Do you Duet?
A long time ago there was a reality TV show called Duets. It only lasted one season, but the premise was actually kind of cool. Celebrity judges had to select singers for their team and then they had to see how far they could get in a duet competition with those team members.
Sure, there had been singing shows in the past and coach duets on the elimination show of The Voice were pretty much the norm, but having the duet be the complete crux of the show back in 2012 when Duets premiered was pretty cool.
With judges like Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Jennifer Nettles (from the country band Sugarland), you knew it probably had to be a little good. Robin Thicke was the one throw away judge that I don't think anyone actually cared about. He was ramping up to the success of his song "Blurred Lines" though, so I think a lot of people were banking on that.
His life virtually imploding after the fact was somewhat unexpected I guess.
I still remember this show all these years later mostly because of Jennifer Nettles. You might think it would have been Kelly Clarkson given my affinity for her, but she fell into the same trap that the other coaches did.
Instead of picking the best singers for her team, Jennifer picked the singers whose voices complimented hers the most. Sure, they were great singers, but when she took the stage with them, she made it absolute magic. I really feel like this is something Kelly could have accomplished too if she had been thinking about it a bit more. She has a range and skill that could have taken her to the top with pretty much anyone and she has done her fair share of great duets through the years.
Needless to say, Jennifer Nettles won the competition and so this #threetunetuesday post sponsored by @ablaze is going to be dedicated to some notable duets that Jennifer Nettles has sang over the years.
I'm going to leave out any of the songs she did with her band Sugarland because that doesn't really count as a duet when you are singing with your bandmate. At least not in my book anyway...
Of course, where else could I start but with this Bon Jovi duet that pretty much started it all. Sure, Sugarland had their own success before this collaboration and Bon Jovi was already a legend by the time "Who Says You Can't Go Home" came out, but the pairing of these two on the CMT Crossroads series was absolute magic.
I listen to the Bon Jovi channel on Sirius/XM quite frequently and I always get a bit disappointed when I hear the opening chords of this song but realize it is the Bon Jovi solo version from the one studio album and not the duet with Jennifer Nettles.
There was a such a good chemistry between Jon and Jennifer in this song. I remember in the recent documentary Jon made it pretty clear that he hasn't been faithful to his wife, but apparently she seems to be okay with that. There is speculation that Jennifer's followup song "Stay" is about a relationship she had with JBJ after this song took off.
Who knows how much truth there is to that, but you can't argue they probably would have made some good looking babies.
This one actually flew under my radar a bit, but "Never Been Over" is just another example of how well Nettles can adapt to sing with just about anyone from any genre. Sure, Darius Rucker is country now, but I think we all know him originally from Hootie and the Blowfish.
I've actually been really impressed with some of Ruckers recent albums that he has put out, and this song is just another great example of that. I've had the chance to see Darius Rucker and Sugarland twice in the past. I shared some of the photos above.
They put on great shows the both of them and I am honestly a bit embarrassed to say that I kind of lost track of Sugarland over the years. They went on a hiatus for a while and Jennifer put out a solo album. It's only recently that her and Christian have been back together making music again.
This song with Darius definitely doesn't have the energy of the duet with Jon Bon Jovi, but it still hits pretty good and if you like country music, it feels a bit more in that vein.
After the huge success of the first collaboration between Jon and Jennifer, I think everyone was wondering in the back of their head when it might happen again. In fact, Who Says You Can't Go Home was so big that it became the first time a rock band like Bon Jovi had ever charted on the country charts.
Back when Covid was going on Bon Jovi took a more socially conscious approach and a lot of their songs and lyrics reflected that at the time. This actually isn't my favorite "era" of Bon Jovi. I think the absence of Richie Sambora is heavily felt. Sure, Phil X can play the guitar like a beast, but there was a song writing chemistry between Jon and Richie that I would argue was arching towards the greats like John and Paul, Simon and Garfunkel, or Hall and Oates.
So that leaves us with what some might argue the overly "woke" song "Do What You Can". I still think it has a really good message overall an the whole "woke" thing never really bugged me too much. I know there are a lot of folks here on Hive that triggered by it though, so I felt like pointing it out just for fun.
Plus, Jennifer still just looks amazing in the video all these years later. If only I could age that well!
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I never knew Bon Jovi were still going on during Covid time. I remember we had a girl at work who was mad on him.
Never really heard of Jennifer Nettles either, got some listening to do today!
They actually just released another new album just a couple of months ago. It's actually quite good and has more of that old school Bon Jovi feel to it.
She has a great voice I agree with you. I never watched Duets, I was probably too busy with kid activities at the time. She did a great job there with Bon Jovi, but I agree with you it's just not the same since Richie left. He was a huge driver in the song writing, you never would have had You Give Love A Bad Name without him!
Great choices today, I enjoyed all three. The Darius Rucker duet was really good. I'll have to make a point to listen to some more of her music.
She can sing so good. I don't know if she still has the power she had when she was younger, but she still has a killer voice. The new Bon Jovi album is good, but it still doesn't match the magic of Jon and Richie.
I've been in music. We call the rendition we make with two singers a duet