Country Mike Blog

New Sugarland album

Mike Sudhalter  |  July 24, 2008

I bought the new Sugarland album, "Love On The Inside", yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if its the acoustic set-up of several tracks, but it feels like Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush are singing right in front of you.

I also like the fact that they included a deluxe package for $9.99 - 17 songs plus video content as well. Although I did have to search to get that bargain price. I'll let you smart consumers to the same search.

There are also quite a few one-word titles for songs, which I think bodes well for an album, because usually that means those songs are creative. On this album, you have "Joey", "Love", "Genevieve", and "Wishing."

Sometimes, traditionalists criticize those who come to the country genre from others. I think the energy and songwriting that Nettles brings from the independent rock scene is definitely a welcome breath of fresh air. She's got the twang, the vocals and the appeal to be a country star on her own if she wanted to. But the whole Sugarland things works out well.

I wonder if longtime fans of the band think the band is better off without Kristen Hall or not? The work that they're currently doing sounds a lot more mature than the slicked-up sound of "Baby Girl," their first radio hit. But it seems they've earned the right to flex their creative muscle a little bit, and the Nashville establishment should be glad.

What the establishment won't happy to see is a song called "Steve Earle," in which Nettles sings to the subject of the song, to please write a song about her. In one part of the song, she talks for about 20 seconds before returning to the singing part.

"Life In A Northern Town" was quite a nice collaboration between Sugarland, Little Big Town and Jake Owen. I wish more bands that toured together treated their fans to performing songs together at the end of the show and then marketing them as singles.

I mean, the fans, entertainers and therefore, record companies, would all win.