When the sky turns a particularly dusty shade of blue in Bentonville, Arkansas, a sizzling hot-pink neon sign affixed to a high concrete wall lights the surrounding area with an inviting beacon that reads, “You belong here.” And on a surprisingly comfortable summer night two-ish hours northwest of the Ozarks, just under two thousand people embodied this sense of comfortable curiosity. They all belonged there in part, of course, because they were there to see Sierra Ferrell (clad in flower crowns, corsets, and cowboy boots).
The bright pink sign, created by Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan, resides on a high external wall of The Momentary in Bentonville, where Ferrell stopped as part of her Heavy Petal tour. Ferrell’s full band and impressive, tented stage dressing were all in tow. But before the headliners took the stage, The Brudi Brothers (Seattle, WA) opened the night.
Some might recognize the family band from their viral hit, “Me More Cowboy Than You”, as in, “me, me, me, me, me more cowboy than you.” It’s funny and coy and a tongue-in-cheek critique of the whole “Americana” of it all.
Yet, jokey songs aside, The Brudi Brothers commanded the stage with a graceful lilt and airtight harmonies that transported the audience back in time to the late 1940s, back when Jimmy Wakely first sang “Moon Over Montana”, the second song in the band’s set. This song, among others, was an “instant goosebumps” moment early in the evening. And indeed, that’s precisely what The Momentary is hoping to capture—moments in time and of discovery.
Watching Sierra Ferrell in an Old Kraft Cheese Factory Was As Kitschy As You’d Expect
When I say kitschy, please know that I mean that with the utmost respect. After all, what better descriptor for a vibe at a show headlined by the lovechild of 1970s-variety-show-host Cher and a late-19th-century vaudeville star? It’s only fitting that a surprising and innovative artist like Sierra Ferrell would find an appropriate Heavy Petal tour stop in a space that has also defied artistic expectations. When I say The Momentary is an old Kraft cheese factory, that’s no exaggeration. The plant actually operated from 1947 to 2013. Today, you would think it was a high-end arts complex built within the past ten years.
The Momentary became a satellite extension of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, also in Bentonville, in 2020, with help from the Walton Family Foundation and Wheeler Kearns Architects. The factory campus was transformed into a multi-dimensional creative space with performance venues, art galleries, immersive exhibits, and food and drink via on-site cafés, world-class culinary events, and local food trucks. The Momentary is as much a single concept as it is a collection of experiences and environments, from festival-like concerts to carefully curated, thought-provoking art exhibits.
Before Sierra Ferrell took the stage on August 14, 2026, I wandered the sprawling campus, taking in the sights and marveling at how polite everyone was. Whether that’s a Bentonville thing or a Sierra Ferrell thing, I’m not sure. But there was something especially comforting and self-affirming about attending a show where everyone seemed to be on the same wavelength of love, harmony, and righteous resistance. I was met with the same Southern politeness by The Momentary employees as I made my way through the art galleries.
The Momentary Lives Up To Its Name In More Ways Than One
Art exhibits on display during my visit to The Momentary included Lucy Sparrow’s “The Beginning Of Convenience”, a truly mind-boggling immersive exhibit of a 1980s-style grocery store—complete with photo center, vinyl and VHS section, pharmacy, and community bulletin board—made entirely of felt. I’m talking entire grocery store aisles with fully stocked shelves, felted freezer sections, and a produce aisle full of the cutest crying onions and googly-eyed ground beef you’ve ever laid your eyes on.
While you peruse the aisles and foyers of Sparrow’s jaw-dropping exhibit, a grocery store spokesperson comes over the intercom to share in-store announcements. The attention to detail is so uncanny that you can’t help but ogle at the scene in front of you. It’s like if your childhood fantasy of shrinking down to experience your doll store firsthand actually came true. The exhibit is on display from July 18, 2026, to July 11, 2027, and I simply can’t recommend seeing this in person enough. It’s the kind of awe-inspiring spectacle you have to see up close and personal, nose to felt.
Photographer Chuck Ramirez’s “Ordinary Wonders” decorated the more traditional gallery space inside The Momentary, inviting viewers to reflect on how our lives can be defined through inanimate objects: purses, luggage, trash, remnants of meals and snacks and parties. As I stopped to take in these poignantly framed everyday items, I thought about what “evidence of life” I left behind, both during my time in Bentonville and beyond.
True to their ethos of savoring each moment, The Momentary crafted a wonderfully timed evening that allowed attendees to browse the art galleries, food trucks, drink tents, café, and lush outdoor space in between The Brudi Brothers’ opening set and Sierra Ferrell’s headlining performance.
The Highwire Act: Sierra Ferrell and Her Fearless Band
It was around a quarter after nine when Sierra Ferrell’s backing band, the Sentimental Gentleman, took the stage, which, by that point, was awash with red light, fog, and incense burning in a censer in front of Ferrell’s mic stand. The night’s band lineup included Oliver Bates Craven on fiddle and guitar, Josh Rilko on mandolin and acoustic guitar, Geoff Saunders on bass, and Matty Meyer on drums.
Ferrell first appeared behind two parted curtains of the center tent in her ornate stage set-up. Her reputation for building larger-than-life stage scenes certainly held up in Bentonville as the band began a captivating rendition of “Rosemary”. (As a fun aside, “Rosemary” was one of the first songs I ever heard Ferrell perform via the GemsOnVHS series, nearly a decade ago now.)
From the sultry stomp of “Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time In Cheatham County” to a bouncing version of Johnny Horton’s “I’m A One-Woman Man” with The Brudi Brothers to Ferrell showing off her fiddling prowess on “I Could Drive You Crazy”, Ferrell’s set was nothing short of a marvel in musicality. She played multiple instruments. Her bandmates played multiple instruments. And with each new iteration, the ensemble held tight, visibly feeding off one another and the crowd as the night drifted on.
Ferrell and her band made clear by the end of the night just how deserving they were of their Americana takeover with Ferrell’s fourth album, Trail Of Flowers, at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024. There’s a fine line between honoring tradition in innovative ways and falling into a gingham-covered sandpit of tired clichés, and that line is often too narrow for most Tecova-footed Americana artists to toe. Ferrell and her band, meanwhile, managed to navigate this circus-like tightrope with lighthearted ease.
A Truly Unforgettable Night in a Woefully Underestimated Midsize City
I’ve enjoyed myself at concerts in venues open solely to host a show just as much as the next guy. And if I’m being honest, there are plenty of artists whom I would enjoy seeing no matter where I was, and Sierra Ferrell is one of them. However, catching the Heavy Petal tour at a place like The Momentary reminded me of what really experiencing a night was like. Witnessing such incredible musicianship while literally standing inside of a giant art installation is a treat for the senses that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Hopefully more than once.
With small-town charm and big-city creativity, Bentonville, Arkansas, is a hidden gem of a midsize city that is actively growing its artistic roots in the Northwest Arkansas area. The Momentary is one of many artful experiences curated by Crystal Bridges, alongside a Frank Lloyd Wright house, beautiful nature trails, and, of course, the exhibits located inside the American art museum. Crystal Bridges events are held year-round and booked with the kind of care that keeps visitors coming back to the venue simply because of their trust in the museum’s ability to create events worth attending.
Sierra Ferrell’s stop at The Momentary was, unfortunately, only a brief moment. Her road crew keeps rolling through late summer and into midwinter. Tickets are available through Sierra Ferrell’s website.
Photo by Luda Ronky
The post Sierra Ferrell’s Heavy Petal Tour Blossomed in an Old Cheese Factory in Arkansas, Proving the Most Compelling Beauty Thrives in Eccentricity appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Melanie Davis
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