Jack Ingram Finds a Jet to Get to Fans

Hurricane Alex may have kept a few folks from doing what they wanted to over the Fourth of July weekend, but not Jack Ingram. Jack, a true Texan who has weathered many hurricanes beating against the Texas coast, was booked to play a show in Aberdeen, S.D. on Independence Day. He was scheduled to fly out of Houston, which would have put him square in the middle of the incoming storm.

Luckily, Jack is a very resourceful person. It only took him a few moments to decide that if he was going to make that date and play for his fans, he better find another means to do so because many flights were already grounded or overbooked at George Bush International Airport.

"I just love to play music, and when I realized that it was the day of the show and chances of me making it out of Houston commercially were next to nothing, I made some calls and found a private jet on the ground in Houston," the singer-songwriter says. "I hate to let the fans down, and I pride myself in not missing shows."

Finding the private jet was fairly easy; getting to it was another problem all together. "The only issue was this plane was parked down at Houston Hobby Airport and I was an hour away, north of the city, at the other airport. So, I ran down to the rental car counter, jumped into whatever car they had on-hand and drove down to Hobby. It was insane all the way there. Water was rising on the streets and the road that led me to the charter jet had water knee-high. I was hoping that the engine in the car wasn't going to give out on me as I drove through the water."

Fortunately for Jack, he made it to Houston Hobby and boarded the private jet. "I was the lone passenger, and once I was on-board I asked them to take off immediately," Jack recounted. "I arrived in sunny South Dakota in just enough time to hit the stage."

Jack says the rewards for making the extra effort to get to the Fourth of July show were worth it. "I don't know if it was just me, but the crowd seemed to be a little louder and the beer seemed a little colder that night as I took it all in," he says. "When you love what you do, you don't want to miss moments like that."

Hopefully Jack's next few dates won't require any fast thinking like this one. He heads for Mesquite, Texas this Saturday, and then goes to the West Coast for a date in Turlock, Calif. on July 21 and Susanville, Calif. on July 23.

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