"Already Gone" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

. It was released in September 2008 as the second single from their album ''

Love on the Inside ''Love on the Inside'' is the third studio album by American country music duo Sugarland, first released on July 22, 2008, as a Deluxe Fan Edition, including five bonus tracks, with the standard edition one week later, on July 29, on Mercury Nashvi ...

'', which was released on July 29, 2008. Sugarland's members,

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyr ...

and

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based band ...

, wrote the song with

Bobby Pinson Bobby Olen Pinson (born August 10, 1972) is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2005, Pinson made his debut that year with his album ''Man Like Me''. Its lead-off single, " Don't Ask Me How I Know", peaked at No. ...

, with whom the duo also co-wrote two of their previous singles, "

Want To "Want To" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in August 2006 as the first single from the album '' Enjoy the Ride''. It was their first single not to feature former member Kristen Hall. Alt ...

" and "

All I Want to Do "All I Want to Do" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in May 2008 as the first single from their album ''Love on the Inside'', which was released on July 22, 2008. The duo's two members, l ...

Content

"Already Gone" is a mid-tempo

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

set in

triple meter Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

, mostly accompanied by

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, the latter of which is played by Bush. The female narrator describes her life and always passing the good moments by. The song describes the narrator's relationship with her mother and a relationship with her now ex-boyfriend and the final encounter she has with him before moving on. According to ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'' magazine,

met Nettles and Bush at their hotel in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

in the middle of their 2007 tour. Nettles and Bush played a melody that "sounds like inson" Nettles added the final verse about her divorce from Todd Van Sickle.

Critical reception

Engine 145 critic Brady Vercher gave the song a "thumbs down" rating. Although said as "a little more substance" than its predecessor "All I Want to Do", he also thought that more emphasis was placed on constructing an interesting melody than creating a narrative that is anything more than average.

Music video

A music video for the song was released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

a few days before its official release to CMT and

GAC GAC or Gac may refer to: Companies and organisations * GAC Group, a Chinese automotive company based in Guangzhou, Guangdong * GAC Ireland, an Irish bus manufacturer established with Bombardier (1980–1986) * Games Administration Committee, ...

on September 5, 2008. The video starts off with Nettles and Bush in a bed of old, vintage cars with a sunset in the background. It later captures a young girl in the driver's side of one of those cars, which turns out to be Nettles at the end. Nettles sings on the hood of one car, while Bush plays mandolin on the hood of a different car.

Chart performance

The song debuted at #47 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart the week of the song's release on September 8, 2008. On the chart week of January 17, 2009, it became the duo's fourth Number One song in the U.S..

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2000s ballads 2008 singles 2008 songs Sugarland songs Songs written by Jennifer Nettles Songs written by Kristian Bush Songs written by Bobby Pinson Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Country ballads Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Mercury Records singles