain amount of, even the opportunities kind of help probably piggyback even more encouragement that came my way. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I'm sure that, that, my, that, that stroke of luck of having those things work out the way they did early on, I'm sure both helped me believe it more and helped other people believe it. But yeah, sometimes I do think it's, it's, you know, I know there's a lot of people that, you know, do the thing that they care nothing about their whole life.

Cause they, you know, feel like that's all that is possible for them. And it does make me sad. I understand the realities and when people have kids or they have families early on and, you know, things that you have to prioritize, you know, that it can't just be about all about, well, what do you want, you know? i do think um that there's a lot of people that that kind of gets instilled in them that they think well this is all i'm ever going to be able to do so why dream any bigger you know so i feel i feel really lucky that that i was always encouraged and always you know like my dad said to me allison cross is going to call you and you're not going to be ready and she did you know You know what I mean? It's like,

he didn't say she might. He said, she's gonna, you know what I mean? And so like, there's something about that. Like, so when you hear those kinds of things as a youngster,

I don't know. It's kind of, it's instilled in you like, okay, well shoot, I guess I better get after it. You know, get off the pot.

Yeah, totally. By the way, let's clap it up for your mom and dad. Let's go. I know. Yay. Let's go. Yeah. That's so dope, dude.

There's a lot of horror stories. They're wonderful. Yeah, there's a lot of horror stories with parents raising kids to be stars young. Dude, I know. It's crazy. But you seem like you have a great head on brain on your head and um and i got a couple things before we talk about this allison krauss thing because as a kid as your mentor or you're like your idol like i want to talk about the intimidation thing but we'll talk

about that i want to talk more first about your brother so was your brother ever resentful that you got famous young because you're only three years older than younger than him well you know if he was he never showed it you know truly I mean he's amazing I love my brother and you know he's always loved music too but I really say like you know it's one of those things that like they say if you can't quit you should and that if for some people, it's like there is nothing else. It's either you do it or die trying. For me, it was like music was always going to be my thing.

It was just always going to be the thing that I cared about and he knew that. He knew that this is something that I loved. And now while at the same time, to back up a little bit, early on, he did some really amazing things as well. Like the first time that we ever got to play the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, a guy named Mike Snyder saw me and my brother play at this, I think it might have been in Crossville, Tennessee, like somewhere like within an hour of where I grew up, there was some kind of event like a fair or something, like a concert at a fairgrounds. And my brother and I opened for this guy named Mike Snyder, who's been a Grand Ole Opry member for years. He's a banjo player, comedian. And he's also been responsible for getting a lot of people, a lot of young people on the

Opry for the first time. And he told the crowd, he said, well, the next time you, how about it for those kids? And he said, well, the next time you hear them, they're going to be with me on the Grand Ole Opry. And so when I made my debut, I got to make it with my brother as well. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. And so we got to share some really great experiences, you know, when I was maybe 12 or so and had kind of befriended Allison. And, you know, she was really giving me some cool opportunities at that time. She told there was a tour that happened on the hills of the Brother, Where Art Thou movie tour. So there was this tour called the Down from the Mountain tour.

And then after the Cold Mountain movie came out in my brother and I weren't part of either of those movies, okay? But like, Allison was part of Cold Mountain, the Cold Mountain soundtrack, and O Brother, and a lot of acoustic players and stuff. You know, it was kind of a big time around acoustic music at that point. And T-Mobile Burnett produced these tours. And the second one was called the Great High Mountain. So it was like some of the musicians from Oh Brother, some of the musicians from Cold Mountain. And Allison told T-Bone, hey,

you should invite these two kids to come out and be on this tour. And so we did it. We got to come. My brother and I played as a duo on this. It was a huge tour. I mean, we got to play Red Rocks. We got to play, yeah, we got to play Red Rocks. We got to play The Beacon in New York and some really amazing venues.

How old were you? I was 12, man. Oh my fucking God. And, you know, and my brother was 15 and like, we got to go do that together and play as a duo. So, so, you know, I was lucky that we got to have some really incredible experiences together as kids to, you know,, so, you know, I was lucky that we got to have some really incredible experiences together as kids to, you know, and Allison, you know, it's really thanks to her. I mean, she's the one she let us ride on her bus for free and, you know, like go on this, this two month

long tour in the summer. And so, so yeah, my brother, you know, I think that, that he always knew that the opportunities were there if he really kind of wanted to go after them. But for him, he was always interested in a lot of other things. And I don't think he quite wanted music to be his life the same way I did. But it's always going to be a big part of his life at the same time. We still hang out and play music when I go home for the holidays. And it's still something we share together, which is fun. How did you how did you have a regular life? I don't understand.

You are you are a superhuman. How did you get back after playing Red Rocks, T-Bone, fucking Allison calling you at 1213? Then you go after the tour, you roll back to your small town like, yeah, you know, how was your day, Susie? Like, I don't get how that, that's amazing. That's humble. I just, I don't know. I think, yeah, I just think that my parents cultivated a really normal kind of childhood for us. And there was never, like, I never thought, oh, suddenly now I'm going to go be homeschooled and I'm going to go off and be some star. It wasn't like that. It was like like I knew my dad's home working and mom's lucky that she's able to even get off work to go with us you know what I mean and that probably some my parents like never took any money from us ever I mean

like even if they spent their last five dollars and we got paid a hundred bucks somewhere they would be like nope that's yours I mean so they were so good to us so fair to us but like we knew if we went to this tour there was no way that like we could go on tour for two months and my mom missed two months of work and like some of the money that my brother and i were being paid for the tour we knew we're gonna have to like cover some of the bills you know right just because that's just how it was but then then everything else, you know, we totally got to keep. And my parents were like, great. You know what I mean?

So it was like, there's always a sense of reality about like, okay, cool. We can make this work, but there's, you know, only if this, we kind of do it this way, you know? And so, yeah, I don't know. It's just that my parents were really good about just keeping it real. I got to clap for your parents one more time. Let's go. Let's go let's go yeah that is unbelievable god that is i'm honestly yeah i respect the out of that that is really cool and they quit their jobs just so you guys could see their

your dreams you know it's like god well they didn't they didn't quit their jobs now my dad my dad like didn't get to go on this Story, you know, he was like the real kind of music Fan so to speak. I mean my mom loved it, too so so like he was he was working at home while we're gone on this tour my mom was a nurse at the time and her her boss thought that this opportunity was such a good thing for us to be able to do. And that's kind of the small town support system where, you know, people in my community were like, they knew that I was playing music.

They knew that this was an opportunity to go do something. And so, you know, it wasn't like, oh, well, if you miss work for two months, your job's going to be gone. It was kind of like, no, you know, yeah, you're probably not getting paid for those two months, but we'll make sure your job's still still here when you get back so mom was able to kind of just at least that's the way i remember it in my mind you know that she just was able to take off and you know was your dad jealous when the tour was over was your dad just being a music head that you got on this tour with t-bone and allison he had to go work his fucking job he didn't even like i mean i no i wouldn't say jealous is the word but my dad's always been somebody that you know um you know he he does need respect you know what i mean as we all do and so i you know i think i always knew the sacrifice he was making for sure you know what

about you with respect do you feel like you still need the respect or do you feel like you got your flowers i feel like i've pretty much been giving my flowers i think we all need we need that to a degree you know what i mean it's like um but yeah i mean i'm i'm the type maybe i am a little bit like that where you know i'm not somebody that in order to feel appreciated i need you to give me a lot of stuff you know what it means like like i'm not somebody that for my birthday i need a birthday present you know what i mean like just the thought of you know a card or something is is gonna mean as much to me as anything you could really do right for me you know what it means so i don't know i think we're all kind of different in that way but yeah a lot of times the thought or knowing someone cares is always the thing that matters the most to me. Do you ever go through any part of your career where you felt like,

I don't want to do this anymore? I mean, it's a weird emotional rollercoaster doing this thing for a living. The highs are lot of, the highs are really high and the lows are really low, as I'm sure you know. Oh, yeah. It's like one minute, it's like the coolest thing comes your way that you didn't even know you would think was cool. And then you get this opportunity to do this thing. And then sometimes something you were really hoping for doesn't happen or whatever.

And so, yeah, I mean, I've gone through times where it just felt like a big old heartbreak sometimes, but it's weird. I might say in that moment, like, I don't even know why I do this or like, why, you know, is this worth it? You know, I think we all have those questions, but like, like there's also that part of me, like, girl, you know better than that. Like you ain't stopping this and there's also that part of me like girl you know better than that like you ain't stopping this and there's nothing in the world that's gonna make me stop it you know what i mean because because i've just if of all the things in my life if i've ever felt like there was one thing that i was sure about you know um among all the kind of, you know, gray areas of like living and trying to navigate life, you know,

it's like all those things. Music has kind of been the one thing that I've always felt like, well, but I know I was meant to do this, you know? And, you know, like whether, whether we think we're called from like a higher power or whatever it is in in the you know universe or world that sort of feels feels like that's the thing that i really feel called to do i think i've just i've always felt that yeah um and so for whatever reason even in the times where it sucks and feels really hard you know and emotionally you know daunting i still kind of go yeah but how could i do anything else because the the highs are are uh so worth it you know and to get to do to get to do the thing i love you know i know like not

everybody's granted that opportunity so i try try to remember that. You know, even when I'm... We're trained to be... Being like, woe is me. Yeah, exactly. And then we're trained, being musicians, we're trained to be completely present. So like when the present moment of sadness comes to us, it's not like...

Oh, it's real, man. Oh, it's fucking real, dude. It's like... Yeah, exactly. It's rough, yeah. Yeah, and there's something beautiful about that feeling feelings you know a lot of people suppress sadness especially now like people just want to see the happy stuff they take a pill if they're sad or take a you know it's it or they'll you know drink or whatever but like to really feel sadness is important for growing, I think. Absolutely.

And it's funny, I can look back at all the things, you know, as I'm sure a lot of us, it's easier on the backside of it to look back and go, okay, that really sucked. But out of that, I learned this or this thing came or like, I feel like I've grown a lot because of that, you know, and it's like you get older and you kind of learn to navigate it a little bit better, I think, you know, in terms of trying to, not that I'm trying to, you know, remove myself from my emotions of my career, but I think it's a little bit, you know, at least it feels a little bit easier now to just be like, there's a lot of this that just isn't in my control. What is, is that I can keep working hard,

I can keep trying to be the best version of me that I can be, and be grateful that I've got to do all this freaking stuff I've got to do. I know. Even if nothing else comes my way, but it's very easy as a musician, I think, to be so forward thinking all the time and when i started like to have started as young as i did and have like some really amazing things happen as a a young person it's like sometimes i feel like well shoot i'm

just now getting started i don't want my best days to be behind me what are like what is what's the like relationship with allison when you're a kid versus the relationship you have with her now um it's funny i mean now it's like you know i'm just older so it's different but i mean as yeah like as a kid though i mean dude i was so obsessed so obsessed i got my first allison album when I was nine uh so I'd only been probably playing a year and it was an album called Forget About It which I remember every weekend we would go on Friday and Saturdays but usually on Friday we'd go out to this jam and where I grew up in the town I grew up there's not really anything we were going to like the next town over all my family is really from Jamestown Tennessee like you know 30 minutes down the road and there was a walmart there and that was like i

mean again it's also a small town but there's a walmart back then that was the only place that you could even go buy cds and stuff so there was a bluegrass section you know that they used to have and and so it was like every week we'd go find a new album and we were discovering all these new artists and so i remember my dad picking up this allison album and um the album forget about it and him saying oh yeah i bet you'd like this lady and you know and i remember looking at the packaging and it looked really like refined it had one of those remember when it was kind of a thing where like you'd have like a jewel case cd case but the it would have the the little slide cover that goes over it yeah like the paper cover and that felt like extra kind of fancy you know

and i remember my dad saying she was a bluegrass artist. And let's be honest, a lot of bluegrass artwork budgets are pretty low budget. And so they're not always the fanciest looking packaging. Oh, she's popping. And so I remember seeing this and I was like, this doesn't look like a bluegrass CD. Even at nine, I was evaluating that this looked fancier than a bluegrass album. And he said, no, no, she's bluegrass. So we got it and we put it in and like you know there's not banjo on that entire record i mean it's like it's it's there's piano there's

drums there's electric guitar it's like a really i mean it's beautiful it's still one of my favorite albums but but i remember it didn't matter i mean i was we were basically only listening to like bluegrass acoustic music at that point and i remember hearing it and everything from like you know the production, Gary Pachosa recorded this record, it's so well recorded and it's just a flawless sounding record. I remember being like, wow, dang, what is that? That really then led us to go back and discover some of her other more bluegrass albums, which had a guy named Adam Steffi playing mandolin on there and like became a big hero of mine, like all this stuff. So needless to say, though, that album, though, even though it wasn't a bluegrass album, was

the thing that really made me fall in love. And then we got all these other albums. And I mean, I obsessed over these albums. I would go in Walmart on the weekends. And if there was more than one of her albums, I would like literally take them and like stack them on top of other genres. So it was like Alison, Alison, Alison, Alison, Alison. Cause I was like, people need to hear this.

They need this one and they need that one. It's ridiculous. I mean, I used to like pray for her at night as a kid and wonder what she was like. You know what I mean? I did, I swear. Cause I just was like, my dream was to get to know who this

person was and to like you know i mean you when you're like eight or nine it's like to me it was like she was my michael jordan yeah you know what i mean it was like my brother literally michael jordan was his michael jordan he like had posters posters everywhere and i remember going in and like trying to um you know it was like my my perception, you know, now it cracks me up, but like, you know how they used to have the posters, maybe they still do at like Walmart or somewhere and you go through and it's like Justin Bieber and whoever, you know, it might be Harry Styles these days or whoever. And Billie Eilish. I just knew one day I was going to find Alison Krauss and Union Station in there and I was going to have my poster, which is funny because you're not going to find that.

That is so, yeah, you ain't going to find the Alison Krauss at Walmart. You're not going to find that, but I was like, I'm going to find the Alison poster and I just was like so obsessed. It was ridiculous. And so yeah, to actually get to meet her and then become friends, it's like, it's funny, even as an adult, I still, you know, I still like have such gratitude that she, you know, took a chance on me as a kid and invited me to come play with her. How'd that work out? Like, did people know you were obsessed with her or just worked like serendipity? It was so, well, okay. Let me see if I can tell you the, the short story. I'm like, you know, I'm being very chatty see if I can tell you the short story.

I'm like, you know, I'm being very chatty today. I like it. That's fine. But the first time I ever met her, so we used to have this local musician named Lowell Logan, who was a fiddler, and he would drive his copy. It's so sweet. I mean, in hindsight, he was old enough to be my grandpa at the time, and he and his wife were so good to me. And he would literally get his copy of this magazine called Bluegrass Unlimited, and he would drive his copy over to me and give it to me. He would check it out, and then he would bring it over to my house and give it to me every month. my house and give it to me every month. And so I would just skim through the magazine. And I remember seeing, you know, every now and then I'd see Allison's name listed in there, but I would

just like flip through and I'd be like, oh, there's Allison's name. Oh, yep, there she is there. And I remember there's a festival called Merlefest in North Carolina. And it's Doc Watson's son's festival, or it was like Doc Watson's Memorial Festival for his son Merle and so they had an advertisement in there with the lineup and at the time too I remember we had recently gotten the first Nickel Creek album because Allison produced their debut Sugar Hill record and we saw Allison's name on the back so we're like okay well Allison produced this I bet it's going to be good and we get it it. And I hear the opening track, which is this instrumental mandolin-led instrumental that Chris Thiele wrote. And I'm just like, you know, one more thing to be like, wow, as a young musician.

And I'm 10 years old at the time. And I'm looking through the magazine and, you know, hand it over to my dad. And he's flipping through it. And he stops on the Merlefest advertisement. And he says, oh, hey, look. And he points to Alison dad and he's flipping through it and he he stops on the merle fest uh advertisement and he says oh hey look and he points to allison cross and musician like they're playing here and i said yeah i saw that you know and then he said oh nickel creek's also playing there and blah blah few other people that we were into at the time and he said well do you want to go and honestly i mean i had maybe been out of tennessee once i, my parents still to this day, they don't take vacations.

They don't travel very much, you know, unless they really have some big reason to. They don't much. And so the idea that we could even like go to North Carolina to this festival was like, are you serious? Like we can even go to see her play live? And so my dad was like, yeah. So I remember he was able to, seems like they were able to take off work on a Friday. And we drove Friday morning. It was like eight hours to get there.

And so we get in Friday night at the festival. And Allison's going to play on Saturday. And so we go and we're walking around. And like most kind of festivals like that that there's usually some kind of exhibits with like instruments like builders that have stuff for sale or people jamming around the campfire somewhere and i don't remember what happened but um i must have done some jamming the night before on that friday and i remember being like you know convinced i was going to get a meter there and and you know i'd never been to a festival that you couldn't just walk back behind the stage to a local musician and be like,

hey, nice to meet you. My concept of a festival this big, I had nothing to compare it to, but these tiny little festivals around where I grew up. We get there and even my parents realize, oh, this is big. This festival is big. Like, you know, we're not going to be able to just like walk up to Allison and meet her. So, but I remember thinking, I'm going to get to meet her. I'm going to get to meet her.

And I remember my mom saying, now, listen, honey, I want you to get your hopes up too much because this is a big festival. I don't know if you'll get to meet her this time, but you are going to get to hear her live. And you know, if not this time, you'll get to meet her someday time but you are going to get to hear alive and you know if not this time you'll get to meet her someday and i said just please pray i get to meet her you know i just like wanted to so bad it's ridiculous i was so obsessed so obsessed you know you're praying for her i just like you know like it meant so much to me her music just meant so much to me. Our music just meant so much to me on a deep level. And so the next day, we're walking around, and we stumble upon one of the side stages where this guy, Mike Marshall, who's another mandolin hero of mine, and Chris Thiele from Nickel Creek at the time, they had just finished playing. And I guess we had missed it. We didn't realize they were playing, but they were standing beside the stage stage and this was one of the smaller ones you could just walk up to so there was kind of a line of people gathered around chris getting pictures and some autographs

and stuff and so we were like oh cool so i had this mandolin strap that said girl power so a little purple strap that my my mom and dad had made for me from one of those lanyard things. I love it so fucking much. That would fit around me. I love it. And so, yeah, it's ridiculous. So I had my little Girl Power homemade mandolin strap, and I went up to Chris, and I got a photo with him, and he signed my Girl Power mandolin strap, okay?

Well, then I got probably, I don't know, 50 yards away, something like that. And this dad came up to me and said, hey, are you the little girl I saw jamming last night? And I was like, oh, yeah. And he said, I was telling my daughter about you. I hate to ask, but would you be willing to play a tune for her? Because I'd just love for her to hear you play. And so I was like, okay, yeah, sure, whatever.

Well, I get my case out. And because I had just had Chris sign my mandolin strap, I didn't have the strap on. So I just knelt down in the grass or whatever and played this tune. And my dad said, well, hey, she just met Chris Thiele. Why don't you try playing that Ode to a Butterfly, which is the opening song off of that Nickel Creek record. And I had been trying to learn all that stuff, you know? And so I'm trying to play it. Well I mean I was I was way far enough from the stage that Chris wasn't going to hear me you know but then like as happens with kids you know so like a little crowd gathers around somebody grabs Mike Marshall I believe and and he comes over and he recognizes that I'm playing Chris's song. And he goes and gets Chris or somebody goes and gets Chris.

And then next thing I know, by the time I'm done playing, I mean, I kind of noticed there were some people watching. But I was like concentrated and I was like meltdown on the ground. When I look up, there's Thiele like right in front of me. And he says, holy crap, want to play it together? Oh my God. That's that serendipitous shit that's that's serendipitous that's that's serendipitous dude so so then here's chris and we go and we find a quiet corner and he jams with me you know i'm 10 i'm 10 years old and he takes time to jam with me for like two hours and he took me backstage to meet allison oh my my. Did you did you ask him, like, hey, can I meet Allison or just he knew?

Well, no, we basically told them, like, you know, we came here because, like, you know, she's my biggest hero and we discovered you because of that. And like, you know, it's like, you know, came here and and I don't know if I said, can you take me to meet her? I don't remember now exactly what happened. But you want to know something funny, like really wild. So I've told this story plenty of times before about this girl and her dad coming up and the dad wanting me to play. So I just played a festival in East Tennessee this past weekend called Cave Fest, where they do bluegrass underground and all that stuff at the caverns. Kitchen dwellers were there and little smok's, yeah, the whole crew.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so this gal comes up to me and she says, I'm the daughter from the Merlefest story that it was my dad who asked you to play the song. And I was like, are you kidding me? So it's like if he hadn't asked me to like play a tune for her you know and it's just crazy like all these years later 20 years later you know meeting her but she has a professional you're maybe her allison krauss well i'll clap to that let's go let's go queen But I thought, let's go, Sierra. Let's go, queen.

But anyway, it's just so crazy. So I did get to meet Allison, but it was just literally a quick, I got her autograph. I got a photo. My 10-year-old life was made. It didn't matter that I didn't play with her. It was like, I was just so beside myself. And then I met later, like that same year, six months later, I was at IBMA, the kind of bluegrass music week that we have, and was there doing the kids on bluegrass, was invited to come play with the kids there. And I met Ron Block, who's been a member of Allison's band for 30 years or something. And he was just so nice and cool to our family.

And he must have, I really don't know what happened, but that little CD that I made had just come out, the one we talked about earlier, the tenure. And we gave it to him and he had me sign one to her. And so I was like, to my hero, Alison Krauss. And he took it to her. And next thing I know, man, she calls my house and invites me to come play the Grand Ole Opry.

Oh my. I'd never played with her or anything i mean so what an unbelievable streak of luck and stars aligning and she just invited me to do this thing and it was just you know and that's really that's really how i got to know her is because i don't know if ron took the cd and she listened to it or if he said yo this girl's obsessed she knows all of our songs like i don't know what happened but she called me and invited me to come play and i mean i literally have photos that i drew when i like before i was like nine years old and i hadn't met him before because my mom kept all this stuff i love to do art when i was a kid so i just love to draw and stuff and i have photos

that i drew on stage with her at the grand ole opry so fucking cool because that was my dream you know to get to play with her so anyway isn't it amazing like you throw this idea of into the into the atmosphere like i want to meet allison krauss i want to do this i want to be a musician and the universe universe gives back. If you just let it give back. Well, it's a good thing. It's the thing that I try to remember now as an adult because it's easy to just become such a realist. And you're always just like, well, I need to be real about this.

And blah, blah, blah. Or like, well, I don't know. That person, whatever the humble part of yourself or whatever or the thing we were talking about earlier we're like well i don't know that person probably wouldn't want to like record something with me or wouldn't you know what i mean and it's like you know but like there was no reason for me to believe that i wouldn't meet her back then and that i wouldn't get to play with her someday. It's like, I got my dad over here saying, well, you better practice because she's going to call you. And yeah, it's just, it is the kind of thing that I do believe there's something to that about manifesting the things that you want

to see happen. And it's the thing that I think about as I'm older that I don't think I do it enough. I think a lot of times I sort of sometimes don't dream the same way I did back then. We get older and we forget to dream. When we should, but we should. There's no difference. You said this earlier in the interview, like, I still feel young. I still feel that giddiness. Then why are we so afraid to dream like we were a kid?

I know. It's so fucked up. For real. It is. It is. I know. Keep's so fucked up. For real. It is. It is. I know. Keep dreaming. Shame on us.

Shame on us. Yeah. I get jaded all the time, dude. Just being on the road, just so jaded. But like, I was happiest when I was dreaming. Well,

and you don't have like heartbreak in the same way when you're a kid. You know what I mean? It's like, you're just happy to go get to play anywhere. You know what I mean? You're not like, I don't know, it's weird. You're not like, there's no pressure over it in the same way that I think we put on ourselves when we get older and we have all of our self-worth tied up in it and all that junk. It's like you go into Walmart just for the

strict reason to have Alison Krauss records everywhere around the store. That is so amazing. It's so embarrassing. I'm just like, what the heck? It's so cheesy. We love what we love. But I was going to find me that poster, man. I was going to find me that poster.

I was going to ask, did you blow up that picture of you and her and made it into a poster? I mean, I had an 8x10 hung on my wall. You better believe it. Let's go. That's what I'm talking about. There's your Walmart poster queen. Yeah. Sierra, thanks so much for being on the show.

I just love... We got to do this again. I could talk to you for hours. Yeah, man, it's been a joy to talk to you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, thank you so much. You're on tour with Corey Wong right now? Well, I just... I'm finishing up.

I've been on tour with my band the last two weeks. I'm finishing up about, we had like 19 shows, so we're headed out to California this weekend to finish the last two shows of this tour. And then I head out with Corey for a couple weeks in November. And then I head out with Bela Fleck again in December. So it's a busy year for collaborating and doing my own stuff, but getting to do some stuff with some other people too, which has been fun. Well, keep the dream alive. And I'm so thankful that you're not jaded after

being in this industry since you're 10 years old. I appreciate that. And I just let you know, everything is beautiful and I hope you just stay happy, stay inspired and keep dreaming. Man, I appreciate it. Great to get to connect with you. And I hope I'll see you out there at another festival soon. Yeah, we both ain't going nowhere. So let's keep it popping. Have a good one.

Thanks for being on the show. Thanks. Later. Thanks, Andy. And then next week, who do we have next week? Oh, Boogie T. That episode is awesome. That was my first time.

We're diving into the EDM world a little bit. And the first guy I wanted to be part of the EDM world besides our boys, Big G. Shout out to Jeremy and the boys. Boogie T. This guy is fucking hilarious and he's a really talented musician. You're going to love that one. And we got Little got a little stranger we're gonna get an update from them i'm giving them a week to

feel better before we i grill them a little bit on the podcast okay and then we have thanksgiving where i got todd glass i'm going to todd's house again every year where i take mushrooms and we discuss life and see how todd's doing. So we got a big, big, big, big closing of the season four. I can't believe it's already going to be season five. This is fucking madness. Okay. I got to stop talking. So I'm going to go to soundcheck. I love you. Be safe out there. Love who you are. Be the person you want to be. When you're feeling like you're feeling like shit a little bit, put some water on your face.

Take a step back and realize, I'm trying my best. I'm trying my best. And what can I do to make myself happy? We always think about everyone else. All right. I love you. And I'll catch you next week.

Bye. You tuned in to the World's Health Podcast with Andy Fresco. Thank you for listening to this episode. And I'll catch you next week. Bye. wherever you're picking this shit up. Follow us on Instagram at world saving podcast for more info and updates. Fresco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfresco.com and check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, that crazy shit show or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. And after a year of keeping clean and playing safe, the band is back on tour.

We thank our brand new talent booker Mara Davis. We thank this week's guests, our co-hosts, and all the fringy frenzies that helped make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we will be back next week. No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast as far as we know. Any similarities, interactions, or knowledge, facts, or fake is purely coincidental.