Dynamic duo Sugarland thrilled but not overwhelmed by their success

From "wow-we-actually-got-invited" gawkers at awards shows to "I-can't-believe-we-won" winners.

From radio darlings to having their radio hit become the soundtrack of "Good Morning America."

Bush wishes he could demur and say the success — six top-10 hits, three No. 1's, more than 4 million records sold, a Grammy nod and 18 country music industry awards — is unexpected.

But it's not.

"It's going according to plan. It's going a little faster, but that's OK. We seem really comfortable with the pace," he said.

So where to now?

The Bush and Nettles duo, known as Sugarland, will hit the road now through the summer for a series of headlining festival shows, including this weekend's turn at Country Thunder in Florence.

"We've got crazy video screens. It's so much fun," Bush said. "When you give us lights and video screens, it's like kids in a candy store."

At their shows, they'll preview cuts off their forthcoming third album, which they recorded in February in their hometown of Atlanta.

It's an album that Bush is confident will do exactly what the duo's first two discs did — sell millions of copies, top the charts and set the bar even higher.

"How do you top it?" he said of the pair's out-of-the-gate success on their 2004 debut "Twice the Speed of Life" (2 million copies sold) and 2006 follow-up, "Enjoy the Ride" (double platinum).

"I can't wait for you to hear this because I think we did it. We wrote that second album in two weeks. It was strung out over a couple of months, but it was essentially two weeks of writing. This album we wrote over a year. We had time to write songs we didn't like."

The first single comes out after the Academy of Country Music Awards May 18. (They are up for duo of the year and several nods for their hit single "Stay.")

When asked during a phone call from New York City last week about the upcoming single, he said, "I can't really talk about that."

"I am going to tell you we're going to play it on tour. We're playing three or four songs from the record."

It didn't take long for Sugarland to shed its newcomer moniker and stand on its feet as bona fide stars. The group was born as a trio in 2003 with vocalist and songwriter Kristen Hall, who left in 2005 to continue her songwriting career. Bush and Nettles continued on as a duo, combining their years of songwriting and performing into a confident, fearless team. He came to the table as half of the folk duo Billy Pilgrim, and she was an Atlanta regional club circuit powerhouse.

From their first taste of national exposure, Sugarland never came off as giddy freshmen, glad to be invited to the cool kids' table. They were poised, confident without being arrogant, and seemingly totally in control. They knew what they wanted to do, and they had a pretty good idea of how to do it.

"We're comfortable," explained Bush, who is related to the Bush's Baked Beans family. "It feels a little bit like we were training for the Olympics for 15 years. We had songs written and we were going to go do this anyway. We were just looking for a good partner, somebody who had a giant marketing machine who was willing to believe what we were believing."

They found that partner in their record label, Mercury Nashville, which Bush praised for allowing the pair nearly full reign to record their kind of country — powerful ballads and catchy uptempo pop tunes that have found a crossover audience.

Last fall, Sugarland unseated Brooks & Dunn — country music's indomitable force when it comes to industry duo awards — as the Country Music Association Duo of the Year. They are poised to repeat the feat at the AcCM Awards next month.

The irony of the CMA victory is not lost on Bush; last year, Sugarland was opening for Brooks & Dunn. This year, they're headlining.

"I think it's time, and we're ready," Bush said. "There's weight to it, obviously, but we've never shied away from that."