Sugarland: Twice the Speed of Life

Sugarland are a country supergroup, with a big-haired, big-voiced singer (Jennifer Nettles who also co-writes) and two other songwriters - one of whom, Kristian Bush, is one-half of Billy Pilgrim, and the other, Kristen Hall, has released a couple of solo albums.

Busy, busy people who are certainly not fresh out of the egg, but Twice the Speed of Life is fresh, jaunty, polished (produced by Garth Fundis), and right up my street. Saw them performing "Something More" on the CMA awards and had to get the album.

The back story is interesting. Kristen Hall was sick of baring her soul every night, singing deeply personal songs; so she called Kristian Bush, who was coincidentally starting to think of Billy Pilgrim of more hard work than fun. In other words, this is a case of two songwriters probably sick of the sound of their own voices, who wanted a front. Enter Jennifer Nettles, who clearly has a lot of front, and the voice to match.

I think this is great, a good, commercial country rock record stuffed with corking songs. If you've got sound on your 'puter, head over to the Sugarland web site, which will play some of the album at you as you browse (works if you leave it on a tab in the background). They're on tour with Brad Paisley and Sara Evans at the moment: now, that's a gig I'd like to see.