Ravinia 2019, Issue 2, Week 4

It’s a Wednesday morning, just a few minutes before 10 o’clock, and Kristian Bush’s mind already finds itself in just about a million different places. “I honestly don’t know how I got myself here,” the play- wright-songwriter-producer-musician admits quietly. “There are many lanes on the road I’m going down right now. But I thrive on that. As long as I can keep myself healthy, I can navi- gate all of those lanes.” First up on this particular morning is coming up with the setlist for an upcoming co-headlining tour he is doing along- side fellow storyteller and music maker Rita Wilson. Later, he plans to take a meeting to discuss a new project he is con- structing some songs for. “I surround myself with a lot of paper,” Bush laughs. “In the last four months, I have tried to keep notebooks. I number them all so I can then go back to the day when we talked about this or that and I can remind myself what the heck is going on. My days are full.” And on this full day, if he can find the time before the sun goes down, he will direct his thoughts to Sugarland, the group he formed alongside Jennifer Nettles and former member Kristen Hall back in 2002. “Jennifer and I are constantly in different lanes at different times, but when our creative cycles are able to sync up with one another, there is nothing like it,” says Bush, who cur- rently spends a good chunk of his time also serving as a producer for country artists such as Lindsay Ell, who joined Sugarland on tour last summer, when the duo first came to Ravinia. “We speak without speaking.” After wrapping up last year’s “Still the Same” Tour, the two once again retreated to their indi- vidual careers for a bit. In fact, Nettles made waves earlier this year with the release of her revealing single “I Can Do Hard Things.” And we already know Bush has much on his plate. But eventually, they al- ways find their back to the comfort of one another. “This year, Sugarland has 12 to 15 shows,” Bush says quietly, while emphasizing each word a little more than the last. Among those is a hotly anticipated return to Ravinia on June 30. “But next year, well, it could be gigantic.” The tease is enough to put any true-blue Sugarland fan into an emotional tailspin. Yet, for now, that’s all he will divulge. SHERVIN LAINEZ 30 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 17 – JUNE 30, 2019