REVIEW: Sierra Ferrell’s New Single ‘Trying To Love You’ is a Heart-Wrenching Masterpiece
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY MILA MATEJCEK ☆
Photo by Dana Trippe
SWEET, BALMY AND GENTLE RINGS TRUE SIERRA FERRELL’S SINGLE “TRYING TO LOVE YOU”—The West Virginian native and 4x Grammy winner’s first new single of 2026 delivers us a dose of magic on the backs of its wings as Ferrell stitches together a tale of yearning for someone slipping through her fingers.
Ferrell previewed “Trying To Love You” along stops of her Heavy Petal Tour, and the song features a newly expanded rhythm section of Gabriel Kelley (percussion, piano, wurlitzer, B-3, guitars), Matty Meyer (drums), Billy Contreras (fiddle), Pat Bergeson (harmonica), Viktor Krauss (bass) and background vocals from Oliver Bates Craven, Geoff Saunders, Joshua Rilko and Gabriel Kelley.
The tour bewitched audiences with her reimagined, carnivalesque stage production, which showcased surreal custom pieces on each tour stop. A self described carney at heart, she wore a variety of costumes, from big elaborate gowns decorated in flowers to a fuzzy skunk costume. Her whimsical stage presence adds to the worldbuilding that her music brings, and the unveiling of “Trying To Love You” was a welcome addition to this playful universe.
“Trying To Love You”’s instrumentation is beautiful and takes the listener on a journey that swells and sighs with as much feeling as any western classic. Beyond this, the love song’s lyrics are just as thoughtful. Ferrell takes into consideration the image of herself through the lens of another, begging to be remembered as: gentle, kind, sweet and nice…before things went wrong. “You say you’re a good man / But are you doing all you can?” Ferrell wonders aloud. There’s an oceanic push and pull emanating from every line as the couple navigate their compatibility: “Baby I’ll keep trying / walking each other home.”
Furthermore, Ferrell writes far beyond a generic love song by exploring themes of religious purification. In small tender moments, she asks her lover, “Baby…are you washed in the blood of the lamb?” a nod to the Christian belief that Jesus (the lamb) purifies his followers of sin through his physical sacrifice of death on the cross. It’s evocative imagery—one of innocence and sacrifice. The death of a lamb. The cleansing of another, through the blood of that lamb. To parallel this image of sacrificial love to that love of her relationship is clear: can her baby be cleansed of the sin he’s done to her, in his abandonment?
There’s an upbeat quality to the instrumentation, a sort of “chug chug chug” to the beat. Shakers, single guitar strums and harmonicas alike, grace the background of the song in a way that is not insignificant. Each sonic layer pulls back so as not to overcrowd the sound in the room. There’s an expert quality in knowing when to let the lyrics really steer the ship. Though the song certainly builds momentum in layers as it progresses, it still hones in on simplicity by using many repeating motifs and backing chorus lines.
There’s a modern spin on classic themes and sounds that is to be appreciated in Sierra Ferrell’s single “Trying To Love You.” She takes that feeling of trying to navigate your way home to someone that betrayed you (and that you, too, may have betrayed) and begs the question—what can be forgiven in love?
