All that yoga and yogurt must be keeping Jennifer Nettles calm.
When a critic says Sugarland’s current single off their new album, “Love on the Inside,” “marks a new frontier for bad country songs,” the singer laughs, and says, “Never before has any piece of artwork or sculpture or a memoriam been erected in honor of a critic.”
And that “bad” song, “All I Want to Do,” is Sugarland’s fastest-rising single yet, at No. 3 this week, after only nine weeks on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
“The song is absolutely lighthearted and fun and flirty, but the album takes you on an emotional journey, from the light to the dark, from the light to the heavy,” says Nettles.
Nettles and guitarist Kristian Bush, who make up Sugarland, intentionally chose a song that could balance out their last single, “Stay,” a super- serious “other woman” song.
“We didn’t want people to make any projections on what they think the album is going to be. No, we wanted to shock and surprise people with something completely different.”
“Love on the Inside” completes Sugarland’s slow but steady rise to the country-music elite. The band began as a trio, releasing its first single in 2005, but band mate Kristen Hall left after the first album.
When Sugarland bounded onto the scene, Nettles charmed everyone with her big voice and vulnerability, and those long legs, blond curls and sea-green eyes. Now Sugarland has overcome the tentative voice that characterized its early music, and the songwriting barges ahead with a new confidence.
Although Nettles handles almost all the vocal duties, she says Bush has “a very interesting and excellent voice himself. You’ll get to hear a lot more of him on this record.”
Further proof that Sugarland is here to stay came at the Country Music Association Awards last November, when they managed to wrestle the Duo of the Year award away from Brooks & Dunn. It was the first time since 2000 the two-man pair hadn’t won, and only the second time since 1992.
Winning that was “sweetly surprising,” Nettles said. “It felt like it was a sign, not only of our growth, but more acceptance within the industry.”
The industry showed its support again in May, when Nettles became one of four solo songwriters — and the only woman — to win single and song of the year from the Academy of Country Music.
“It will be a long time before I really can emotionally grasp what it means to have won that award and what it means to be the only woman,” she said.
Nettles and Bush had been part of the music scene around Atlanta for 10 years before they got together. Both had experienced solid local success, releasing folk/rock albums, but national notoriety had eluded them.
They’re so close, some folks even ask if they’re married; they aren’t.
Bush is the married father of two; Nettles divorced in March of 2007.
“I didn’t get married in the spotlight, and I did not intend on getting divorced in the spotlight,” she said. “It was private and sacred to me, and when you hold something sacred, you keep it to yourself.”
Quite a contrast to her professional persona, where exposing her vulnerability has made Sugarland a household name. The singer seems almost fragile at times. But the real Nettles is smart, thoughtful and driven.
And she’s a savvy businesswoman. Sugarland used a unique marketing strategy by releasing a deluxe fan edition of “Love on the Inside” on July 22, which included “Life in a Northern Town,” the duo’s collaboration with Little Big Town and Jake Owen, and four other bonus tracks. Nettles is personally pleased with the project, but record sales would be nice too.
“I’m not wildly ambitious and I don’t want to take over the world, but I do want to get my craft and my message out to as many people as possible, and that it’s been received as well as it has is a gift.”
