Jack Ingram Relishes Eclectic Audiences

Jack Ingram has played venues ranging from Texas watering holes to football stadiums. This summer's concert itinerary may be one for the record books, however, as the singer ventures from the Corn Festival in Holland, Texas on June 2 to the Landford Tractorpull in North Collins, N.Y. on August 1. He's also performing the National Anthem on May 9 in Dallas, during Round 2 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals.

Seasoned pro that he is, Jack takes it all in stride. "This is the stuff that nobody ever talks about at their cocktail parties," he says of small-town America's festivals and fairs. "But these are the things nobody misses. They come back from wherever they've moved to be part of them. These are days -- and nights -- where everyone lets down their guard and just is."

Jack goes on to explain the phenomenon of a hometown festival for those who have never been fortunate enough to attend. "Everybody's happy to see you. People laugh. They cook out and unless you've got a tractor in the pull or an ear of corn competing, you have nothing to prove. You're just there hanging with your buddies, kicking back, listening to some music, hearing what your neighbors have been up to. There's nothing easier -- or more fun."

Jack has shared the stage with Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Brooks & Dunn and Sheryl Crow, but he doesn't see a big difference in the people who come out to hear the music. "I think there are a lot of fans going to a lot of different shows," he explains. "You might be partying it up in a different way to go to a Toby Keith show or a Martina McBride show, but I think it's just the attitude that the audience is bringing into the venue. I never under estimate the crowd. I think people in the business sometimes under estimate the broad taste of music fans but I think people who buy a Toby CD will also buy Martina or Sheryl Crow or Jay-Z."

The bottom line, though, is that Jack gives his all no matter what the venue or the numbers in the audience. "If it's ten people in an audience, I want to connect and rock with ten people. If it's sixty thousand people in the audience I want to do the same thing," he says. "The energy in both those rooms can be absolutely electric."