‘Catch of the Day’- Kristian Bush – “Thinkin’ About Drinkin’ For Christmas” [AUDIO]

Well the holiday season is upon us, and as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, new country music releases begin to slow, but in their place we get new holiday songs. Some are standards to be, others fade away. Today we feature our first holiday debut of the season, brought to you from one half of the most successful duos in country music history.

Kristian Bush is a founding member, along with Jennifer Nettles, of Sugarland. The duo has been on a hiatus the past couple years. Bush released his first solo album, Southern Gravilty earlier this year, while Nettles also released a solo project, as well as starring on Broadway in the musical Chicago.

A bit of a prodigy in his childhood, Bush began playing the violin at age 4. He grew up in Sevierville, TN, the same home town as Dolly Parton. He made his professional debut, alongside his brother, Brandon, performing at the local Bush Beans Jamboree as Parton's opening act. And yes, he is a member of THAT Bush family (Jay Bush, the company spokesperson, is Kristian's cousin).

At age 11, after a family move to Knoxville, TN, Kristian performed with the Knoxville Youth Symphony. During his childhood, Bush trained in classical violin at the University of Tennessee, and began writing his own songs after teaching himself to play guitar. After graduating from prep school in 1988, Bush attended Emory University in Atlanta, eventually earning a degree in creative writing. Throughout college, Kristian played in the local coverband Storyteller, with classmates Chris Nolter and Jon Slatkin.

Bush joined with Andrew Hyra in the early 90's to form the folk group Billy Pilgrim. Hyra had formed a duo with his sister Annie, but when she left the group, Bush was recruited to fill the void. Bush and Hyra soon relocated back to the Atlanta area from Nashville where they had met, and began performing on the area's acoustic scene, and released a pair of albums. The albums produced 5 top 5 singles on the alternative rock charts, and opened for Melissa Etheridge on her 1995 world tour.

In 2002, after Billy Pilgrim took a hiatus (the duo still states that they have never broken up, they are just on a continued hiatus), Bush teamed with two other Atlanta folk scene regulars, Jennifer Nettles and Kristen Hall. Together, the three began writing songs together, and eventually began performing together as Sugarland. The trio was signed by Mercury Nashville in 2004, releasing their debut album Twice The Speed of Life later the same year. The album has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA.

After the first album, Hall left the group under circumstances that was either by Hall's decision or Nettles/Bush's request, depending on whose side of the story you believe. Nettles and Bush carried on to release 3 more albums for Mercury Nashville, the latest was 2010's The Incredible Machine. A tragic stage collapse before a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair in 2011 seemed to take the wind out of the duo's sails. In January of 2012, after Jennifer Nettles married Justin Miller, the group announced it was taking time off to "chill and relax and sleep in our own beds and contemplate how we want to approach what’s next."

In the meantime, we have had to for go new music from Sugarland, and were given solo albums by both Nettles and Bush. Nettles' 2014 album That Girl feature 10 songs written of cowritten by her, as well as a cover of the Bob Seger classic "Like A Rock". While critically applauded, the album failed to sell 200,000 copies. Bush's debut album, Southern Gravity, featured two top-20 singles, "Trailer Hitch" and "Light Me Up".

Today's spotlight is on Bush's first holiday single, not featured on his album. Today's Catch of the Day is Kristian Bush and "Thinkin' About Drinkin' For Christmas", new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.