There is a lot at stake for
Sugarland on their sophomore outing,
Enjoy the Ride. First, there's the fact that their first release,
Twice the Speed of Life, was a multi-platinum success. Its singles and videos drove the record outside country music's audience to appeal to a degree to mainstream rock & roll listeners who didn't mind at all when vocalist/songwriter
Jennifer Nettles appeared in a duet with
Jon Bon Jovi on a video of
Bon Jovi's "Who Says You Can't Go Home." Secondly, there is the "sophomore jinx," which tends to plague many celebrated acts whose debut albums are successful -- especially beyond expectations. Thirdly,
Sugarland were formed by songwriters
Kristen Hall and
Kristian Bush, who heard
Nettles and asked her to join the band.
Hall wrote or co-wrote everything on the band's debut -- though
Bush and
Nettles are serious songwriters in their own right (see below).
Hall left the band suddenly and somewhat mysteriously at the beginning of 2006, issuing a gentle yet terse statement that the life of the road and high visibility weren't for her and she wished to concentrate on being a songwriter. She wished
Bush and
Nettles well and graciously thanked them. Her name only appears on one track on
Enjoy the Ride, the album's final cut, "Sugarland," and is nowhere mentioned in the voluminous "thank-yous" on the credits page. Hmmm....