When Kristian Bush contemplated turning 52 earlier this year, he decided to mark the occasion by releasing 52 songs in one year. He ultimately decided to break the songs up into four albums, which each began to take on a life of their own as he created them.
Kristian Bush – ATL x BNA :40
“When I was putting together 52, the first installation of it, ATL x BNA, which was the first album, it was a totally different experiment. It’s a beautiful experiment asking the question, what happens when you write the songs in Nashville and go to Atlanta and record with an R&B band. When you take people who are incredible craftsmen at lyric and you combine it with people that are incredible craftsmen with their instrument, and they’re both top of their game. And when you listen to that record it’s like a line, and on one side of the line is, this totally worked and it sounds R&B, and on the right side it totally worked and it sounds country. And somewhere in between, you’ll find your favorite mix of salty and sweet.”
Before embarking on his 52 journey, Kristian thought he had all of the songs chosen for the four albums, but as each album took shape, he ended up swapping out songs and even writing new ones to complete each project. He released album number two of four back on June 24th.
Kristian Bush – In the Key of Summer :19
“The next one was In The Key of Summer, and it’s essentially what you would expect from me as a follow up to my solo album, Southern Gravity, which is me writing Post-it notes to myself, is what Southern Gravity was, to remind me that it’s all gonna be okay. And In The Key of Summer is to remind you that it’s gonna be okay, rather than just myself.”
While Kristian is best known to country music fans as a member of Sugarland, his career in music actually began a few decades ago in the 90s, when the style and production and creation of music in that era had a more profound impact on him than he ever realized. It wasn’t until Kristian began creating the third album in his 52 project, New Blue, that he realized all the music he has been a part of creating in his career, whether in his rock bands, as part of Sugarland, or as a solo artist, that the influence the 90s had on him as a creator is woven into all of it.
Kristian Bush – New Blue 1:50
“This third one, it’s called New Blue, and I was trying to actually make a love record. I wanted a record of love songs. And every time I tried to put it together there was always like, a speck of something in it that was like a shiny piece of metal stuck in my very beautiful picture. And I was like, ‘What is that doing there?’ And then the more I kept lookin’ at it, the more I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that sounds like a 90’s song.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, you know what? Have I been just using all of these strange things I learned from like 1992 to 1999?’ What I found is that when you are coming of age as an artist, not as a teenager but as an artist, you will learn things that you won’t realize you learned. You just think they were always there. I just happened to come up at a time where I was unwilling to admit, because I reinvent so often, that that’s been there the whole time. So, New Blue is me just saying, ‘Oh, by the way, I don’t know how much you remember, but I was there. I was there at the beginning of Sheryl Crow. I was there at the beginning of Counting Crows. I opened for Nirvana and the Melvins. I have an entire life of music knowledge that I never admit is happening all the time, and I use it in every Sugarland song, I use it every time I walk on stage. I use it every time I produce another artist. And I have been somehow hiding it from myself, so that I wouldn’t be bending over and showing you my 90’s while I’m picking up my phone, you know. So, I thought, why not just embrace it for a second. And I found so much joy in putting together New Blue because I embraced some of these things that I learned that I was unwilling to admit. And now that I have, and now that you know this, you’ll hear the music differently.”
New Blue was just released on September 30. Kristian Bush will release the fourth and final album of the 52 collection later this year.