Sierra Spirit has many memories from her time growing up in Oklahoma.
The Otoe Missouria and Keetoowah Cherokee musician from Claremore has deep Oklahoma roots, but never performed her mixture of indie and folk in her home state until Thursday night.
It’s the first thing she mentioned after walking onstage at Chimera in downtown Tulsa.
“This is my first show in Oklahoma ever, which is crazy,” Spirit said.
The audience — packed with family members and friends — came out to cheer on Spirit as she releases her first EP “Coin Toss.” They applauded in delight when she started talking about her roots. Spirit’s strong support system includes her father, who couldn’t physically attend. Despite that, he still enjoyed the show.
“My dad is on the phone over there,” Spirit said. “He’s out in Florida restoring power for the folks affected by the hurricane.”
Familial connection brings Spirit back to Green Country and also shapes her as a musician.
“A huge reason of why I’m a songwriter and why I’m a storyteller is because of my grandmother,” Spirit told the audience from the stage. “Everything had a story. Every rock, every tree every creek had a memory.”
Her grandmother Pug is from Chewey, Oklahoma. The backroads needed to get to Chewey aren’t easily found on GPS. But Spirit remembers the way like the back of her hand, even though Pug died.
Pug’s memory lives on through song. In “I’ll Be Waiting (Pug),” Spirit sings about the pain felt after receiving her grandmother’s belongings.
“What’s left is a bag of your things. I’ll cling to like a memory. Hold on till my knuckles all turn white.”
That moment of clinging to everything that was left of her grandmother resonated deeply.
“I remember being handed the bag of her things after she had passed and…that was the last bit of things that I was ever going to have that was closest to her,” Spirit said. “I remember just sitting in the car on the drive home and just holding onto that bag as tight as I could.”
Other influences were picked up at some well-known Tulsa music venues like Cain’s Ballroom and The Vanguard.
“I think it’s hard not to let that influence bleed through. It’s what I always knew, loved and associated with home.”
Spirit’s EP is being released by L.A. label Giant Music. But whether she’s in California or downtown Tulsa, she’s always remembering her Oklahoma roots.
