If you expect Jennifer Nettles’ new album to sound just like her country-music duo Sugarland, expect to be disappointed.
However, “if they’re expecting it to sound like me, a voice that they obviously recognize from Sugarland’s work,” Nettles tells The Post, “I think they’ll be really pleased.”
Nearly two decades after beginning her music career, Nettles dropped her first solo album Tuesday. “That Girl” finds the 39-year-old stepping out on her own with a fresh new sound. The album combines elements of Southern R&B and classic country, as opposed to the pop-country sound Sugarland is known for.
“It’s a lot more womanly, and dare I say, mature,” says Nettles.
Born in Douglas, Ga., Nettles grew up singing in her Baptist church before forming the group Soul Miner’s Daughter while studying at Atlanta’s Agnes Scott College. That segued into the Jennifer Nettles
Band in 1999 before she finally teamed up with the Tennessee band Sugarland in 2003. The Grammy-winning group has released four studio albums, all of which have gone platinum.
Though Sugarland last worked together in 2012, Nettles has been planning her solo effort for four years.
“I didn’t want to stagnate as an artist,” she says. “I think that’s really easy to happen.”
But she isn’t writing off getting back together with partner Kristian Bush, who himself has solo work out.
“Sugarland isn’t over,” she says. “[But] we want to pursue our stuff individually for as long as we want to.”
The career shift isn’t the only change for Nettles. In December 2012 she gave birth to her first child, son Magnus, with her model-turned-entrepreneur husband, Justin Miller.
Magnus joined his mama for the recording of “That Girl” — he had a nursery at the studio complete with a rocking chair.
Magnus will also experience nationwide travel for the first time as the family packs up for Nettles’ first solo tour, kicking off in February. It’ll present challenges, given Magnus’ developments.
“He’s walking, which is — man, oh man — I mean, a game-changer,” Nettles gushes. “He’s everywhere.”
Luckily, she has support in singer Jewel, a mother herself who has given Nettles advice about “Magaroni and Cheese” (her nickname for Magnus).
So what’s the hardest part?
“Becoming a parent is the death of the ego,” she says.
She pauses.
“[But] sleep deprivation is definitely a monster.”