Entertainment

Are Jennifer Nettles & Darius Rucker Friends?

by Laura Rosenfeld

It's music festival season, which is a fact you probably know very well from either feeling green with envy over your friends' Insta pics at South by Southwest, Coachella, and Sasquatch! or from making them jealous of your own festival excursions. These music festivals are known for bringing attendees the sickest live music experiences from the worlds of pop, hip-hop, and EDM. But, country folk know how to throw an awesome music festival too, y'all. The iHeartRadio Country Festival took place on May 2, and a recording of the festival hosted by Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland and Darius Rucker will air on NBC on May 27. It's perfect for anyone that wasn't able to experience the festival IRL.

If you do end up watching the iHeartRadio Country Festival, you'll probably be very jealous of those who got to experience the event in person. This isn't just because they got to see some of today's biggest country stars live (Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts), but, mostly because they got to bask in the glory that is the hosting duo of Nettles and Rucker.

It's no surprise that the iHeartRadio Country Festival called on Nettles and Rucker to emcee the event. Not only are they both extremely talented country singers, but, with their big smiles and warm personalities, they also just seem like delightful people. Don't you just want to give them each a hug? I know I do.

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I can only imagine the kind of adorable banter these two are going to have onstage together. But, before you start 'shipping these two too hard, you should know that they're both married. Although that doesn't rule out the possibility that the pair are at least friends, right?

The iHeartRadio Country Festival won't be the first time Nettles and Rucker will be sharing a stage. In fact, they've actually performed together quite a bit over the years. They even sang a rocking rendition of "Jingle Bells" in the grand finale of the CMA Country Christmas in 2011. Skip ahead to the 1:20:30 mark in the video below to see it.

They also paid tribute to country music legend Kenny Rogers at the 2013 CMAs. In the clip below, Nettles gleefully sings along to Rucker's performance of "The Gambler," and Rucker introduces Nettles as his friend. So, surely they must be buds. He wouldn't make something like that up in such a high-profile venue, would he?

Then, just last year, they both performed at the Godman Army Airfield in Fort Knox, Kentucky. We can only hope that they shared a duet or two onstage.

But, unfortunately for people like me who spend their days fantasizing that Nettles and Rucker are BFFs, that's probably not the case. Sure, they must get along somewhat since they perform together on occasion and probably see each other all the time at these country music functions.

However, Nettles and Rucker hardly ever interact on social media or really even mention the other person. In fact, Nettles had a great opportunity to do so in the below tweet, and she didn't, perhaps because she forgot, perhaps because she didn't have enough characters, or perhaps because they're just not that close.

It seems like Nettles and Rucker might just be work friends. You know, the kind of person you complain about your boss to and grab lunch with at the office, but would most likely never hang out with outside of work because you don't click that much, or you're both too lazy to initiate any sort of extracurricular social activity.

But that's OK. You need people like that in your life, too.

Image: Getty Images