Country music sensation Sugarland is up for another Grammy Award in 2009, and this dynamic duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush has already secured a spot onstage for the awards on Feb. 8, joining the Grammy festivities as a performing act at Sunday's awards show. Sugarland will join other Nashville stars Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock and Robert Plant/Alison Krauss as one of the entertainment acts during the Grammy Awards, and this Atlanta-based country duo is sure to be one of the top acts of the 51st annual Grammys.



Sugarland was nominated for Best New Artist last year at the 2008 Grammys, and this year the Nettles/Bush combo is up for three more awards. The group's song “Stay” is up for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals alongside Brooks & Dunn, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts and the SteelDrivers, and Sugarland's smash single is also up for Best Country Song alongside “Dig Two Graves,” “I Saw God Today,” “In Color” and “You're Gonna Miss This.” The group's other 2008 hit single “Life In a Northern Town” (a duet with Jake Owen and Little Big Town) is up for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals along with Kenny Chesney and George Strait's “Shiftwork,” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' “Killing the Blues,” George Strait and Patty Loveless' “House of Cash” and Trisha Yearwood and Keith Urban's “Let the Wind Chase You.”

Sugarland has been burning up the contemporary country music scene for the last few years, and the duo's music is almost as incredible as their journey to the top of the charts. Sugarland first surfaced in Atlanta in the early 2000s as a trio comprised of Jennifer Nettles, Kristian Bush and Kristen Hall, releasing a set of demos in 2002 while taking the Southern nation by storm in a series of spirited live performances. News of Sugarland rapidly spread by word of mouth and eventually leaked into Nashville, where Mercury Records signed the fledgling band to its label. The first recorded sounds of Sugarland were heard on the two-song single “Baby Girl” and “Stand Back Up,” released in 2004, and the band's debut full-length album Twice the Speed of Life was released later that year. Sugarland's debut album was an instant hit on the country scene, spawning Billboard hits “Baby Girl,” “Just Might (Make Me Believe),” “Something More” and “Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good).”

Twice the Speed of Life established Sugarland as a bona fide country music outfit ready to storm Nashville, and the group's second album Enjoy the Ride was no less popular, released in 2006 to critical acclaim. Enjoy the Ride sparked the freewheeling favorites “Settlin',” “Want To” and “Everyday America,” even pulling in some admirers from the pop realm along with the dedicated country scene. Songwriter Kristen Hall departed the group quickly after the album was released, however, leaving Sugarland to boil down to the duo of Nettles and Bush.

Nettles and Bush have persevered with flying colors (literally—take a glance at their most recent album cover) and the emotion-packed Love on the Inside came out in 2008 to raving reviews, as well. The album was an instant number one on the country music charts and has been busy filling radio airwaves with the singles “All I Want to Do” and “Already Gone,” both number ones on the charts, as well. Sugarland has also taken their country music domination to another level, performing live at several mesmerizing concerts. If you haven't seen this powerful duo storm the stage live, get Sugarland tickets from http://www.stubhub.com/sugarland-tickets and get ready to sing along to the group's fun-loving tunes!