Kristian Bush
Kristian Merrill Bush is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra. In addition to his work in these two groups, Bush released one solo album, Southern Gravity, via Streamsound Records in 2015, and four solo albums via Big Machine Records, 52 ATL x BNA, 52 | In The Key Of Summer, 52 | New Blue, and 52 | This Year in 2022 and 2023. In 2023 Bush also released an EP titled Drink Happy Thoughts on his own label Songs Of The Architect.
Early life
Kristian Bush was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bush was raised outside of Knoxville in Sevierville, Tennessee, a small town at the base of the Smoky Mountains that was also the hometown of Dolly Parton. He is the great great grandson of A.J. Bush, founder of Bush Brothers and Company; it was expected for him to run a cannery. He was exposed to instruments from an early age, and picked up his first violin at age 4. During these early years, Bush, alongside younger brother Brandon, made his musical debut at the local Bush Beans Jamboree performing as Parton's opening act. His grandparents made a "weird deal" when he was 12 and lost the Bush Brothers company, a deal they were ultimately bitter about, but it allowed Bush to grow up and be whatever he wanted.Throughout childhood, Bush was enrolled in violin lessons and classically trained under the Suzuki method at the University of Tennessee. The family eventually relocated to Knoxville and by age 11, Bush agreed to play one season in the Knoxville Youth Symphony, before earning the right to lay the violin down for good and start learning the guitar. As a teenager, Bush stuck with the guitar and began to create original music. It wasn't long before he was writing his own songs and recording homemade albums. He did swimmer electives throughout high school and college, and would write music in his head to the rhythm of his swimming strokes.
Bush attended Avon Old Farms Boarding School in Avon, Connecticut, graduating in 1988. He then attended Emory University in Atlanta, earning a degree in Creative Writing. During college, Bush began to connect with Atlanta's growing music scene, often begging his way into clubs, witnessing first-hand success from bands like R.E.M. and the Indigo Girls.
Musical career
While attending Emory University, Bush was the lead singer and guitarist in the rock band Storyteller, with fellow Emory students Chris "Tex" Nolter and Jon Slatkin. Storyteller covered the Replacement's "I Can't Wait”, Rod Stewart's "Maggie May”, The English Beat's "Mirror in the Bathroom", and Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says”, among other songs, and they performed at numerous bars, campus events and parties in Atlanta.To date, Bush has won six BMI Awards for his songwriting abilities, and in 2011 he founded the music publishing company and songwriting collective Songs of the Architect. Recent producing and songwriting collaborations include Ellis Paul, Laura Bell Bundy, Matt Nathanson, the dB’s, Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls, Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale, and up-and-comers including Kristina Train, Larkin Poe, Canaan Smith, Lauren Alaina, Jaida Dreyer and Alana Springsteen.
1990–2001: Billy Pilgrim
Shortly after completing college, Bush introduced himself to Atlanta songwriter Andrew Hyra and his sister Annie, who were performing at a club in Knoxville; the two had recently moved there after completing college. In 1990, Bush played guitar and sang backup vocals on Big Back Porch Songs, an album by the Hyras. Big Back Porch Songs was never released but Bush was given a copy. Bush released an album shortly afterwards, Politics and Pocketchange, which the Hyras were featured on. Bush and Andrew Hyra began performing together using connections that Bush made from his time in Storyteller, writing original songs in the meantime. The Hyras had made plans for future performances, but Annie had accepted a job in Miami, Florida; Bush replaced her.After a year of performing, the two drove to Knoxville where they rented two days of studio time, where they recorded 14 original songs, assisted by their producer Danny Browns. The two released their first album together in 1991, St. Christopher's Crossing, independently under the credit Andrew Hyra and Kristian Bush. They continued performing shows in southeastern college towns, and Bush reached out to various talent agents with their demos; Jen Stark, an intern at Atlantic Records, received a copy, which resulted in commotion about them amongst the company. An indie label, Sister Ruby, expressed interest in the duo, and the two made another album for the label; it emphasized songs that weren't used for St. Christophers's Crossing, which were quieter songs that couldn't be played in loud clubs. The album was called Words Like Numbers. Bush cited a large improvement between the two albums, because "with St. Christopher's we didn't think, we just did it. This time we had several weeks to think about what we were recording." The album was a success in garnering attention; Atlantic Records held a release party for the two, and they were signed to the label that night, in New York. The duo name was officially changed to Billy Pilgrim, named after a character from Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
The duo released the self-titled album Billy Pilgrim in 1994, in association with producer Hugh Padgham, who had a group of London musicians overdub the master with additional instruments. Although the album itself received little attention, "Get Me Out Of Here" and "Insomniac", two songs on the album were, receiving heavy airplay on AAA radio. In 1995 they opened on a worldwide tour for Melissa Etheridge, but copies for Billy Pilgrim weren't made in time to be promoted throughout it. To increase their momentum, Atlantic Records made the two record another album in December 1994; unprepared, they scrambled to write new material two weeks ahead of the date of recording. They were paired with a group of veteran musicians who emphasized sounds that took away from their original music. Their second album, Bloom, released in 1995. The lead single "Sweet Louisiana Sound" was a critical and commercial success, making a full rotation on VH1. At their peak they "traveled all over the world together, just with two acoustic guitars and two voices."
Sales for Bloom were underwhelming, and with increasing focus on Hootie and the Blowfish, Atlantic Records dropped the duo in 1996. The two toured sporadically, working on an album for a 1996 release, which never surfaced. Hyra moved to California but still kept in contact with Bush. Billy Pilgrim, like Bush, became inactive for a period; during this time, he occasionally performed at Eddie's Attic and produced work for artists such as Ellis Paul, Beth Wood, and Evan and Jaron. In 1997, Bush announced that both he and Hyra were working on separate solo albums; however, neither album was released. The duo later embarked on a ‘farewell’ tour, which was intended as a hiatus, though reports mistakenly circulated that they were disbanding.
1999–2001: Billy Pilgrim hiatus
In 1999, Bush took interest in the newly developing format of online music distribution. He began releasing demos, outtakes, and live performances from Billy Pilgrim on the website MP3.com. He appreciated that he was able to release music easily without anyone else's approval. Bush partnered with MP3.com to release an old live performance of Billy Pilgrim at Eddie's Attic in 1998, Live from Wildhack, MT, on the website. The performance also contained unreleased songs. Billy Pilgrim released Snow Globe, a Christmas album, in November 1999, and 9/23/00, another live performance from Eddie's Attic, released towards the end of the year.All the money earned from the downloads on MP3.com Bush used to fund the next album and its physical release. The album, Billy In the Time Machine, was recorded in four separate sessions over the course of eight months. Bush cited U2s The Joshua Tree and Thom Yorke as inspiration for the album. It was released May 12, 2001. The final works the two made together before unofficially disbanding were compiled into masters tapes. The tapes, as well as their studio, burned in a fire in late 2000. One copy was salvaged from the accident and made into a CD, of which 500 copies were made and distributed at their final performance in 2001 at Eddie's Attic. The band was never declared disbanded but the two lost contact with each other.
2001–2012: Sugarland
At the same time Bush was performing occasionally at Eddie's Attic, so was singer-songwriter Jennifer Nettles; she had begun performing there at their open mic competitions and was eventually given a recurring performing gig. Nettles had recently concluded her time in other bands and met Atlanta singer-songwriter Kristen Hall at a bar and discussed their country music endeavors together. Bush later discussed starting a band with Hall in 2002 and held auditions for the lead singer; Nettles was fifth to audition, and Bush said she "blew it out of the water". In 2003, Bush met with the two at a Starbucks to discuss starting a band together; the trio officially formed Sugarland the next day. The name was suggested by Hall; its derived from the town of Sugar Land, Texas, and was picked since it reflected the "sweet" tone of the band.At least one of the three artists wrote or co-wrote all 11 songs on their first album, Twice the Speed of Life. All three worked on the lead single "Baby Girl". Bush described the experience as his "second first record", understanding the experience and knowing the pressure associated with the first attempt. The trio treated the album like a side project to their other musical endeavors, but understood the potential of it over time. The songs were written roughly around 2001. In a notably dark period of Bush's life, in light of the downfall of Billy Pilgrim, the death of his mother, and the recent September 11 attacks, he wrote songs that were lighthearted and depicted a life that he wanted to live. They found success performing live in Knoxville, and Bush bought his first cowboy hat on eBay in 2003 to prove to his friends he was taking the new endeavor seriously. They eventually received the attention of Mercury Nashville in 2004, and landed a recording deal with them to release an album.
Sugarland broke through in 2004 with the release of their debut single "Baby Girl", the first single from their multi-platinum debut album Twice the Speed of Life. The trio became a duo in 2006, when they also released their second album, Enjoy the Ride. This album produced their first two No. 1 singles, "Want To" and "Settlin'", and won the duo a Grammy for "Stay". In 2008 they released their third album, titled Love on the Inside. This album produced three more No. 1 singles with "All I Want to Do", "Already Gone"and "It Happens". Their fourth album, The Incredible Machine was released on October 19, 2010, in both a standard and deluxe edition. Upon The Incredible Machine being certified platinum, Sugarland has sold in excess of 14 million records. Nettles and Bush also write all of the band's songs. In October 2012, they were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
They have surpassed sales of over 22 million albums worldwide, achieved five No. 1 singles and won numerous awards, including trophies from the Grammys, American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, CMT Music Awards and CMA Awards.