Long before Jack Ingram scored his first No. 1 single with 'Wherever You Are' or picked up his first ACM for New Male Vocalist of the Year, he accomplished his career highlight: writing his first song.

"That's the one thing I would always go back and relive," Jack tells The Boot. "Just knowing that you wrote a song, and you created something that wasn't there before you started and finished it. That's one of the most rewarding things that this business offers me. I can always remember the very first song I wrote. It was like, 'Wow ... I can do that!' That's a cool feeling."

When it comes to his songwriting today compared to when he wrote that first song, Jack says he's certainly progressed, even if one thing isn't any different. "I think I'm getting better at it, but the feeling has never changed. The feeling of just getting to the root and the heart of what you're trying to express ... I still feel that feeling. That doesn't get better or worse. That's just having the guts to be honest about it. I think that it's gotten better on the technical level, but it's the emotion that I'm always searching for."

Jack admits the craft is still challenging at times, but that's all part of the game. "It's like sharpening your tools. If people write a song and it's challenging, and if you finish it and it's somewhat good, that's subjective," he explains. "When you get a real inspiration, whether it's coming from God or just whatever it is that inspired you, the visions come quickly. That has mostly to do with sharpening my tool set when I was having a hard time. The truly inspired songs could be better because I know what I'm doing."

Jack's latest album, 'Big Dreams & High Hopes,' is in stores now.

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