Friday, June 29, 7 p.m.
TaxSlayer Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline IL
Winners of two Grammy Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, and six Country Music Association Awards, the chart-topping Sugarland duo plays a June 29 TaxSlayer Center concert on the musicians' “Still the Same Tour,” treating fans to beloved hits – including “Baby Girl,” “All I Want to Do,” and “It Happens” – from more than a decade of recording and sold-out amphitheater events.
Composed of singer/songwriter Jennifer Nettles and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kristian Bush, Sugarland began in 2002 as a trio from the Atlanta area, with Nettles and Hall collaborating with Kristen Hall, who had already released two solo albums on Windham Hill Records. The three musicians independently released Premium Quality Tunes, an EP of demo recordings, and in 2004 signed with Mercury Nashville, the studio that released Sugarland's Twice the Speed of Life later that year. The album became a multi-platinum seller, and its debut single “Baby Girl” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart – the highest-charting debut single for a country group in 13 years, and a song that set a record for the longest country-chart run since the 1990 inception of Nielsen SoundScan. After Hall, in 2005, left the group to resume her solo career, Sugarland's second full-length record Enjoy the Ride emerged as a triple-platinum country and pop smash in 2006, hitting number two on Billboard's U.S. Country charts and number four on Billboard's Top 200.
Bona-fide chart toppers landed with 2008's Love on the Inside and 2010's The Incredible Machine, and to date, five of Sugarland's singles have peaked at number one, among them “Want To,” “Settlin',” and “Already Gone.” In 2013, the band went on hiatus while Bush released the solo single “Love or Money” and Nettles released the solo album That Girl. But the pair announced their reunion at the Country Music Association Awards in 2017, releasing the new single “Still the Same” in December of that year, and are currently touring in support of their new album – and their first in eight years – Bigger, which is scheduled for release on June 8.
Sugarland performs its June 29 concert alongside special guests Brandy Clark and Clare Bowen, and admission to the 7 p.m. show is $31.50-101. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit TaxSlayerCenter.com.
