“That’s been our ambition from the first minute we sat down,” admits guitarist/vocalist Kristen Hall. “Say what you want to about it, but I believe in manifest destiny.”

If You Build It, They Will Come
In 2002, Hall met with mandolin player Kristian Bush, who was half of the folk/rock duo Billy Pilgram. They discussed both their desire to be in a band and their personal disdain for being in the limelight. So after collaborating on a few songs, the duo went searching for someone who wouldn’t mind hoarding all the attention on the way to the top. Despite having local success with her own band, singer Jennifer Nettles jumped at the opportunity to shoot for the stars.

After only four gigs Sugarland (named after Hall’s Texas hometown) was playing in front of a thousand people. Two weeks later the trio showcased in Nashville and, after several offers from major labels, signed with Mercury Records. Their debut album, Twice the Speed of Life, hit stores in October 2004 and slowly paced its way to platinum status while spending more than 10 weeks among Billboard’s Top-5 country albums. Their first single, “Baby Girl,” stayed on Billboard’s country charts for a record 46 consecutive weeks, and their latest, “Something More,” currently holds the No. 2 position.

Redefining the Positive
On its way to world domination, Sugarland has been heralded as country’s fresh new sound of “unfailing optimism.” The group’s “positivity” certainly shines on “Something More,” which finds a woman sick of the 9-to-5 grind. In a chorus that sounds strangely similar to Toby Keith’s smash hit, “How Do You Like Me Now?” she declares, “There’s gotta be something more/Gotta be more than this,” then adds, “Taking a chance I might/Find out what I’m looking for.” Her conclusion? “Some believe in destiny and some believe in fate/I believe that happiness is something we create.”

Yet that happiness—which doesn't factor in God—seems to turn on an odd mix of being content with your modest roots and “making it big.” On “Baby Girl,” Nettles tells her parents that despite fulfilling her dreams and having riches and fame, “they all add up to nothing compared to you.” A sweet sentiment indeed. But it’s difficult to make sense of it given Twice the Speed of Life’s redundant theme of “I’ll show you.”

No fewer than seven of the album’s 11 tracks are about leaving an old life behind to make it to the top. On “Fly Away” the singer asks angels to carry her away from a town where folks “can’t dream too big ‘cause they’ve got fields to keep.” After contemplating whether she should “walk away and leave behind my family/Or get buried alive in this legacy,” she opts for bolting. On “Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)” Nettles plays a housewife who’s nearing a breakdown and even less concerned about family ties (which include a husband). Her dream, which she makes happen, is a guilt-free, girls’-night-out gamblefest.

Nettles twice sings of needing alcohol “to help me unwind” and reminisces about making love to a high-school sweetheart.

Shining a Dimly Lit Beacon
In the midst of these mixed-message getaway songs lies Sugarland’s powerful anthem of resilience, the stripped-down ballad “Stand Back Up.” Despite the singer having been “beaten and bruised ... [and] down on my knees more times than you’d believe,” she vows that “I will stand back up. ... When the darkness tries to get me/There’s a light that just won’t let me/It might take my pride and tears may fill my eyes/But I’ll stand back up.”

“Light” is what Sugarland clearly intended to shine as a beacon of hope to desperate listeners. “With us, it was a completely conscious decision to write songs that make us happy,” Hall says. “When you’re insecure you can go out [on stage] and go, 'I hate life.' That’s pretty easy. It’s a lot harder to go up and be happy.”

It's just too bad it's not always easy to see that light at Twice the Speed of Life.