Years ago, my friend April Morgan and I on a regular basis would drive to Ashville, NC from central NC to see one our favorite bands, Soul Miner’s Daughter. SMD was a southeastern-based regional band, playing a exciting mix of rock, soul, gospel, blues, and country. I really can’t explain their sound better than that. You really need to hear their albums to understand their sound. It doesn’t really fit into those record company-forced categories. Their musicianship was superb, and the vocal stylings of Jennifer Nettles and Cory Jones were haunting. Going to their shows was always a blast. I’d leave from my apartment in Cary, drive to Greensboro to join up with April, and then we’d start our 3 hour drive to Ashville. After a while, we went to enough shows that Jennifer would recognize us, and chat with us at our table for a while before each show. It was a lot of fun. SMD released 2 albums, The Sarced and Profane, and Hallelujah. Both are excellent albums, but I tend to like Hallelujah more because is has a more mature sound, and better production.
Time passed, and eventually Cory and Jennifer had a falling out. (From what I’ve heard it was quite explosive, but I never bothered to dig any deeper than that because it seemed to be a sensitive subject.) Anyway, Cory and Jen split ways, and Soul Miners Daughter was no more… in name anyway. Essentially, the band continued (sans Corey) with a new name, The Jennifer Nettles Band. With Jennifer now the sole front person, the new songs were written around her vocal style and used her lyrics. The songs were still very reminiscent of the SMD sound, but with Jen as the focus, the lyrics were very deep, and very personal. (A couple of the songs were obviously about Corey and the SMD breakup.) The JNB released 3 albums, The Story of Your Bones, Rewind (which were redos of SMD songs), and Gravity : Drag Me Down. All 3 are great albums, with Jennifer’s lean toward country hinted at in “Gravity : Drag Me Down.” This is where the next chapter in Jennifer’s musical stylings begin.
In 2003, Jennifer was approached by Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush, to join their project, a country band called, Sugarland. Jennifer joined the band, and Sugarland has become very popular. (They’ve won awards, Jen’s done a track with Bon Jovi, it’s pretty cool.) Now, that being said, I’m not a country fan. At all. Bluegrass I can stand, but country – no. So, I was pretty disappointed to hear that Jennifer was doing country now. I had lost one of my favorite artists. (I actually like Sugarland’s first album okay, but the second one is just too country for me.) But, you know what? That’s okay. She’s doing great, is very successful, and she deserves it. I just miss the rockin Jennifer Nettles. The jazzy Jennifer Nettles. The, soul-gospel-blues Jennifer Nettles.
Oh well. I guess I’ll always have Ashville.
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