It’s Official: Sugarland Are Returning With New Music!
Sugarland are getting back together! The duo, made up of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, released five studio albums between 2004 and 2010 before taking a break to focus on their solo careers. But after hinting at a possible reunion on Wednesday night (Nov. 8), while giving the Vocal Duo of the Year trophy to Brothers Osborne at the 2017 CMA Awards, the pair has announced that they are working on a new record.
Per an email to media members from Big Machine Label Group, Sugarland are expected to make an announcement "in the coming weeks" about new music. The email does not provide any further details about the music, or about Nettles and Bush's timeline. Sugarland were previously signed with UMG Nashville.
Sugarland’s last album, The Incredible Machine, was released in 2010; the record spawned three singles, including the multi-platinum hit “Stuck Like Glue.” But after the release of The Incredible Machine and the devastating stage collapse that occurred during one of the duo's concerts, at the Indiana State Fair, in 2011, Bush and Nettles decided to take a break. Both singers released their own projects: Nettles released That Girl in 2014 and Playing With Fire in 2016, while Bush released Southern Gravity in 2015. Although they pursued endeavors on their own, both artists have always said they hoped to reunite someday.
“That project’s beginning time is really up to Jennifer,” Bush shared with The Boot earlier this year. “That’s really [because of] the nature of how radio works: Her voice, as the lead singer of the band, is the voice that kind of defines it. And if she’s working a solo project, it’s very difficult, probably for a listener, to tell the difference [between a solo single and a Sugarland single]. So we as a band can’t do anything until Jen decides to do it.”
Nettles also used Sugarland's hiatus to pursue an acting career. During the time, the 43-year-old appeared in, among other projects, both Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors made-for-TV movie and its sequel, Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love. In both movies, she played Parton’s mother, Avie Lee Parton.