Sugarland Shifts Gears for Britain

Sugarland photo by Kate Powers, courtesy of Mercury Records Nashville.

March 16, 2009 — Sugarland is currently on its first European tour, spending this week in the United Kingdom, and the duo made some minor changes in its music for it thinks will provide a proper introduction.

"All I Want To Do," their country hit from last summer, got remixed with a little of the twang removed for British consumption. It wasn’t all that twangy to start with, but tastes in the U.K. are a little different than in America. In addition, formats are much less rigidly defined, and the duo needed to compete on even footing with music of all stripes.

"The thing I find is that good songs transcend genre," Jennifer Nettles told the British publication Country Music People. "Usually we have someone who comes up to the meet and greets after a show and says, ‘I don’t like country music, but I like what you do.’ And we say, ‘You are who we record for.’ Because we love all kinds of music, but we want to bring people into the very beautiful music tradition that is country music."

So if an instrument needs to be changed here or there to gain a shot at reaching new fans, Jennifer’s not going to get belligerent about it.

"Really, all you need is a foot in the door, so that someone will give an ear to your music," she said. "If that is because the production is maybe something that they are more accustomed to, then that’s great."

It’s not like remixing is a new idea. Among the country songs that have had alternate pop mixes in the past: Shania Twain’s "You’re Still The One," Lee Ann Womack’s "I Hope You Dance," Trace Adkins’ "You’re Gonna Miss This" and LeAnn Rimes’ "What I Cannot Change."