Washington
01 August 2008
Award-winning Country duo Sugarland had its millions of fans in mind while working on the new album, "Love On The Inside." VOA's Mary Morningstar explains in this report.
Country duo Sugarland released a deluxe fan edition of Love On The Inside one week earlier than the album's standard version.
"I think this album is one for the fans for a number of reasons, " says lead singer Jennifer Nettles. "First of all, when we wrote it, we intentionally went back and looked and said, 'What turned us on to music first?' That being said, that's the way we actually approached the writing and the recording and the producing of this record. Then we wanted to take it one step further and offer to our fans something that was a little bit special and that's what we're doing; the deluxe release. It actually has five extra cuts on it to include 'Life In A Northern Town,' that everybody hadn't been able to get their hands on up until now, and it also has some video content on it as well that sort of shows a little peek into how we recorded this record, why we chose to record it the way that we did, and gives more insight into this idea of what it's like to be a fan for us."
A live version of Dream Academy's 1986 pop hit "Life In A Northern Town" was recorded during Sugarland's 2007 tour with Little Big Town and Jake Owen, who are also featured on the current Country hit.
Sugarland filled Love On The Inside with songs that deal with the many dimensions of love.
Jennifer says, "We were able to write all the way around the idea of love, and not just romantic love. It's real, three-dimensional love - the stages of love in your life in modern times."
The duo took a different approach in the making of their third album. Jennifer and her musical partner Kristian Bush had Nashville musicians travel to their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, to record the collection. And, to give the songs a live feel, all of the musicians performed together in the studio.
Jennifer feels that much of their success in the music business is the result of keeping a positive attitude in life
"You can translate it into whatever religion and organization that you want to," she says. "It even says that in the Christian faith, 'Ask and you shall receive.' Period. And so many religions say that what you put out there is what you get back. And it's true, so we want to put out there something that is positive. At the end of the day, it is what you make it."
Sugarland will spend the next several weeks performing at state fairs and festivals throughout the U.S. Then, on September 13, they'll begin a headlining tour with special guests Kellie Pickler and Ashton Shephard. A fan favorite at Sugarland's shows is watching Jennifer and Kristian 'crowd-surf' over the audience in huge inflatable balls.
The immediate success of Love On The Inside's first single, "All I Want To Do," led Sugarland's record company to release the album three months early. It took only eight weeks for this song to climb into the Country chart's Top 5.