“I didn’t choose country; country chose me,” Jennifer Nettles, the sassy twang vocalist for the country trio Sugarland, said. The subgenre of country music that Nettles calls “schizophrenic” is a combination of the gospel, rock and blues influence. “It’s called ‘new country,'” she added.
Nettles, guitarist Kristen Hall and mandolin player Kristian Bush have signed to the Mercury Records label and released an album called Twice the Speed of Life in a matter of three years.
Unlike many groups in the country genre, this Georgia-based group works together to write every song they put out. The first song they wrote together, “Baby Girl,” is a rags-to-riches tune about being away from home while trying to make it as a musician.
“It can be from the perspective of anyone away from home,” says Nettles. It was their first hit. The label released Twice the Speed of Life last fall.
Nettles’ late father-in-law inspired the song, “Something More,” a song about living life to the fullest and rejecting the mundane. She said that out of the grief of his loss, the group created a song that celebrates life.
Nettles began singing at age 7 in her school and church. When she was 17, she received her first guitar and started writing songs. During her college career at Agnes Scott College, she studied in Mexico and explored Central America with a major in anthropology and a minor in Spanish.
Drawing from the influences of Tori Amos and Emmylou Harris, she fronted her own band, which played for Lillith Fair. She also sang as a guest in Soul Miner’s Daughter.
Before the trio found each other, they were all experienced musicians. The Indigo Girls had listened to Hall, encouraging her to start making her music a career. Hall had written tunes for Sarah McLachlan and Shawn Colvin.
Bush was 4 years old when he began playing the violin. Drawing from The Police and The Replacements as influences, Bush produced two Atlantic Records albums with the duo Billy Pilgrim.
Hall was so overwhelmed the first time they played together, she cried. She said that music still changes her life every day, making her suddenly see the world differently.
Nettles said that performing is a collective experience.
“The whole performance energy exchange between my music and the change in the audience is incredible,” she said.
Sugarland will headline tomorrow night’s Old Main Music Festival after Robert Randolph and the Family Band and local singer-songwriter Brian Fuente.
Randolph, from New Jersey, plays an instrument that is rarely heard outside the South-the pedal steel guitar. The urban artist carries a tradition from the House of God Church.
Unclassified, Randolph’s album, is a fiery adventurous compilation of tunes somewhat echoing Stevie Wonder and Al Green.
Since solo artist Brian Fuente was 14, he has been performing live. At 21, the Mississippi native produced Sky Down Here, a poppy compilation that drew from rock ‘n’ roll and jazz.
When Fuente was a child, his mom was a jazz singer, and his dad played rock ‘n’ roll on a guitar. Randy Everett, who helped record for Stevie Wonder the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and the Williams Brothers, engineered Sky Down Here with Fuente. The album’s first track, “Temporary Sugar,” rotates in southeast radio stations.