Jennifer Nettles is an American singer/songwriter born September 12, 1974 in rural Douglas, Georgia, and exposed to gospel, folk, soul, rock and blues as formative influences. Part of the vital Atlanta folk scene, Nettles released three folk-rock albums as The Jennifer Nettles band and took part in the 1999 Lilith Fair Tour before joining fellow folk scene members to form the country band Sugarland in 2003. Sugarland was nominated in 2006 for a Best New Artist Grammy, and in 2007, Nettles won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration with Bon Jovi.
Nettles began performing in Georgia in at school assemblies, Georgia 4-H's Clovers & Co., her Southern Baptist church, and regional theater.
While a student at Agnes Scott College, Nettles and Cory Jones (who at the time was studying classical guitar at the University of Georgia) formed Soul Miner’s Daughter. The group, which performed as both an acoustic duo and with a band, released two albums, The Sacred and Profane in 1996 and Hallelujah in 1998, both of which were composed of songs written collaboratively by Jones and Nettles.