STEPPING OUT FROM SUGARLAND
Kristian Bush’s new solo project on tap at Lincoln Park Zoo show
Atrue Southern gentleman always lets the lady go first. Smiles at her successes and comforts her amongst her defeats. Allows his dear lady the chance to enjoy her solo turn in the spotlight. Until, of course, it’s his turn. It’s Kristian Bush’s turn. After spending years as the hat-wearing half of the platinumselling country duo Sugarland, Bush is now putting the finishing touches on his first-ever solo album, titled “Southern Gravity.”
“I understand the fear of reinvention,” says Bush, fresh off rehearsal time for his Put Your Soul in It solo tour. “I’ve seen it and felt it many times. But what I have felt in the last couple years is more about unplaced energy. [Sugarland’s] Jennifer [Nettles] came to me and said she wanted to have a baby and she wanted to do a solo record, and without conscious thought, all of this music that had been in my head became real.”
Referring to “Southern Gravity” as a “mainstream country record that is meant to be played on the radio,” Bush says he has been inundated with song ideas since beginning to ponder his solo record, saying that he had written at least 300 songs for the new project.
“I went from writing a song a month to writing a song every other day,” says Bush, who is working alongside longtime Sugarland producer Byron Gallimore on his solo project. “It definitely took me by surprise. It was a very compulsive and strange feeling. Heck, I thought might have a disease or something. At the time, Jennifer didn’t have her record even started yet and I didn’t have a publisher, so there was nowhere for these songs to go. So rather than leave them on paper or as a voice memo on my phone, I went straight into the studio.”
Bush says his biggest hurdle at the moment is reintroducing himself to fans who might recognize him but have no clue that the guy has a powerhouse of a voice.
“When picking the songs for this record, I have been very conscious that these are the songs that I will be performing live for people that really have never heard me sing,” explains Bush. “I want these songs to be the kind of songs that I can teach you and have you singing along with me by the second chorus.”
Coming to Chicago to headline Lincoln Park Zoo’s “Jammin’ at the Zoo,” Bush says he continues to follow the formula that brought Sugarland so much success— which has much to do with following one’s gut.
“I’ve had this pattern where the last song of the project is the one I find myself going back to,” says Bush, whose single “Trailer Hitch” will be released toward the end of July. “‘Stuck Like Glue’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’ were the last songs of the last few Sugarland projects. By the last song, the album is done, the pressure is off and now I want to have some fun.”