Sugarland will kick off their Still the Same Tour this Friday and Jennifer Nettles is excited about it because she says, “I love this part of our job. I love theater and I love putting on a show.”

While it’s been about five years since Sugarland has toured together, they both agree that it’s kind of like riding a bike.  Kristian Bush says, “It’s really weird because you trust somebody and you’ve trusted them for so long and then you get right back up into the, you know, you’re bungee jump and right off front of the stage and you trust them again you haven’t seen them in a while. You’re like, ‘We got this, right? Yeah we got this.’”

Jennifer agrees and says in some ways it’s almost like muscle memory to be performing again with her old partner, although sometimes those muscles get a little confused.  For instance, during one rehearsal for the tour she says, “There was one song whenever we were in rehearsal, that I was like, ‘Did I play 12 string acoustic on this?’ And Kristian was like, ‘You didn’t play anything on this,’ and I’m like, ‘Well in my mind I played 12 string acoustic, so maybe we should throw that in there.’  I don’t know maybe that was an inspiration coming from somewhere higher. But yeah, so there were a few of those moments like what, what … what is this? But for the most part yeah, muscle memory.”

For fans who are planning to attend the Still the Same Tour, they’ll get a combination of Sugarland’s new music, like the tour’s namesake, “Still the Same,” and their brand new single, “Babe.”  More than anything, Jennifer says, “What we want to do with (the tour) is invite you into another world. You can bring in your woes and your daily life but it isn’t your daily life, that nothing is required of you of that moment except to be present and to enjoy and to take in as you can.”

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Jennifer Nettles – “I love this part of our job. I love theater and I love putting on a show. One of the things I think that Sugarland does very well and what makes us stand out in many ways is that element of theater that you get to see in the production value of our shows. So, really what we want to do with that is invite you into another world. You can bring in your woes and your daily life but it isn’t your daily life, that nothing is required of you of that moment except to be present and to enjoy and to take in as you can. So we really try to create that, not only with the music and with the arc of the set list, but also with the visuals and the production element onstage.”

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Jennifer Nettles – “Yes.”

Kristian Bush – “Yes, it is. It’s really weird because you trust somebody and you’ve trusted them for so long and then you get right back up into the, you know, you’re bungee jump and right off front of the stage and you trust them again you haven’t seen them in a while. You’re like, ‘We got this, right? Yeah we got this.’”

Jennifer Nettles – “And it’s muscle memory too. I mean there were a few lyrics that I was like, wait what is this?  And then it was like, oh yeah. And then there was one song whenever we were in rehearsal, that I was like, ‘Did I play 12 string acoustic on this?’ And Kristian was like, ‘You didn’t play anything on this,’ and I’m like, ‘Well in my mind I played 12 string acoustic, so maybe we should throw that in there.’  I don’t know maybe that was an inspiration coming from somewhere higher. But yeah, so there were a few of those moments like what, what … what is this? But for the most part yeah, muscle memory.”