CMT Blog: Sugarland

Here's something for country fans to look forward to: Toby Keith and Reba McEntire are returning to the racks this fall with new albums, along with Taylor Swift's Speak Now and new projects from LeAnn Rimes, Darius Rucker and Sugarland. The first big release in October will be Keith's Bullets in a Gun on Oct. 5. He's already pulled the trigger on its first single and video, "Trailerhood." Rimes' Lady and Gentleman will be presented that same day. Due Oct. 12, Rucker's Charleston, SC, 1966 takes its name from a seminal Radney Foster country album from 1992 that stamped Foster's hometown and birth year right into its title. A week later, Sugarland rolls in with The Incredible Machine, influenced in part by steampunk, an industrial science fiction/fantasy vision based in the Victorian era. (That explains this particularly striking photo.) As widely reported earlier this week, Swift's Speak Now is due worldwide on Oct. 25. For now, the last big release of the year will be McEntire's as-yet-untitled project, due Nov. 9. As always, release dates are subject to change. In the meantime, here's more information about August and September releases.

If you're a music fan with an interest in health and fitness, the new issue of Self magazine includes Lilith Fair performers like Martina McBride, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Sarah McLachlan, Colbie Caillat and Sheryl Crow in a special section called "Love Your Lilith," with 34 pages of artist interviews and stories. Nettles, by the way, tells Self that she doesn't go crazy about diet and exercise even when she's under such constant media scrutiny. "I love to eat and enjoy a glass of wine as much as the next gal, and I live my life so I don't feel slaved to what it is that I do for a living," she says. I love hearing that. So where can you find this mini-magazine? Go to the Lilipad tent at the shows for a free copy, or get the deluxe one with a 15-track CD and flower seeds at Walmart starting Aug. 3. Partnering with the companies who make tampons and pads makes sense, too. I think the VP of marketing for these brands said it best: "Stayfree, Carefree and o.b. aim to empower women by offering them confidence, comfort and protection in their everyday lives, to help them shine on their own personal stage." So, shine on, Lilith lovers.

If you feel like there aren't very many mainstream country artists releasing albums this summer, you're right. The next big project is Blake Shelton's second Six Pak on Aug. 10 -- which is coincidentally about six weeks away. Trace Adkins' Cowboy's Back in Town saddles up on Aug. 17, and Little Big Town is offering The Reason Why a week after that. Longtime country fans will be happy to hear that Joe Diffie, Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart have scheduled new albums in August as well. But it's not until after Labor Day that album racks will be thoroughly replenished with a bunch of new country music from the likes of Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Julianne Hough, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, LeAnn Rimes and Sugarland. I've heard rumblings about a bunch of other big-name artists, too, but no release dates have been announced. In the meantime, I guess it's never too early to start your Christmas list.

Let's start counting down the days, shall we? As of right now, there are 113 days until Sugarland's next album, The Incredible Machine, is released on Oct. 19. And it's about time. I was starting to wonder if the last track on 2008's Love on the Inside was truly the "Very Last Country Song." Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush co-wrote every song, including the upcoming single "Stuck Like Glue." Of that song, Nettles said, "It sticks in your brain, no pun intended. To me it feels young, hip and of course sassy! I can't wait for it to get out there so we can play it live in our show. We've been sitting on our hands to not play it live 'til it was released!" I'm with her. I can't wait either.

What do teenagers see in country music? There are so many country artists nominated for the Aug. 9 Teen Choice Awards show, I'm a little stumped. I mean, it's not like they can relate to all the songs the nominated artists sing. In case you haven't heard, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood and Gretchen Wilson are this year's nominees in the female country artist category. The male country nominees include Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and Keith Urban. And the country group nominees are Gloriana, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and the Zac Brown Band.

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I know it was the fans who voted for Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova," but Snooki totally loves that video, too. She told me so on the blue carpet before the CMT Music Awards last night. I asked the petite star, also known as Nicole Polizzi, of MTV's wildly popular Jersey Shore what her favorite video of all-time was, and she said, "That newer one where Carrie Underwood's all sexy? 'Cowboy Casanova.' That's my favorite one ever." Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino of Jersey Shore said he liked anything from Taylor Swift, Underwood or Faith Hill. It's too hard to pick one because he likes them all, he said -- like ice cream. And women.

I actually asked the same question to all the stars who approached me on the blue carpet and here's what they had to say:

Luke Bryan: Brooks & Dunn's "Believe"

Miranda Lambert: Blake Shelton's "Ol' Red" because it's like a mini movie and she kind of digs the singer.

Little Big Town: The band came to a unanimous decision that their favorite is Johnny Cash's "Hurt."

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I found this recent story on Gibson's website about how their acoustic guitars are the ones that create the most country sound. And I thought, "Well, of course they'd say that about their own guitars." But as I kept reading, I realized that the Gibson people are not the only ones who are crazy about Gibson guitars. Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum, Kristian Bush of Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Darius Rucker all tend to gravitate towards their acoustics.

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Did you watch ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn -- The Last Rodeo last night (May 23)? I hate that it was the so-called "Last Rodeo" because I hate to think of a world where Brooks & Dunn are not making music. But I do love love love that I got to watch 15 of my favorite country singers singing Brooks & Dunn songs. It was seriously all good, from top to bottom, but there were definitely a few stand-out moments.

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When a world-class country singer calls in for a phone interview, you are usually given an allotted time to chat. Five minutes, sometimes 10. But you rarely get to just talk and talk and talk. Yet this recent story from The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colo., makes it sound like Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles had all the time in the world.

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It sounds like Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles isn't totally crazy about Las Vegas. Particularly the cold casinos full of recycled cigarette smoke AND drunk adults. But she did have one really splendid day that she documented in her blog for "your voyeur within." She calls it "A Not-So-Day-In-The Life," and it outlines what she ate (egg white fritatta and a side of mixed berries for breakfast, fish tacos for lunch and cucumber water at the spa) and what she did (worked out, took a shower, got a wonderful massage, read, dozed, sent e-mails, then took another shower and let her hair air dry in the desert sun). It is like every woman's fantasy day. Although she admits that her disdain for Sin City may make her sound "like a complete and total itch-bay," I appreciate her candor -- and her willingness to not keep everything that happened in Vegas in Vegas.