Kristian Bush

Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra.

Bush attended Avon Old Farms Boarding School in Avon, Connecticut, graduating in 1988.

He then attended Emory University in Atlanta, earning a degree in Creative Writing.

During college, Bush began to connect with Atlanta's growing music scene, often begging his way into clubs, witnessing first-hand success from bands like R.E.M. and (fellow Emory students) the Indigo Girls.

While attending Emory University, Bush was the lead singer and guitarist in the rock band Storyteller, with fellow Emory students Chris "Tex" Nolter (bass, guitar) and Jon Slatkin (drums).

Storyteller covered the Replacement's "I Can't Wait”, Rod Stewart's "Maggie May”, The English Beat's "Mirror in the Bathroom", and Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says”, among other songs, and they performed at numerous bars, campus events and parties in Atlanta.

In 1990, Bush played guitar and sang backup vocals on Big Back Porch Songs, an album by the Hyras.

Big Back Porch Songs was never released but Bush was given a copy.

Bush released an album shortly afterwards, Politics and Pocketchange, which the Hyras were featured on.

Bush and Andrew Hyra began performing together using connections that Bush made from his time in Storyteller, writing original songs in the meantime.

The Hyras had made plans for future performances, but Annie had accepted a job in Miami, Florida; Bush replaced her.

After a year of performing, the two drove to Knoxville where they rented two days of studio time, where they recorded 14 original songs, assisted by their producer Danny Browns.

The two released their first album together in 1991, St. Christopher's Crossing, independently under the credit Andrew Hyra and Kristian Bush.

They continued performing shows in southeastern college towns, and Bush reached out to various talent agents with their demos; Jen Stark, an intern at Atlantic Records, recceived a copy, which resulted in commotion about them amongst the company.

An indie label, Sister Ruby, expressed interest in the duo, and the two made another album for the label; it emphasized songs that weren't used for St. Christophers's Crossing, which were quieter songs that couldn't be played in loud clubs.

The album was called Words Like Numbers.

Bush cited a large improvement between the two albums, because "with St. Christopher's we didn't think, we just did it. This time we had several weeks to think about what we were recording."

The album was a success in garnering attention; Atlantic Records held a release party for the two, and they were signed to the label that night, in New York.

The duo name was officially changed to Billy Pilgrim, named after a character from Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five.

The duo released the self-titled album Billy Pilgrim in 1994, in association with producer Hugh Padgham, who had a group of London musicians overdub the master with additional instruments.

Although the album itself received little attention, "Get Me Out Of Here" and "Insomniac", two songs on the album were, receiving heavy airplay on AAA radio.

To increase their momentum, Atlantic Records made the two record another album in December 1994; unprepared, they scrambled to write new material two weeks ahead of the date of recording.

In 1995 they opened on a worldwide tour for Melissa Etheridge, but copies for Billy Pilgrim weren't made in time to be promoted throughout it.

To date, Bush has won six BMI Awards for his songwriting abilities, and in 2011 he founded the music publishing company and songwriting collective Songs of the Architect.

Recent producing and songwriting collaborations include Ellis Paul, Laura Bell Bundy, Matt Nathanson, the dB’s, Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls, Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale, and up-and-comers including Kristina Train, Larkin Poe, Canaan Smith, Lauren Alaina, Jaida Dreyer and Alana Springsteen.

Shortly after completing college, Bush introduced himself to Atlanta songwriter Andrew Hyra and his sister Annie, who were performing at a club in Knoxville; the two had recently moved there after completing college.

In addition to his work in these two groups, Bush released one solo album, Southern Gravity, via Streamsound Records in 2015, and four solo albums via Big Machine Records, 52 ATL x BNA, 52 | In The Key Of Summer, 52 | New Blue, and 52 | This Year in 2022 and 2023.

In 2023 Bush also released an EP titled Drink Happy Thoughts on his own label Songs Of The Architect.

Kristian Bush was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Bush was raised outside of Knoxville in Sevierville, Tennessee, a small town at the base of the Smoky Mountains that was also the hometown of Dolly Parton.

He is the great grandson of A.J. Bush, founder of Bush Brothers and Company; it was expected for him to run a cannery.

He was exposed to instruments from an early age, and picked up his first violin at age 4.

During these early years, Bush, alongside younger brother Brandon, made his musical debut at the local Bush Beans Jamboree performing as Parton's opening act.

His grandparents made a "weird deal" when he was 12 and lost the Bush Brothers company, a deal they were ultimately bitter about, but it allowed Bush to grow up and be whatever he wanted.

Throughout childhood, Bush was enrolled in violin lessons and classically trained under the Suzuki method at the University of Tennessee.

The family eventually relocated to Knoxville and by age 11, Bush agreed to play one season in the Knoxville Youth Symphony, before earning the right to lay the violin down for good and start learning the guitar.

As a teenager, Bush stuck with the guitar and began to create original music.

It wasn't long before he was writing his own songs and recording homemade albums.

He did swimmer electives throughout high school and college, and would write music in his head to the rhythm of his swimming strokes.