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Country Duo Delivers Big Sound With Heart

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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 7, 2008

Artistic freedom doesn't come easy in Nashville, so the fact that Sugarland (Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles) co-produced its third album is not to be taken lightly.

But if "Love on the Inside" was a gamble for some Music City suit, it's a big creative payoff that likely will be a commercial one as well.

The album has the big, bright sound radio loves. The songs have the requisite catchy choruses. But they also have heart and muscle and smarts in quantities miles ahead of Nashville's average.

It's the little touches in Sugarland's songs that turn what could be cloying or cliche into something substantial. "Take Me As I Am" isn't just a blue-collar anthem, it's a story with a fully fleshed-out character. My name's Maggie Durant /Baby ain't that something Nettles sings with just the right balance of defiance and vulnerability.

Similarly, "The Last Country Song" scores with pinpoint details - I'm 40 years older today than she was in that picture there a woman muses while looking at a picture of her mother - it sums up what's powerful about country in its chorus:

If we knew what we had before it was gone

If every road led back home

This would be the very last country song

There's heartbreak ("Genevieve," "Joey") and humor ("It Happens," "Steve Earle"). There are liner notes that sometimes explain the songs and sometimes raise more questions. There's the sound of a duo determined to please its fans and push the envelope.

For a three-and-a-half-star album, pick up the "Deluxe Fan Edition" with five extra tracks including a live version of Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town" that is nothing short of heavenly.

Download this: "Take Me As I Am"

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