{"id":77488,"date":"2019-04-02T17:33:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T00:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=77488"},"modified":"2019-04-02T17:42:20","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T00:42:20","slug":"sugarland-rolls-into-ironstone-amphitheatre-on-july-24th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=77488","title":{"rendered":"Sugarland Rolls Into Ironstone Amphitheatre on July 24th"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Murphys, CA&#8230;To hear Jennifer Nettles tell it, it\u2019s a brand new day in Sugarland. Despite winning multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards\u2014and selling more than 8 million records\u2014the country-music duo of Nettles and Kristian Bush is embracing a creative rebirth, a musical awakening that permeates their adventurous fourth album, The Incredible Machine.  \u201cWe are in a place of discovery,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cIt is the essence of who we are as people in this band. There is never a moment where we think, \u2018This is good enough.\u2019 There\u2019s always a place for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ironstoneamphitheatre.net\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52529-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"362\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52529-PM.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52529-PM-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52529-PM-123x70.jpg 123w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52529-PM-570x322.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ironstoneamphitheatre.net\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77489\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM-123x70.jpg 123w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM-570x320.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l25AL0BdD6w\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A growth that Kristian says has been encouraged by their fans, their record label, and, most importantly, by the genre-bending, all-are-welcome country-music industry. \u201cIt\u2019s as if the industry and the culture have singled out the biggest risks we\u2019ve taken on a record, a song like \u2018Stay\u2019 for example, and celebrated those,\u201d he says gratefully. \u201cThey\u2019ve embraced us at those times. We\u2019ve tried to learn from that and this is what we\u2019ve made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what they\u2019ve created is a dynamic masterwork. Co-written and co-produced in full by Jennifer and Kristian, The Incredible Machine is a soaring album elevated by sky-high choruses, ringing guitars, and pulsing drums that recall the beating of the album\u2019s titular engine, the human heart. <\/p>\n<p>Kristian describes it as a collection of anthems\u2014and there may be no greater understatement. If the duo was searching for the grander side of country on their last record, the double platinum Love on the Inside, they\u2019ve obviously found it on The Incredible Machine. From the fanfare of the album\u2019s opener \u201cAll We Are\u201d to Jennifer\u2019s sublime piano-ballad closer \u201cShine the Light,\u201d this is an album built for stadiums. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis record is designed to play in very large places and to communicate with a large group of people,\u201d Kristian confirms. \u201cWhen you have an instrument as powerful and as graceful as Jennifer\u2019s voice, you don\u2019t want to tip-toe in. You really go for it! And those types of songs are often where Jennifer and I intersect musically.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In fact, the pair found shared inspiration in the iconic music and films of the 1980s, their growing-up years. \u201cWe allowed ourselves to play with our influences,\u201d Jennifer admits. As such, the coming-of-age movies by director John Hughes and songs by Blondie, Peter Gabriel, The Pretenders and even The Clash all helped fire up the Machine. \u201cWhen we were writing, we asked what if John Hughes were making movies now&#8230;. Who would be on the soundtrack?\u201d Kristian says, going on to connect the dots between rebellious country and rebellious rock. \u201cIf you dig far enough you\u2019re going to see that The Clash and Johnny Cash had a lot in common. I like to live right where those guys meet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a song like the joyous \u201cFind the Beat Again,\u201d for instance, Jennifer reminds the heavy-hearted among us that nothing lasts forever, while Kristian\u2019s siren-like guitar sound\u2014a technique he adapted from The Clash, he says\u2014pushes the song toward its climax. <\/p>\n<p>Or the call-to-arms \u201cStand Up,\u201d in which the band exhorts listeners to \u201cuse your voice.\u201d A tale of personal empowerment, the track is almost heroic in its message. It\u2019s also one of two songs on the album to showcase Kristian\u2019s voice. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many people have really ever heard me sing before,\u201d he says of his lead verse. \u201cFor fans of the band, it\u2019s like a whole new layer is peeled back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll We Are\u201d is equally triumphant. A rallying cry of sorts, it culminates in a mass of melodies folding upon one another. The result is breathtaking, a musical equation so intricate that it solidifies the duo\u2019s ability to write complex fare as well as breezy, winking tunes like first single \u201cStuck like Glue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe write songs for different reasons. There are some songs that we want to change your life and there are some that we just want to change your day. That\u2019s what \u2018Stuck like Glue\u2019 is,\u201d Jennifer laughs. \u201cWe don\u2019t take ourselves too seriously, and that\u2019s what fans love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They also flock to Jennifer\u2019s knack for finding the voice of everywoman\u2014or even everyman. One of Sugarland\u2019s many gifts is their ability to write lyrics that transcend gender, like in their 2004 breakout hit \u201cBaby Girl.\u201d On The Incredible Machine, the proof is in the acoustic \u201cLittle Miss,\u201d a profile of a woman who tries to handle everything, all by herself. \u201cI saw my mom as that person. I see pieces of it in my own daughter. Jennifer is certainly one of those women,\u201d Kristian says. <\/p>\n<p>Aside from the powerhouse rocker \u201cWide Open,\u201d written specifically for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, \u201cLittle Miss\u201d is one of the record\u2019s earliest penned tracks. \u201cWe were at a festival over a year ago and I was on the bus doing my makeup while Kristian was warming up,\u201d recalls Jennifer. \u201cI was wearing a checkered dress and he started playing this lick and singing, \u2018Little Miss checkered dress.\u2019 I popped my head out and sang, \u2018Little Miss one big mess!\u2019 The way that song was discovered was fun and really beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And the band is confident that fans, old and new alike, will have a similar experience as they discover the gears and cogs of The Incredible Machine\u2014a country record, a pop record, an anthem record, a ballad record, but above all, an authentic record. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just the two of us,\u201d says Kristian. \u201cIn the story of who we are, this album is more us than we\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer agrees and says the band\u2019s rebirth is best summed up in the gentle, searching words of the album\u2019s title track: Feels like I\u2019m flying, wings made of light\/brand new and shinin\u2019, like a shot rung out through the night. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a wonderful metaphor and image for this newly emerging creature that Sugarland is right now, with these vulnerable but beautiful wings. The Incredible Machine is definitely us, but at the same time, there is something very precious and new,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd we want to show it to the world!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Murphys, CA&#8230;To hear Jennifer Nettles tell it, it\u2019s a brand new day in Sugarland. Despite winning multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards\u2014and selling more than 8 million records\u2014the country-music duo of Nettles and Kristian Bush is embracing a creative rebirth, a musical awakening that permeates their adventurous fourth album, The Incredible Machine. \u201cWe are in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,19,20,4,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-life-style","category-murphys","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-422019-52537-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}