Sugarland’s Kristian Bush Preparing for Emotional Final Weekend of Still the Same Tour

Sugarland's Kristian Bush still has a lot to do to get ready for the last dates of the Still the Same Tour this weekend.

“I’ve been spending the last few days putting together gifts for different people to say thank you," the songwriter/producer/duo member tells Taste of Country on Wednesday (Sept. 5). "It’s strange. It works like this at the end of the tour as much as it happens when you write a song. You work so hard and you pray for wisdom, not direction. And Jennifer (Nettles) and I did just that. We asked ourselves before this tour if we can do this and have a real purpose. And I think it has."

And then, Bush pauses.

"There are all sorts of emotions — that’s for sure — going into this weekend of shows,” he continues. “I guess there is a lot of, "Oh my God, we did it.'"

5 Reasons We Totally Needed This Sugarland Reunion

After announcing their return to music as a duo last November, Sugarland got to work releasing their sixth studio record Bigger in June and embarking on their first tour since 2012 in May. Their Taylor Swift-penned single "Babe" is quickly making an ascent on the country charts, so things do seem to be going well.

"Everything we have done this time around has had meaning to it," Bush says. "You can’t have every song be like that, but that meaning is just stitched into this band. We wanted these songs to communicate something, and they must have, because people have been listening. If you tell people the truth, they will understand."

The world seems to grow increasingly more complex — especially since the duo were last onstage together, touring the country. Bush admits that it has felt different this time around.

“Our shows have always been a safe place to put your bag on, whatever that bag is," he explains. “Everyone is carrying around luggage these days, but at these shows, our fans have been able to set that luggage down for a few hours.”

This phenomenon was something that Bush had in his mind when he and Nettles worked on the set list for this tour, and they didn't deviate from it much throughout the run. “We intentionally didn’t want too many of the the same temperature of songs to run together,” he says. “We wanted to jump back and forth between songs with different feelings because we felt that served as a mirror to everyone’s life. That’s how life feels like right now.”

So, what’s next?

“I had a pretty full docket before the tour even started,” says Bush, who has been in the studio "singing new songs" as of late. "When the album came out, people were always asking, ‘Is this all you are going to do .— will you keep going?' We have always let the art drive the commerce. We are definitely not shying away from the success of what’s happening here."

Sugarland's Still the Same Tour wraps with shows in Worcester, Mass. (Sept. 7), Newark, N.J. (Sept. 8) and Philadelphia on Sept. 9.

Sugarland Have One of the Hottest Summer Tours of 2018. Who's No.1?: