Country star Nettles loves hosting ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’
Jennifer Nettles has one of the most expressive voices in country music, but she can also say a lot with just a look. When asked whether anyone ever tried to dissuade her from expanding her career beyond music, she leaned into the camera with a meaningful, deadpan expression on her face.
“All. The. Time.”
After all, once you’re part of a Grammy-winning duo that sold millions of albums, what more could you want? That is certainly the thinking among a certain set in country music, which can get territorial with its stars. It was one thing when Nettles, 48, embarked on solo projects more than a decade after conquering Nashville with her Sugarland duo partner, Kristian Bush. It was quite another when Nettles decided she wanted to try acting. And Broadway. And reality TV.
“It’s hard whenever you feel like, OK, I’m branching out over here, I’m going solo over there, I’m doing this over here. And some people are still like, ‘One half of the country duo Sugarland!’” Nettles said, imitating a deep broadcaster voice. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I love that. But, guys, I’ve done so many other things.’”
In an ideal world, Nettles’s dream career is a combination of on-camera work and live theater and music, or as she puts it: “If Barbra Streisand and Lin-Manuel [Miranda] and Linda Ronstadt were a throuple and had a baby – that’s the career that I want.”
As of this now, that mix includes a gig as host of Fox’s new reality dating show “Farmer Wants a Wife.” When she was first presented with the opportunity from her agents, she responded with an immediate
“no.” She had no interest in a series where, she assumed, a bunch of aspiring influencers would try to create scandalous moments to extend their 15 minutes of fame.
But then Nettles watched the Australian version (the show has aired in more than 30 countries, including the United States on the CW in 2008) and found the premise – pairing up women from “the big city” with farmers from small towns where dating is a struggle – more genuine than she expected. Nettles, who was born and raised in rural southern Georgia and now lives in New York City, liked the idea of being a “facilitator” of that potential love story. (Fox says the show has resulted in 180 marriages and
410 children worldwide.) Mostly, it just sounded fun.
“We did a rodeo, we did a demolition derby, we did a barn dance,” Nettles said, ticking off activities the contestants participated in during their quest to find love. “To get to be a part of a story happening in real time, in someone else’s story, I think that that’s what we’re all looking for when we watch these shows. … We’re really all looking to feel seen and to see some of ourselves in other people. I think it’s very rewarding to get to be a part of a different kind of storytelling.”
So, no, maybe back when her band got its big break with the smash hit “Baby Girl” nearly two decades ago and was nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, Nettles didn’t expect she would one day host a show where she would cheerfully announce to a barn full of women, “Who’s ready to fall for a farmer?!” But she finds it delightful that her career leads her to unexpected places, even if people reflexively see her and think “Sugarland.”
“People remember you from where they first saw you. … It’s like they remember you where they imprint on it, and sometimes want to keep you in it,” Nettles said. “But I’m sorry. I can’t stay in one place.”
Though fans are always curious about the status of Sugarland, Nettles said that she and bandmate Bush started working together organically, and at the moment they are just as organically focused on their own careers. Nettles revealed recently that she’s joining the upcoming reboot of “The Exorcist,” and right now she is hoping people really enjoy “Farmer Wants a Wife,” a show that she promises is far more authentic than similar dating shows, particularly with the participants.
“Their hearts are in it for the right reasons. They’re curious, and they’re open, and they want adventure, and they want something new, and they want to ask the hard questions, you know: ‘What are you willing to do for love? What are you willing to risk? Are you willing to change your life?’” Nettles said.
The latter is something Nettles can relate to – she noted that some of the earliest Sugarland songs were all about reinvention and a woman changing her life in one way or another, which brings a neat, full-circle moment to her current path of exploring everything.
“All of those messages, while they’re in different contexts, are ones of expansion, growth and change,” she said. “And that’s what I’m doing in my life.”