Sierra Spirit – Rodeo Clown
Sierra Spirit, the solo project of Native American artist Sierra Spirit Kihega, announces her new EP,Rodeo Clown, due June 10 via Giant Music.
The announcement arrives with the emotionally charged title track alongside a strikingly cinematic video directed by Pierce Pyrzenski. Like the EP, it was produced by Dan Wilson (Mitski, The Chicks).
Of the song, Sierra says “‘Rodeo Clown’ is about loving and losing someone to addiction. Rates of addiction and depression run significantly higher in Native communities and it’s sadly a struggle we all see in our own lives with loved ones, friends and sometimes in ones self. My uncle Darren Kihega was a rodeo cowboy in his younger years- a bull rider. He was known for his sense of humor and his wit- but bit by bit we just watched him slip away. This track is about the journey of watching someone get back up and go down time and time again- we’re always rooting for them to get back up, but there comes a point when you realize you’ve done all you could do to help.
Rodeo Clown is the follow up to her 2024 debut EP coin toss and last year’s single, the EP’s “Life A Finger.” She will be playing both singles and other fan favorites at New Haven, CT’s Toads Place on April 8 as she supports Bad Suns.
In addition to her new EP, Spirit also contributed vocals to the original score for the Octavia Spencer-produced Lost Women of Alaska, airing on HBO Max. The series highlights the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples in Alaska, particularly Alaska Native women.
Driving long hours through the middle of America, time seems to evaporate, nebulous spaces where memories flit up to the surface and fill the present. Sierra Spirit knows those stretches of land intimately, as if they live in her blood. Some of her favorite memories tie back to long car trips with her grandmother, listening to stories about her Native American heritage. “We would listen to music, and my grandma loved the old country stations,” she says. “But what really stuck with me were the stories, the history, the connection.” For her new EP, Rodeo Clown, Sierra Spirit tapped into all of the timeless depth of her heritage, and of those car rides: honoring her attachment to Indigenous culture and blending classic country and folk with soaring indie songwriting. “Oral history is such a huge part of Indigenous culture, and I wanted to paint the picture in as much detail as I can,” she explains. “Songwriting for me is a lot about finding closure for moments in my past and making it into something beautiful and meaningful.”
Sierra Spirit channels both the ache and the awe of remembering—songs and stories bigger than Spirit herself, bigger than the people and moments that inspired them. Like a car ride through the great wide open, Rodeo Clown is tender yet unrelenting, filled with quiet revelations and a steadfast reverence. The EP bridges the seen and the unseen, the past and the present, the highest highs and lowest lows. With each note, Spirit transforms memory into motion and pain into something luminous in a voice destined to echo far beyond the horizon.
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