Nettles is a country star and ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ host
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 during a video interview 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, okay, 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 week, 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 that 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 quests 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.”
Back in 2015, director Stephen Herek (“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “The Mighty Ducks”) was nervous when he first saw Nettles’s audition tape for NBC’s “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors,” the film based on Parton’s childhood in Tennessee. It looked like someone had coached her to act like she
was in a Broadway play, which wasn’t ideal for a made-for-TV movie.
An executive had strongly suggested that the production hire Nettles — it would be great for publicity — so even though she had little acting experience, Herek invited her to an in-person meeting. And he was blown away.
“She was incredible — she was like a savant,” Herek said, adding that Nettles, who played the role of young Dolly’s mother, absorbed his feedback immediately. He urged her to channel as much of herself as possible into the role. “She was a natural ... she was able to pick up on things very
quickly.”
Nettles remembers that she had to tamp down her natural inclination to play to the cheap seats, because in addition to touring arenas, she spent years in community theater and drama club when she was a teenager. She leveraged her love of musical theater into a limited Broadway engagement as Roxie Hart in “Chicago” in 2014, and returned to the stage in 2021 to briefly take over the lead role from Sara Bareilles in “Waitress,” which she calls “dreamlevel stuff.”
As she sharpened her acting skills while appearing on shows such as WGN’s “Underground” and
Harriet Tubman biopic “Harriet,” Nettles caught the attention of Danny McBride, creator of HBO’s televangelist sendup “The Righteous Gemstones.” He and his producers were looking for someone to play the late matriarch in flashback scenes, someone with a strong moral compass. When his casting director showed them a tape of Nettles, McBride said, he was immediately sold.
“There was something familiar about her — something relatable and accessible and warm and caring,” McBride said. “It instantly made you sad to think of her not being around anymore.”