Sugarland – Love on the Inside

I think I love Sugarland. It took me a while to get here, despite the fact that I’ve been listening to them even before they shot to fame with their debut Twice the Speed of Life and the singles “Something more” and “Baby girl.” The thing is, lead singer and songwriter Jennifer Nettles is something of a genius. She has been ever since she and fellow singer/songwriter Cory Jones formed the Athens-band Soul Miner’s Daughter. They released two albums, Sacred & Profane and Hallelujah independently, both a mix of songs written separately and performed together. However, it was Nettles that kept me listening.

Seeing them perform at Atlanta’s Midtown Music Festival was positively exhilarating but still nothing as amazing as a couple of years later when she led the newly formed Jennifer Nettles Band at yet another music festival. It was with this band that she released two brilliant albums, The Story of My Bones and Gravity: Drag Me Down, as well as an album of newly recorded versions of her SMD songs, Rewind. Her performance in Athens was utterly magnetic. You could not believe the amount of charisma that surrounded her, the talent inherit in her work and in fact, the love that beamed off of that stage into an audience that shook their asses on a night that was “as hot as Atlanta burnin’.”

Her songs explored the romance and the rocky sides of relationships as well as the record business. Both her work with SMD and as the Jennifer Nettles Band was filled with Southern rock, that gorgeous bluesy voice, her brassy attitude and yes, a flavor of country that could make you think of your Granny’s biscuits and gravy. So her decision to enter the arena of country music wasn’t a complete shock. It was after all, there in her music all along. In 2002, Nettles joined another couple of Atlanta music heroes, acclaimed singer/songwriter Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush of the band Billy Pilgrim, and decided that the best genre for singer/songwriters was country. They recorded an album called Premium Quality Tunes and sold it independently. Two years later, several songs from that album ended up on their big-label debut, Twice the Speed of Life, which became a giant hit. My Granny even talked about Sugarland.

As a big supporter of Nettles, I had gotten both albums. I liked some of what I heard, but it was also disappointing to feel that she wasn’t living up to her potential. There was such an edge to her earlier music; it could be so astounding and so beautifully dark—would she be able to explore these themes in the realm of country music?

In 2006, Enjoy the Ride was released and the band (no longer including Hall) seemed to have perfected that great anthemic country sound found in “Something More,” this time with the great single, “Settlin’.” It was clear that they had found their niche and were sticking to it. I have to admit, I still missed the Jennifer Nettles I had grown to love. However, I also liked this new stuff. And then I heard “Stay.” It’s a ballad about a cheating man. Only it’s sung from the perspective of the other woman. It’s simply a gorgeous, amazing song. In fact, it won country music’s CMA award for the best song of the year making Nettles the second female songwriter to win that award on her own.

Now, two years later (right on schedule!) there’s Love on the Inside. This time, the first anthemic single is “All I Want to Do,” and I have to say it’s the catchiest song you’re bound to hear all summer. It’s one of a couple of songs that feel like they could be hit sing-alongs, along with “Take Me As I Am” and “We Run.” But a few songs down you’ll hear “Joey,” a surprisingly moving song that actually made me think of a song of the same name by rock band Concrete Blonde. (It’s followed by the great “Love,” which for some reason also made me think of another Concrete Blonde track, “I Call it Love.” Odd.) The best song on the album has to be the finale, “The Very Last Country Song.” Not only is it a sweet ballad, but it manages to capture exactly what country music can mean to so many people, listening to some old song while looking through a box of family photos…

“If life stayed the way it was/And lovers never fell out of love/If memories didn’t last so long/If nobody did nobody wrong/If we knew what we had before it was gone/If every road led back home/This would be/The very last country song.”

I think this is when I realized that the talented firebrand who knocked me off of my feet ten years ago is still making music worth listening to. She’s just exploring different territory. I can’t wait to see what else she can do well.

(NOTE: There is a special fan version of the album available that includes extra tracks. If at all possible, you should give a listen to the live cover of the 80s classic, “Life in a Northern Town” as well as one of Matt Nathanson’s “Come On Get Higher.”)

Rick@picturesandframesmagazine.com

Bajofondo – Mar Dulce

Formally know as Bajofondo Tango Club, Bajofondo recently decided to shorten their name to make a statement: They wanted the world to know that they have more to offer than just electrotango. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, electrotango is part of a movement know as “nuevo tango,” a fusion of various genres with traditional Argentine Tango. Electrotango mixes the elements of French house, trip-hop, chill out, drum and bass and tango. The father of nuevo tango is Ástor Piazzolla, who revolutionized tango by combining his Jazz and classical influences, creating a brand new genre that sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. Piazzolla is one of my favorite composers/performers of all time; his music is innovative, passionate and stunningly beautiful. His work was the beginning of nuevo tango, a movement that has shown endless musical possibilities.

Bajofondo takes the best elements of electrotango and adds the traditional nuevo tango feel combining pop, rock, hip hop, electronica, jazz, classical and tango in a creative and seemingly flawless manner. Headed by two-time Oscar and eleven-time Grammy winner Gustavo Santaolalla, along with seven other incredibly talented musicians, Bajofondo is both a culturally and musically diverse band of artists from Argentina and Uruguay. Their first album Bajofondo Tango Club won a Latin Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Six years later Bajofondo brings us their second studio album titled Mar Dulce, which features performances by Elvis Costello, Nelly Furtado, Julieta Venegas, Gustavo Cerati, Ryota Komatsu, La Mala Rodriguez, Santullo, Juan Subira and the final recorded performance of the legendary Uruguayan tango diva Lagrima Rios. To use the phrase “larger than life” is an understatement; press play and you will be transported to a chic nightclub in downtown Buenos Aires. Listen while the sultry vocals, a sensuous bandoneón, flying string lines and sampled drum beats romance the dance floor. So order your favorite drink, get comfortable and enjoy the tango of our generation.

Juanmarcos@picturesandframesmagazine.com

Duffy - Rockferry

Duffy (a.k.a Aimee Anne Duffy) is a 24-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter and a shining representative of an alive and fierce female British brigade of retro revivalists/neo-soul wave makers in pop music. With comparisons often made to Amy Winehouse and bunched with new hit makers "Chasing Pavements" Adele and "American Boy" Estelle, Duffy has composed a particularly romantic, free-flowing and beautiful time-transportive escape in Rockferry. While fun, sultry first cut, "Mercy," has rocked radio airwaves at number one, Duffy's sound seems more naturally ripe, assured, charming, and smooth jazz-like than her counterparts. (It doesn't hurt that she might also be the prettiest.)

Definitely a positive, pure voice to insert deliciously into your play lists this summer, Duffy is perfect for the bliss of lazy, warm saunters, breezy jet setting and certainly all kinds of magical daydreaming, sentimental reminiscing and empowering reflection. All threaded with love, of course.

“Even when you see me frown/my heart won't let me down/because I know there's better things to come (whoa yeah)/And when life gets tough/I feel I've had enough/I hold on to a distant star.

I'm thinking about/all the things/I'd like to do in my life... /I'm a dreamer/A distant dreamer/dreaming for hope from today.”

"Distant Dreamer," from Rockferry

Jehan@picturesandframesmagazine.com