Five touring acts to watch in 2008

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Look for these five artists to make a big splash on the touring scene in 2008.

COUNTRY: SUGARLAND

Country duo Sugarland -- Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush -- experimented with headlining dates in 2007 in between opening for Kenny Chesney on the latter's massive Flip Flop summer tour. The pair headlined about 50 dates last year at theaters and downsized arenas, with seven shows reported to Billboard Boxscore totaling nearly $1 million.

"Touring for us is the most important thing," Sugarland manager Gail Gelman says. "We feel it's important to do it right, take it slow and make the right decisions along the way."

Sugarland will expand its international base by touring Australia in March and Europe in the fall. In the late spring it will play some cities it hasn't performed in yet in North America. The summer will include festivals, fairs, radio shows and special events. Another high-level support slot is still an option.

Chesney tour producer Louis Messina predicts Sugarland will be selling out arenas within two years.

"I have not felt this way since I saw Kenny 10 years ago," Messina says.

ROCK: MY MORNING JACKET

Creative booking has helped build My Morning Jacket's reputation as one of the premier live rock bands on the touring scene. Last year was supposed to be a light year for the band (with only a handful of dates reported to Boxscore), but the gigs the group did play were high-profile.

"We were lucky enough to be invited to play three shows with Bob Dylan at Red Rocks and Telluride, as well as Lollapalooza with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Austin City Limits Festival," says the band's manager, Mike Martinovich, who says the live year came to a "euphoric" end when MMJ played Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit near San Francisco.

MMJ just finished recording its next studio album in New York with frontman Jim James and Joe Chiccarelli (the White Stripes, the Shins) co-producing. The band hopes for a June release, then will tour in the United States, as well as the United Kingdom and Europe.

The band will perform at this year's South by Southwest event in Austin for the first time since 2002, and James will do an acoustic show in addition to the full-band set. Other U.S. dates are being booked.

LATIN: JUANES

Latin rocker Juanes has been touring the United States since 2001-02, but he will likely enjoy his most successful North American run yet in 2008.

Juanes' latest album "La Vida . . . Es un Ratico" just came out in October, and its leadoff single "Me Enamora" was the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart in 2007.