CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Sierra Ferrell has made a name for herself in the country music charts, and the West Virginia-born musician is opening up about why she chose to leave the Mountain State.

When asked by CBS Mornings reporter Anthony Mason, “Why did you leave?” Ferrell replied:

“I left because I feel like I’ve always had a wild side to me… And I knew that if I stayed there, I probably wouldn’t still be alive… And so, I left and searched for, maybe, myself. Maybe to find out what else there is, maybe even a reason to live,” Ferrell told CBS Mornings.

Ferrell, the daughter of a single mother, says she grew up poor. When she was in her early 20s, the opioid epidemic continued spreading in the state, so she left. She says she and a friend began to hitchhike and hop trains.

She told CBS Mornings she traveled for years from Chicago to Seattle to New Orleans. To get by, she relied on the kindness of strangers and playing music on the streets.

“And what’s also crazy about that scenario is it’s usually the people who have less who give you something because they know what it’s like,” Ferrell told CBS Mornings. “A lot of the people who are travelers, they’re usually running from something.”

Ferrell told CBS Mornings she was no stranger to that, and she was also running from past experiences and from addiction. In the interview with CBS Mornings, Ferrell said she returned to West Virginia for a visit and accidentally overdosed.

“And I had a relapse with a friend. He is also gone now,” Ferrell told CBS Mornings. “I just like, collapsed on the floor. And I looked up, and, like, Chris was smacking me in the face, and he’s like ‘Sierra, wake up.’ And it was like time didn’t exist anymore.”

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According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, drug overdose is the leading cause of death among West Virginians under the age of 45. The DHHR also says opioids are the main cause of drug poisoning in West Virginia.

“For every fatal poisoning, there are even more non-fatal overdoses, persons abusing opioids, and persons using opioids for non-medical use,” according to the WV DHHR’s Violence & Injury Prevention Program.

Ferrell told CBS Mornings, that in that moment, she did die. But ultimately, Ferrell survived. She settled in Nashville and began therapy, and her life started to get better.

“I needed to get that wildness out. It really kind of grounded me,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell, who says she’d been singing since childhood, released her debut album, “Pretty Magic Spell,” in 2019, according to her website . She released her fourth album, “Trail of Flowers,” earlier this month.

She is also a winner of the Americana Honors & Awards Emerging Act of the Year and has collaborated with artists such as Zach Bryan, Diplo, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Black Keys, Margo Price and Shakey Graves, according to her website .

CBS Mornings contributed to this report.

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