Debut solo album 'Southern Gravity' in stores now! http://smarturl.it/SouthernGravity

For a decade, Kristian Bush built his reputation as one half of the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning country duo Sugarland. He wasn't the group's lead singer -- that role went to his big-voiced partner, Jennifer Nettles -- but he steered the ship in other ways: playing multiple instruments, singing harmonies, co-producing the group’s platinum-selling albums, and co-writing an award-winning catalog of songs (including five No. 1 singles and nearly a dozen Top 10 hits) about life and love in the American South. 

On Southern Gravity, his first release as a solo artist, Bush occupies the spotlight himself, juggling the roles of vocalist, songwriter, bandleader and producer. The new album draws on the 300+ songs that Bush wrote during the past two years, after Sugarland embarked on an open-ended hiatus. Included in the mix is Southern Gravity's lead single, "Trailer Hitch," written with Tim Owens and Bush's brother, Brandon.

"That song starts in your hips," Kristian explains. "It makes you dance, but after a few listens, you realize it's got something to tell you, too. The image in the chorus — I’ve never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch — is hilarious. Why do we collect so many things? We don't need them… and we can't take them with us when we go."

Anchored by a mix of groove and twang, "Trailer Hitch" rustles up memories of Bush's past hits, including the double-platinum Sugarland smash "Stuck Like Glue." Southern Gravity isn't a side project, though. It's a parallel project, a natural move for a songwriter who's been making records since he turned 13 years old. For the first time in his career, Bush is singing his own songs without a duo partner by his side, giving fans an unfiltered view of an artist who's always shared the spotlight in the past. 

"This first album is my nametag," says Bush, who recorded many of the songs in his own studio, often the same day they were written. "It basically says, 'Hello, my name is Kristian. I'm introducing you to my voice, even though you've heard it all along.' For more than 20 years, I've been someone co-creating with someone else. This time, I'm launching my own voice into the world."

Bush kickstarted his career in the early '90s, when he formed the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra. Together, the two released a pair of critically-acclaimed albums (1994's self-titled Billy Pilgrim and 1995's Bloom), enjoyed regular rotation on VH-1, and earned multiple Top 5 hits on the AAA charts. Bush's success continued with Sugarland, a coed country duo that formed in 2002 and sold more than 22 million albums during the ten years that followed. Along the way, Bush and Nettles launched five No. 1 singles, earned a well-deserved induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and took home trophies from the Grammys, AMAs, ACM Awards, CMT Music Awards and CMA Awards.

Southern Gravity will be released by Streamsound Records.

Corrinne Miles is following