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The scene seemed straight out of a horror movie: On Aug. 13, between Sara Bareilles' opening set and Sugarland's headlining set at the Indiana State Fair, high winds caused the collapse of the stage at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, killing five people and injuring about 40 more.
Sugarland — the duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush — canceled its Sunday show in Iowa. Early this week, it seemed uncertain whether Sugarland would perform its scheduled show at Utah's Usana Amphitheatre this weekend. The duo declined to talk to the media this week, but posted messages on its website.
After expressing condolences to the victims' families, the group said it's planning a private memorial and benefit concert to honor the five people, including a stagehand and a security officer, according to The Associated Press.
The band also wrote about its road family on the tour: While we all scattered to our given families for their comfort, the trauma we experienced together binds us in a unique way that we share only with each other and those who were there. There is healing in our being together. There is healing in our working together.
The accident destroyed not just Sugarland's touring set, but also the band's instruments. Music, of course, can't change the losses at the Indiana State Fair, the band wrote, but it serves as a "ritual and a balm" to provide comfort in a time of sorrow.
In happier times, more than a month before the tragedy, Bush and Bareilles talked in separate interviews about their excitement for the tour and their personal lives, while looking ahead to their musical futures. And both talked about movies — but not horror movies.
Sugarland • Initially a trio that was launched in Atlanta's club scene, Sugarland became a duo in 2006 and quickly began ascending into the upper echelons of country music, becoming as much a draw as the Kennys, Brads and Keiths.
The single "Stay," written and sung by Nettles, became one of the most iconic country songs of the first decade of the millennium. "Love on the Inside," the duo's third album, released in 2008, launched another three No. 1 country singles: "All I Want to Do," "Already Gone" and "It Happens."
When Nettles and Bush began writing a follow-up to their 2009 live album "Live on the Inside" (which included covers of songs by Pearl Jam, Beyoncé, Kings of Leon, R.E.M. and the B-52's), the two were already film buffs, a habit fed by endless days on the road in tour buses and hotel rooms. Movies, including teen flicks by the late John Hughes, inspired the musicians to attempt something unusual for what became 2010's strikingly original "The Incredible Machine" album. "We knew we were onto something different," Bush said.
After screening classic Hughes films such as "Pretty in Pink," "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club," Nettles and Bush decided to make an album that wasn't a retread of the country roads they had already traveled. They envisioned the new album as the soundtrack to "the Hughes film he didn't make."
"The Incredible Machine" is a cinematic album, with nearly every song aspiring to be a stadium anthem fit for the likes Kings of Leon or Pearl Jam. The songs were tuneful, bombastic and loud, featuring Nettles' unmistakable twang and Bush's mandolin and fiddle — but were they country?
"Many people ask, 'Is it country music?' " Bush said. "I ask: 'Do you like it?' Whether it's country or not doesn't matter if you like it."
He added that the genre of country music is still evolving. "Pull the curtain back, and you find that country has a healthy history of expansion," he said. "It has reinvented itself over and over again, but it still retains itself. Every six or seven years, country has to stretch."
Another image drafted from Hughes' films came into play, influencing everything from the band's logo on the new album and the tour's set design to the music. That was the idea of "steampunk," an aesthetic where steam power is still widely used, as in Victoria-era Britain, but also incorporates elements of science fiction or fantasy.
Recent films such as "Wild Wild West," "The Golden Compass" and "Sherlock Holmes" showed Nettles and Bush how to blend old and new, which led to an album that has echoes of traditional country while pushing genre expectations in the post-Johnny Cash and Porter Wagoner era.
"One of my favorite bands was The Replacements," Bush said, recalling a concert the Minneapolis alt-punk band opened by covering "Hello, Dolly!" The seemingly incongruous pairing of a beloved film hit and a punk band stuck with Bush.
Sara Bareilles • Another example of bucking the trend of traditional country tours was the decision to invite the folk-pop singer Sara Bareilles to open, a choice Bareilles said she was "over the moon about."
"Jennifer and I have become friends in the last few years," Bareilles said. "It can be hard to find people who champion other kinds of music. It can be kind of rare."
Bareilles burst into the mainstream in 2007 with the omnipresent radio song "Love Song," and her success has continued with hits "Uncharted" and "King of Anything" from her 2010 album, "Kaleidoscope Heart." She also earned headlines when she was named as one of three judges for the NBC fall show "The Sing Off," which pits a cappella groups (including BYU's all-male ensemble Vocal Point) against one another. She actually has experience to back up the gig: In college, Bareilles was a member of UCLA's coed singing group, Awaken A Cappella. "A cappella was a part of my life and I found a family," Bareilles said. "I found my skills as a performer."
Like her tour colleagues, Bareilles considers herself a film buff and said she's inspired by the effects of pairing music and film. "Seeing movies is a very popular thing to do on days off," she said. "We don't have many days off."
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The Incredible Machine Tour
P Sugarland with Sara Bareilles.
When • Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Where • Usana Amphitheatre, 5150 S. 6400 West, West Valley City
Tickets • $25 to $54 at SmithsTix