[caption id="attachment_54492" align="alignleft" width="200"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-54492" src="https://theenterprise.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Center2-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" /> Dori Freeman[/caption] Bringing her eclectic upbeat music, Sierra Ferrell will perform at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 17 at the Blue Ridge Music Center. Galax native Dori Freeman will open the concert in the outdoor amphitheater at the base of Fisher Peak. The center is located at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. With her spellbinding voice and time-bending sound, Ferrell makes music that’s as fantastically vagabond as the artist herself. She spent years living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, and eventually moved to Nashville and started landing gigs around town. After growing up with the mountain music of her native West Virginia, Ferrell’s travels brought her a variety of other musical influences, from country to honky-tonk to jazz to island music. [caption id="attachment_54491" align="alignright" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-54491" src="https://theenterprise.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Center1-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" /> Sierra Ferrell[/caption] Her magnetic live show drew the attention of Rounder Records, and the label signed Ferrell in 2019. Her new album, Long Time Coming, will be released on August 20. The single “In Dreams” is available now. Ferrell has also enchanted audiences at major festivals like The Avett Brothers at the Beach, AmericanaFest, and Out on The Weekend. She has shared the stage with the likes of Trampled by Turtles, Parker Millsap, Charley Crockett, and The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. With her expressive vocals and heartfelt songwriting, Freeman’s songs tell the stories of heartache and struggle. Her songwriting on her latest album, Every Single Star, released in 2019, features a very different perspective. She’s writing songs now for her new love, and for her daughter, as beholden as ever to the traditions that first inspired her as a young girl growing up in Galax, Virginia, but full of the same incisive eye for the human condition that’s always been her hallmark. The center is taking several precautions during concerts to make the experience as safe as possible for visitors. Those who have a fever, cough, aches and pains, loss of smell or taste, difficulty breathing, or are sneezing and coughing, are asked to please stay at home. Attendees are encouraged to maintain six feet of distance between groups throughout the evening, including when standing in line and selecting seating locations in the amphitheater; wear masks to protect others when in high traffic areas. Tickets are $25 adults, children 12 and younger admitted for free, by contacting <a href="http://www.BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org">BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org</a> or (866) 308-2773, ext. 212. Parking is free. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.blueridgemusiccenter.org">BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org</a> or <a href="https://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htm">nps.gov/blri/</a>.
