|
NEWS FROM THE ROAD ARCHIVE
February 27, 2006... Hey. Starting next week on 02/28 me and the band are going to start opening shows for Sheryl Crow. That's right, you heard me...we're doing 20 something shows all through March. If you check this site's schedule or my website's schedule it will show the dates. Come check it out. I'm a huge fan of hers so this is going to be nice. We even practiced and everything! I talked to my buddy, Todd Snider the other day and he told me that he has a new record done and coming out soon. I look forward to that. It's going to be a good year for music that I dig; Scott Miller has a new cd ready to roll, Hayes Carll should be coming out with something this year, Will Kimbrough has a new one ready and who knows what else will pop up. But did I tell you that we're going out with Sheryl Crow?...oh yeah, that's right...well it's true so take that! See you out there- Wherever You Are...was that too easy? January 20, 2006... It's been a big week... Hey You, I just got home from Los Angeles. I was out on the road all week trying to sell a few records. We started in Denver on 1/9 and did a show at The Grizzly Rose where I had a great time. The show was billed as a solo acoustic show and I am used to playing those type of shows but the Grizzly Rose is a honky tonk the size of Billy Bob's. It's Huge. I wasn't so sure that people were going to give a rip about what I was doing and, because it was a Monday, I wasn't sure anybody was going to be there anyway. Well, people were there and, apparently, they did give a rip. It was a great show with lots of people in attendance and they stood in the middle of the big dance floor and listened to me play and tell my stories. Thank you Denver, Colorado. From Denver I flew back home to Dallas where we did a ton of stuff including television, radio and more shows. The rest of the week was filled with more of the same- none of what I mention includes sleep- and we ended the week with a fantastic night in Los Angeles at Cowboy Country. It's not every week that I put out a record. Thank God. Thanks to everyone who came out to be a part of the release of "Live- Wherever You Are". Keep on keepin' on... December 23, 2005 You hear that? I think I hear it! Yes, I think it is… hang on now… yes that’s it… it’s the… it really is this time… it’s going to be… THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!! It’s almost over now. Stay cool, buy your presents, call your mama, take the pictures, don’t bitch, hang on this won’t take long… Merry Christmas and I’ll see you at Gilley’s for New Year’s Eve. It’s going to be a good show I promise. I know I don’t have to tell you if you’re reading this but I’ve got a new single out that’s actually being played on the radio. It’s doing great and we all need to wish it well in the new year… actually we don’t need to wish anything. Just call your radio station from different phones throughout your area (so they won’t be on to multiple calls!) and request “that new song from some dude about not knowing where you are or something”. Seriously, call somebody and say something about the new song. It will help. It’s going to be a busy start this year and I’m looking forward to doing lots of shows to promote the new record. Stay in touch and bring a friend out to the shows. Tell everyone you love that you do. It’s a good time of year to tell everyone you love that you love them and it’s a great time to start doing it all year long. I know that’s a pretty positive message and I don’t mean to make you squirm but just shut up and do it. LOVE YOU… Keep on keepin’ on… Jack November 10, 2005 I just got back from Houston, Texas where I was a part of KILT's 10 Man Jam. It's an acoustic jam with 10 artists sitting on stage just playing songs. I had the honor of sitting right next to Dwight Yoakum. It was AWESOME!!! He was playing "Guitars, Cadillacs..." and I felt like I was transported into some strange dream. When I was 17 years old I used to drive around Houston with a cassette of "Hillbilly Deluxe" blaring from my car. At the time that cassette and a cassette of Willie Nelson's "Phases and Stages" were the only country music I had. Almost twenty years later there I was on the stage sitting next to Dwight himself. I thought, for a moment, that I was going to wake up to my Mom yelling at me that it was time to get the hell out of bed and go to school. I have played shows with many of my musical heroes over the past few years. Last night it was a great experience to realize once again what a huge fan of music I remain. I was blown away by how powerful that dude is. The songs, the voice, the clothes, the whole thing... Lucky me. October 4, 2005 I’ve had a few weeks to think about what a great time I had at the REAL.AMERICAN.MUSIC. Festival. Every band was great. It really is a great day of music for me. I look forward to it every year and each year I have not been let down. I can’t wait to start putting together next year’s lineup. Thanks to everyone for coming out and sharing a wonderful day of music. This last weekend was the Austin City Limits Festival and man, was it hot. Not hot in the “Paris Hilton” way but hot in the good God, it was hot out there. When me and the band took the stage on Sunday it was 108 degrees. From the stage I could see a line in the field where the shadows were and as we played the shadow kept moving and so did the cows, I mean the crowd. It was funny...and understandable. I wish I had the booth that sold the snow cones! I’ve been promising for a year now that I am going to be coming out with some new music. Here it comes. My new record label, Big Machine Records, is pressing up the new single “Wherever you are” as we speak. I did that song and a song called “You never knocked me down” and will be re-releasing the show from Gruene Hall in January. The cd is going to be called “Live- Wherever you are”. It’s going to have the songs from the original Gruene Hall cd as well as the two new studio tracks. The artwork is being reworked also. We’ll be going in and doing the full length studio record shortly and that will be released fairly early in 2006. For those of you who have been waiting to hear some new songs for a while- we are all in luck. This next period of recording is going to be fairly prolific for me. I’ve been waiting for the right recording situation to happen and I feel like we are there. So here we go… That being said, I don’t ask often but I’m asking now… starting in October please call your favorite country station and ask them politely to play “Wherever you are” by Jack Ingram. I’ll go ahead and thank you in advance. Thanks. Tom Freund, an artist I have never heard of before this weekend, has a great cd out called “Copper Moon”. The title track is fantastic and the rest of the cd is great also. Check it out. K-O-K-O, Jack 8/12/05 Time does fly. UFO’s do too as we figured out over July 4th weekend with Merle Haggard and Robert Earl Keene out in Clovis, New Mexico. Merle puts on his annual UFO Festival every year out in Roswell, New Mexico. This year they asked me to be a part of it. This year’s UFO Festival from the famed UFO site in Roswell, New Mexico was hosted in Clovis, New Mexico…hmmm? I think they were trying to throw the aliens off the scent left by Willie Nelsons last year when he played the fest. It worked. We had a great time and didn’t get taken up to the mother ship to be probed. Merle sounded great! I just got done recording a few songs that will be released very shortly. I’m very excited about what’s going on with these songs and cannot wait to explain. This time it really will be very shortly. You can even hold your breath. Mark McKinney from John T. Floore’s Country Store just emailed me the final schedule for the REAL.AMERICAN.MUSIC. Festival. It’s going to be a great day of music. Check out the schedule and all the other stuff regarding the festival on the site. I just moved to Austin, Texas. Feels just like home. K-O-K-O, Jack 5/15/05.... How about a big hand for the newest member of the beat up ford band. Please make him feel very welcome. We call him "kid", you call him what you want, his name is Jon Michael Schoepf. He plays the bass. I saw the kid playing last summer at a festival. His brother, Joel, used to road manage for us a few years back. As I heard the story Joel bought Jon Micheal a bass for his 16th birthday and a few cds of people he was hanging around with. Jon Michael learned how to play and he does it very well. I laugh at the thought of me hooking up with a road band at the age of 21 but I don't laugh at the thought of having this kid in my band. He's doing a great job. If you see him, tell him. We're about to head out for the Robert Earl Keen uprising shows this weekend. Kind of all over the state of Texas, really. Going down to San Antonio to play the County Line (it's free and early) then coming back up to N. TX then back down to Corpus Christi (one of my favorite venues in the country) then back up to Cowtown to play the Wolf dance. It's going to be a busy week. Had a real good time over the revenge of the syth weekend. Played a great show up at The Wormy Dog Saloon in Oklahoma City with Pat Green and Kevin Fowler. I'll be back in OKC in July. Billy Joe Shaver's birthday tribute record is out. Check it out. Happy Birthday Billly Joe. Happy Birthday to you, too. 4/15/05... Is this called a blog? If it is then I'm not sure what to think. I've heard that blogs on websites are becoming some new way of getting information both good and evil. I have a feeling that there's not a lot of information you're going to get from this "blog" in either direction so I will carry on thinking it is just some sort of communication. I often feel like this is some kind of "dear diary" thing and picture myself lying on my bed in a poodle skirt writing about my latest crush but then I think about how wierd that seems because I'm not in high school anymore and I never wrote in my diary... I do wonder where that poodle skirt is though. The Acoustic Motel tour is over and once again this year I am very, very, very, very, very glad to be back doing shows with the band and not hearing myself go on and on and on and on and on like Chris Cagle's love about where and when and why I wrote this and that and the other thing. It's great to be back doing my thing with my band. I know that by next year I'll be ready to sit in the Acoustic Motel and talk a bit and sing some songs... thanks to everyone who came out to see the show. Come back next year and bring all your friends who love to talk during solo/acoustic listening shows. It is a joy to watch those people. God Bless Blaine Martin out in San Angelo, Texas. He is better than chocalate cake and his picnic is hilarious. It's festival season again. We're planning the Third Annual REAL.AMERICAN.MUSIC. Festival right now. It's going to be on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend again this year. Until then we'll be out on tour mostly in Texas doing the big stages and having a big time. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't tell you again that I have a new record that's pretty much done and will be out later this year. I think I said that last year but this year I mean it. Tell the people you know that I know that I said hello and love them. Better yet, when you see them tell them that when I see them I'll tell them myself. Tell them what you want. KOKO, Jack Ingram 1/30/05.... Raised a ton of money for the Tsunami victims last Sunday at Nokia Nextstage Theatre in Grand Prairie. Pat Green and Jerry Jeff Walker were great. That show would be special for me even if it weren't for such a great cause, under the circumstances I have to say that it was definitely a highlight event for me thus far. Thanks to all those who came out and thanks for all of your generosity. I think the total amount raised for the victims of this tragedy got close to $100,000.00 on this night. Started the Acoustic Motel tour last night in Waxahatchie. The Texas Theater is a very nice place to play. It's an renovated old theater on the square. It's a lot of fun to play and the crowd is always great. I look forward to returning. The Acoustic Motel dates will run through the beginning of March. All of the dates aren't booked yet but will be in the next week. We'll be going pretty far out this time so if you have any friends in the cities I'm playing, please let them know. It will be nice to see some friendly faces out there. Check out the tour dates to find when and where I'm going. It's going to be a good tour. I've been glued to the computer for the first time in my life. I got itunes for Christmas and it is awesome. I'm taking my entire cd collection and putting them into my hard drive. It takes a while but it's thrilling for some odd reason. I feel some wierd sense of accomplishment everytime itunes is finished importing a cd to my hard drive. Who knew such pleasures awaited me on the information highway. Okay then, Jack 12/17/04... I'm about to head our for the weekend. Going down to Corpus to open a show for Jr. (Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Jr.) and then heading up to Victoria, TX. to open a show for Willie (Willie Nelson). Sorry about the name dropping. I know better. Jerry Jeff told me that wasn't cool, I apologize. Last weekend was breathtaking, literally, breathtaking. We played on Saturday night at Gruene Hall which is always a thrill and a fairly "amped up" event. This evening was no exception. I found Joe Ely's license in the rafters of the Hall. I was very serious about blowing the roof off of the joint. It's a pretty solid roof so I thought it might take getting up in the rafters to do the job right. I got up there and amidst all the debris and resin from years of smoke, noise and joint juking I found Joe's license from Lubbock, Texas 1972. Or I thought I found it, it got pretty hazey up there. After the show I hopped on the bus and headed back to Dallas where I was signed up to run the White Rock Marathon. It's a full marathon and I was fully prepared. 26.2 miles turns out to be a pretty long jaunt. I finished but I'm just now catching my breath. All along the path of the marathon they had bands playing set up on little stages in peoples yards or on the street. On mile #17 of the run I turned a corner in Lakewood, a neighborhood that the marathon ran through, and I thought I heard a familiar song being played by one of the bands. As I got closer I realized that I was hearing "One Thing" which is one of mine from "Electric". At first I looked around to see if I was being set up. When I was fairly sure that this was just a coincidence I thought how cool it was that of all the songs this band could be playing as I aproached their street, they were playing one of mine. As I approached the stage they were just hitting the second verse so I jumped onstage and took the mic and sang the verse. I think they figure out who the hell I thought I was about the time the verse was over and I handed the microphone back to the singer and ran on my jolly 26.2 mile way. I must admit that I was pretty stoked for at least another 1/2 mile and then the pain returned. I think I remember that the band's name was the Transcenders? Maybe. Anyway, thanks to that cool band on the run. Playing this week and then hitting the road for a few songwriter guitar swap shows with Billy Joe Shaver and "others" (I include myself in "others"). It's six of us playing in Dallas, Austin and Houston. I'm thinking of it as a warm up for the Acoustic Motel shows in February. Then it's Christmas night at Billy Bob's. Ho, Ho, Ho. Happy Happy.... Jack
|
11/29/04..... .Well hello there. My it's been a long, long time. How am I doing? Well, I guess that I'm doing fine. It's been so long now and it seems now like it was only yesterday... if you're not singing along by now you should be ashamed of yourself. It has been a while though. We went out to the East Coast with Pat Green and his beret's in October. We made it out to Robert Kearns' parents house in Connover, NC, played in NYC and spent all the merch money on clothes that must be cool because they were bought in NYC, played a show and had a recording session with Doug Lancio in Nashville and made it all the way back to Texas for Thanksgiving. Professionals. Yes, we are professionals. The tour with PG went very well if I do say so myself. Thanks to Pat for taking us out to meet a few new people. I can only hope they weren't just pretending to "dig" the "opening band". With any luck, we will tag along with those boys out to the West Coast when they go out there early next year. Speaking of early next year, I just got the almost finished schedule for the '05 Acoustic Motel tour (solo acoustic tour with a motel room set on stage). It looks like it's going to be a nice little run. It will begin in Texas at the end of January and go through the East, North East and Midwest before ending up back in Texas at the end of February. I look forward to doing way too much talking and not enough singing for a little while. I just got done acting in the filming of Lee Ann Womack's next video. She was shooting a video for her first single from her new cd in Ft. Worth. They called me up and I went over and had the tough job of "acting" like I was into what she was doing. It was a lot of fun and I'm honored that they thought of me. It should be on CMT soon so if you watch CMT, watch out for that. The song is awesome. It's called "I May Hate Myself in the Morning". If you're not doing anything on Christmas day after you find out that Santa's not real, come over to Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth. Me and the band are going to be there Christmas night. It's a Saturday night and Saturday night's alright for fighting. Trust me, think of it as a present to yourself. Blow off whatever Holiday blues you've got and me and the band will take care of your problems for a while. My next studio record is done, well for the most part. I'm just looking for the right home for it and hopefully it will be out in the Spring. I've been playing a lot of the songs out live and I can't wait to get it released. How about the new web site? Bart Bacon put a lot of hard work into this thing for not nearly enough payback. If you're into telling people how you feel, email Bart and let him know how cool he is. Tell him I like it too! Alright, 10/8/04 Good Lord, It's been a long time. I think between the time I last checked in here and now these things have been renamed "blogs". I guess I need to ramble a bit more and give a bit more time to blogging in on the web site. I just always figure if something really good happens out here, somebody will hear about it before I get to a computer. You know the old saying, "what goes on the road, stays on the internet". What has been going on since July? A lot. We've been playing a bunch. The REAL. AMERICAN. MUSIC. Festival in Helotes at John T. Floore's Country Store was a huge success. Everybody showed up and had a good time. I heard James McMurtry told somebody to f*% off because they told him they didn't like the girls that were dancing on the stage during his set. I haven't heard James say a whole lot off stage in general so that must have been quite a moment. For the record, I thought the girls on stage with James during his set were a distraction, I like distractions. They keep me focused. We played the Austin City Limits festival again this year. That is pretty amazing. 75,000 people gathering in one huge field for the same reason. That's nice. I watched most of Pat Green's show (he invited me up to sing his version of "One Thing", which comes out on his record Oct. 19) and they sounded great. I also snuck over and saw Wilco play 3 songs. They are ... Wilco. What a band. We played a few roadside shitholes along the way. We always do. Loved every one of them. I'd say things are going pretty good. Hadababyit'saboy. Alright then, ps. We're going out on tour with Pat Green in late October. We'll be in the North East part of the country. Spread the word. We don't get up there enough yet. Let your people know. Alright the This next heading would go under: "I don't care who you like and I don't care if you care who I like". GO VOTE on November 2. Jack
5/30/04 I had a show in Oklahoma City a few weeks back and man, it was a good one. I found out that my good man, Todd Snider, was going to be in town on the same night opening a show for John Prine. I talked to Todd the day of the show and we figured out the master plan: I'd go over to the College theatre where his show was and sit in with him on a tune, then he'd come over to the roadhouse where I was playing and take over the rhythm guitar responsibilities in the beat up ford band for the evening. Not only did the plan take effect and work to perfection but John Prine decided to do me one better by inviting me up to play "Paradise" with him, his band and Mr. Snider. I even got to play John Prine's guitar. I have decided to begin drinking "Handsome John's" in honor of John Prine. A "Handsome John" is a drink that he made up in 1976. It is Vodka, Gingerale and a slice of lime twisted. I snuck in his dressing room to check things out (if something is gone from that evening I did not do it) and inspected the ingredients to the famous drink to make sure I had it right. I did. I haven't spoken to Todd since after our show over at the Wormy Dog saloon. He's been out playing solo/acoustic for a while now and I'm not sure he was properly prepared for the work out. I was tempted to call for a medic during the show but I figured everyone in the bar would just laugh and throw drugs onto the stage! He's a professional so I assume that he is doing okay and has recuperated from the show. I did hear a report that somebody saw a van pulled over to the side of the highway in the pouring rain and a figure bent over in the grass making gyrations.... I'm sure that wasn't Todd. It was a good night. Alright then, Jack 3/30/04 Well now, Finished up the Acoustic Motel dates. Hooked back up with the band and it's great to make some noise again. Making plans for the 2nd Annual REAL.AMERICAN.MUSIC.Festival down in Helotes (San Antonio), Texas. It's going to be over Labor Day Weekend again, September 5. I'm making plans so I suggest you do as well. We've already got some of the bands booked and it's going to be great. Going to be playing a ton this summer. Lots of festivals and outdoor shows. There's not a lot better than playing a big stage outdoor with the wind and the sun and the music and ....... Alright then, Jack 2/04/05 Luv ya blue! I just got back from Houston where we played a show with Tim McGraw as a part of the Super Bowl festivities. It was at the baseball stadium where the Astros play (Minute Maid Park). It was a free show that Bud Light put on and we had a great time. When we went on there were probably 20,000 people there. I couldn't help but feel bad about the Super Bowl coming to Houston and not having the Oilers there. I spent last week finalizing the mix of the Acoustic Motel cd. I mixed it at Last Beat studios in Dallas. I'm heading out for the Acoustic Motel tour '04 next week and will have the cd's in hand. They'll also be available on the site but not in stores. I heard there's a new website out called www.beatupfordgarage.com. I'm not sure what it's all about but I think it has something to do with my music. Check it out. Working on some studio recordings with Doug Lancio (he produced "1000 Kisses" for Patty Griffin). If everything works out right I'll have a new studio record out sometime this year, maybe in the Fall. Got a show at The Paramount Theatre in Austin this Saturday, February 7. It's a full band show and an Acoustic Motel show. It's being put on by KVET 98.1 in Austin and is a free show. You have to get the tickets through the radio station. Has anyone heard the radio show? BBQ: Peggy Sue BBQ in Snyder Plaza, Dallas, TX Just a few recomendations. 1/24/04 Happy New Year. How was your Christmas? Best one ever, right? Right. I went to Clovis, New Mexico and hung out over the holidays. Lots of space out there. I saw the studio where Buddy Holly did a lot of recording. I ate some great chicken fingers at "Twin Cronies". I just got back from Steamboat Springs, Colorado where I hooked up with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Pat Green and Cory Morrow to play an acoustic "song swap" show. It was a part of that big "Party in the Rockies" that they've been doing the last couple of years. The show was great. Ray Wylie Hubbard's "conversation with the devil" is a classic. The guys that put that show together were really cool to us, treated us right. Thanks. I had to leave the morning after the show and ended up on the same flight with Ray Wylie Hubbard. He told me that he's putting together a record with a bunch of old songs that never got the right treatment. I can't wait to hear it, I've heard a bunch of his old stuff and love it. I look forward to hearing how he intended it. I guess the first time around, he handed the record in to the record company and they completely changed the recording. I listened to him tell the story and I thought to myself that I would have had a heart attack if what had happened to him happened to me. Whatever, I'll buy that record. Hitting the road for some shows this weekend and getting ready for some acoustic shows in February. See you at the Super Bowl. Jack 12/09/03 The "Live at Billybob's" CD finally came out a few weeks ago on November 11. I spent a few weeks doing in-store performances at different stores around Texas that sell music. Did you know that Wal-Mart sells music? Did you know that every once in a while they have recording artists come into the store to play music? Neither did I! I do now. I have been in plenty of odd situations while attempting a career in music but walking into a Wal-Mart in Lubbock, Texas with a guitar in hand is the oddest. I wish I had a picture of the "greeter" when he saw me walking in. "How may I help you" didn't really sound like a greeting but more of an accusation. I looked around desperately to find the music department. When I did find it there was not a scent of anything that had to do with me or any kind of live performance. I figured I was just at the wrong store so I found the guy behind the counter and he assured me that I was in the right store but the wrong department. He pointed me in the right direction. When I finally got to the "Ladies Apparel" section of the store you can imagine how happy I was to see a tiny little public address (PA) system and a microphone stand ready and waiting for somebody like me to make some music. It was so nice of the people at the store to move the ladies sweat suit display and the lingerie to the side to make room for me. I remember a few times, as a child, when I would be faced with a situation that made me want to turn around and run into my mother's arms. I thought that as an adult I was through with those type of emotions. Not hardly. When faced with the prospect of plugging in my guitar and playing a few songs in the "Ladies Apparel" department at noon on a Sunday in Lubbock, Texas in front of a few pissed off "Ladies Apparel" shoppers, two fairly with it shoppers who seemed to take interest in what was sure to be an entertaining little trainwreck right there in the middle of the store and 3 Wal-Mart employees on their lunch break made me want to turn around and run into ANYBODY'S arms for safety. I did not turn around and run (I was afraid I they might think I was stealing something). I walked up to the mic and did my best impersonation of Jack Ingram playing an acoustic set. After a few songs a crowd began to form in the aisle in front of me. Some of the people were acting as if this is something they see all of the time (I'm sure those people take home all the money at the weekly poker game). Some of the people had amusing looks of surprise on their face. A few people didn't know what to do so they kept walking down the aisle, turning their cart around and walking back by pretending not to notice that a man with a guitar was playing music in the "Ladies Apparel" department of the Wal-Mart. I kept playing for a while and then stopped to sign a few CD's. Yes, a few people did find what I was doing either odd enough or good enough to want to take home a remembrance of the occasion. The last person in the line waiting to get a signature came up and I thought to myself "thank God, this is almost over". He walked up to me and offered his hand. I took it and he said "Hello, my name is James Jennings. Waylon Jennings was my brother." I was stunned. He continued "I know that you may feel a bit awkward standing here in the middle of this place trying to play music but don't. I liked what I heard and my brother would have to. And if he were in your shoes he would do the same thing. My brother would have played music for anybody anywhere they wanted to hear him play. Keep doing what you're doing and things will work out." Then he turned around and walked away with a few children I assume were his grandkids. This is the part of the story where I talk about some incredible life lesson that I learned playing in the "Ladies Apparel" section at noon on a Sunday in a Wal-Mart in Lubbock, Texas. Something like how meeting Waylon Jennings' brother and his words of encouragement altered the way I look at things. They did. Also, it was very cool to meet him. Jack P.S. This is going to be the best Christmas ever. 10/29/03 It's Wednesday October 29 and I'm packing a few things for the Midwest. A coat. The Billybob's CD is coming down the pipe and I'm looking forward to that coming out. For anyone who's wondering why it got pushed back a few weeks it's because the actual CD's get manufactured at the Sony manufacturing plant. I guess they got loaded down with Buddy Jewel requests and the plant got behind! They weren't manufactured in time so we had to push the release date back. It's been a good couple of months out on the road with the band. We had a great run through the Southeast. It's always good to eat at Sim's BBQ in Little Rock and Fat Mat's BBQ in Atlanta. Always got to be on the lookout for some good "Q". The Bottlerocket's have a brand new CD out this week. Go get it. Robert Kearns has a great song on it. It's a great cd. If you live in the Midwest, come out and see us this week. If you don't then #@#$# it. Alright, 9/4/03 I just got back from Helotes, TX. The innaugural (I have been told that it's not really an annual event until the 2nd. I guess they want you to prove something before you start bragging) Real. American. Music. festival. It turned out to be everything that I had hoped it would be. Every set I saw, which was every one, was fantastic. Rain was in the forecast and precautions were taken but somehow the rain missed us. It actually did rain for ninety seconds during The Scott Miller's set but he played "Miracle man" and told the rain to stop. It did! I heard later that rain came down in sheets all over the city all day but just not on us. I guess we just got lucky. The security guards told us that they didn't see one altercation all day long. Over three thousand people drinking beer all day long and not one fight. I think somebody ought to call Guiness, that has to be some kind of record. It was just a great day. With any luck next year we'll have more of the same. We'll be touring all over the place this fall. Live at Billybob's comes out October 21. We're doing a Southeast swing at the end of September and a Midwest run in November. That's smart, stay in Texas when the weather's nice and hot and then bolt for the cold states just as soon as it might start snowing up there. Genius! I can't remember when I've had a better time playing music with a band. The lineup we've got now is really coming together. Adding Chris Masterson on guitar seems to have really opened things up. I don't know how it sounds to anyone listening. I just know that it sounds right to me and feels really good. I'll see you out there, Jack
|
7/12/03 Wille Nelson Rules. The Fourth of July weekend was quite a busy one for us. I played a solo show in Houston at The Mucky Duck then hooked up with the band in Austin to play Hill's cafe for KVET, that was a fun one. I hope the P.A. still works. I think we stretched that little thing to it's limit. I used to use a P.A. like that when I did gigs at Adair's in Dallas for 100 people, not 2000. We then played Wharton's little dance hall. That is a pretty little town. Something about playing for cowboys who don't know or care who's playing at the "watering hole" that night is refreshing. Not entirely inspiring but certainly refreshing. Robert Earl Keen's 4th of July festival in Henderson was incredible. We played at the bottom of a crater in the middle of the piney woods of East Texas. It was a perfect. Lots of people, good music and a Holiday to celebrate. It was good to see Bruce Robison and Eleven Hundred Springs play, I haven't heard either of them in too long! Then it was on to Willie's Picnic. What a cluster @#$%. It always is and I'll do it every time they'll ever have me. Got to see Patty Griffin play, got to see Billy Joe Shaver play, got to see Billy Bob Thornton do what he does, and of course, got to see Willie, I think Neil Young played too. Just to breathe the same air as Willie (not that air, particularly!) is a blessing. Willie Nelson Rules. That's it, Jack Ingram P.S. We recorded the show at BillyBob's last night. I think we'll put out two live records this year. 5/22/03 well then, I haven't really spent too much time on the road for the last month. We've had a few really nice shows (Larry Joe Taylor's festival stands out) but I've been blessed with a little time to spend at home lately. So I guess this will count as checking in from the road but the speed limit on this road is 30mph not 70mph! Last Saturday night the Dallas Mavericks were playing the Sacramento Kings in game 7 of the NBA Basketball playoffs. I was invited to come and sing the National Anthem. It was quite an experience. I've been in a lot of intense situations in my travels but this one was amazing. I think I got through the song with no mistakes but I don't really remember how it went. I don't remember anyone booing me so I think everything went well. The Live record that we recorded at Gruene Hall is now mixed. I will be figuring out how and when I'm going to release it in the coming weeks. Other than that- I've got nothing. Jack Roadside stop 4/8/03 So I go down to play Huntsville, Texas and the entire town blacks out. Huntsville, Texas is not the place you want to be when the power goes out. It holds the largest prison facility in the state of Texas. I'm sitting in the hotel room thinking that when I finally open the door I will find every raving escapee waiting to pillage the first person they see. I had visions of the headlines that would have put "The Texas Seven" in its place. "The beat up ford band finally put down by The Texas 70,000". Nothing happened. I live to write another entry to the web site. Trying to finish the Live Recording before summer. I'm looking forward to some of these outdoor festivals and spring time gigs. Alright then, Jack Wednesday, February 5, 2003 Taking the Acoustic Motel to Louisville tonight. We've been recording almost every one of these solo shows. I promised my Mom I wouldn't cuss so much. We scheduled this tour with the dates lining up almost every night, it's been fairly hectic but as long as the crew (Joel Schoepf and Kyle Wieders) hold up I think every thing will turn out alright. You should see the look on some these bar owners when we pull up for a solo acoustic show with a fourteen foot trailer and start hauling a motel room into their precious little compound. I'm having a good time doing these shows, I can only hope people who come see it are as well. Jack January 13, 2003 I think this has been the longest stretch I've had without a single show in ten years. My last show was the Gruene Hall show before Christmas. I've enjoyed the break but I'm looking forward to getting out and doing some playing. This "Acoustic Motel" run has developed into a fairly extensive tour. I'll be going through most of Texas and then heading out through the Southeast and Midwest. I'm going to be recording a few of these shows and I hope to include some acoustic stuff in the Live CD if it comes out sounding alright. I guess if it doesn't I won't have anyone to blame since I'm going solo this run. I'll be back out with the band at the end of February, by then I should have all of the touchy, feely, self-indulgent, "I wrote this song about" stuff out of my system for a while, but just a while. I'll see you at the show. Jack December 18 I just got home from the Gruene Hall show. It seems like every time we play there we're doing something that makes it a special show for us. Last summer we did the July 4th radio broadcast, two years ago we did the Unleashed recording with Bruce and Charlie and this time we decided to do a full length Live recording of the show. I listened to the rough mix of the show on the way back up to Dallas and aftermy first listen I don't think we have anything worth a damn. Just joking, I think the show sounds great. We did a bunch of songs, I think the show lasted over two hours, including a few new ones and some that aren't so new but have never been on one of my cd's. Over the next few weeks I'll be figuring out which ones to put on the record and which ones to put in the trash and then I'll try and figure out when the cd will come out. It's always an interesting process to be involved in, making music and figuring out the best way to get it to people who want it.Regardless of all that, the Live at Gruene Hall cd will come out and probably relatively soon. I had a real good time at the show and I thought the band was on fire but you can be the judge of that when you burn the cd, I mean buy it... Jack I listened to a band called The Stone Coyotes and they are great. Check out Milton Mapes. It's Greg Vanderpool's band and I think they're really good. I'm not sure how much they're playing right now but I'm sure they have a web site you can check out.
December 3 Finally coming out of a fog left over from the Thanksgiving weekend. The shows at The Verizon Theater in Houston and The Granada Theater in Dallas were a lot of fun. I think that makes the 7th year in a row we've done shows in at least one of those cities over Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe next year I'll give them a name and say "annual" and people will think we're actually doing something. I had a good time opening the shows with just a guitar. I can only hope that people enjoy that kind of thing. I'll be going out solo/acoustic again from January 14 until the middle of February with the Acoustic Motel. I'll be doing a run through Texas, the Southeast and the Midwest. Look on the schedule to find out exactly where. Get back to me and let me know too would you? I did a show called "Mountain Stage" on November 17. It's a live (taped) radio show out of West Virginia. Other acts on the show were Bruce Hornsby, Kelly Willis, Paul Thorn and a cajun band called Beau Soleil. I've been on the show a few times before but this one was really good. It runs on the low end of the radio dial in a whole bunch of cities. I'm sure you could find it the big bad internet if you want to. Kelly sounded great as always and Paul Thorn is really good. I've only seen him once before, out in California, but this time I got to sit down and listen to him do his thing. He's fantastic and really funny too. I bet Bruce Hornsby used to drive his mother crazy playing that "damn noise maker". He was unbelievable. He had a 1/2 hour set. I bet he only played three songs. He's done it right, make a few hits and spend the rest of your career doing exactly what you want to do making music exactly the way you want to. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that conversation go down... Thanks to Mountain Stage for having me. The next show is Gruene Hall on December 14, 2002. I just found out yesterday that we are going to be making a live record that night. It should be interesting. Let me know. Jack Ingram November 4, 2002 I spent last week down in Austin. We had a show at The Backyard on Halloween with Bob Schnieder, Reckless Kelly and Owen Temple. I got there in time to see the last part of Bob's show. It looked good. I heard that Reckless Kelly put on a great show. They did an entire set of Gram Parsons songs complete with Nudie suits and Emmylou Harris (Cody's girlfriend). I am sorry I missed that. Pete dressed as a girl for the show, what a stretch. Bukka was a skeleton, Gus was WT, Jens was Jens and I was Count Jackula. Reign Entertainment Complex up in Denton, previously The Groovy Mule, has made some nice improvements since it changed ownership. We had a show there on Friday and I can't wait to go back. It feels great in there. I've been listening to James McMurtry's new cd ÒSaint Mary of the WoodsÓ. It's really good, check out track #10, Choctaw Bingo. James is a great guitar player. I love listening to the record and picturing him going back and forth from his amp fidgeting with the knobs like he does at his shows. They make a lot of noise for a three piece band. I'm looking forward to the shows on Thanksgiving weekend (11/29 in Houston and 11/30 in Dallas). Going back to The Verizon theater in Houston will be nice and I've been looking forward to playing The Granada Theater in Dallas since it opened up as a music venue. I used to go see movies at that theater when I was in college. October 2, 2002 I just got home from a real good run. On Saturday I played a show with the McKinley Symphony Orchestra. It was a whole lot of fun. Bukka, Jens and I played Biloxi, Fool and Keep on Keepin' on along with a 51 piece band. From the look on people's faces it went pretty well. I know we had a good time. The show also had Radney Foster, Allison Moorer, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis on the bill. They set us up in the middle of a field, gave us a stage and a band and off we went. The whole thing was called "Symphony on the Range". A whole bunch of people showed up (around 8,000) and raised a bunch of money for the Symphony and an organization called the Samaritan Inn, a charity to help people in North Texas. On Sunday we went to Austin to play The Austin City Limits Music Festival. It was a full band show and we had a great time. We got Audley Freed to sit in with us on guitar. He played my Epiphone Casino guitar through my Vox amp and it sure as hell doesn't sound like that when I pick it up. The festival was a big success and the set was a highlight for me as well. Jack September 19, 2002 I guess it has been a while since I checked in from where I'm at. Me and the band had a good time going through the Southeast over Labor Day weekend. We played a fun show in Nashville for WRLT 100.1 FM that was broadcast live. Those live broadcasts are always interesting, trying not to lose anybody's broadcast license can prove difficult. We had a day off on Labor Day and so we holed up in our friend's studio and cut a track called "Better Man". It's a new song that Tom Littlefield and Tim Beattie wrote. Usually when I get a chance to record I work up a new song of my own but I've been real anxious to see how this song works out. Hopefully it will sound alright, I think we did a good job on it. I know it wasn't a bad way to spend a Labor Day if you can't be with your family. We've been doing the song live recently and people seem to like it. Maybe it'll show up somewhere else soon. Maybe I will too. Until then..... Jack Ingram August 13 The European tour went very well. We played in front of a lot of people who did a great job of pretending to understand what I was saying. It looked like a Mardis Gras celebration at the Festival in Poland. People were partying like it was 1999! France was a very serious musical affair. We played the third night of the festival, having to follow Guy Clark and Lee Roy Parnell (they headlined the previous two nights) is a daunting task to say the least. Very humbling. Both festivals had about 7,000 folks in attendance. We had a good time. I went to London and played a solo/acoustic show at The Twelve Bar. It is a very intimate room with a few hundred years worth of vibe on the walls. I had a great time. It's always nice to say a show is sold out (even if it is 45 people). Hopefully we'll be returning to Europe in the near future. Jack
July 22 I am packing my stuff to go play a few dates in Europe. I'm looking forward to some Polish sausage and some real French Fries. I play two dates with the band at two different festivals. Those should be a real treat from all the stuff I've read about the festivals. Then I'm going over to London to play a solo/acoustic show. Then it's back home. Hopefully some of this stuff translates. We went over in 1997 to play in the UK and did pretty well. That was a while ago and I've been wanting to get back ever since. I've never played for an entire audience that doesn't understand what I'm saying... Well that's not really true. See you when I get back, Jack Ingram July 10 Sitting in a motel room in Nashville. Going to go do a tv show at CMT. It's the request video show and we're going to play "One Thing". It's done live and that always adds some suspense. Let me know how it goes. The Fourth of July show at Gruene Hall was great. I think the radio broadcast went off without a hitch and I tried hard not to lose anybody's broadcasting license. Sometimes it comes in handy not having tourrett's. We went and opened the show in Midland for Dwight Yoakum. He was great and the Midland Rockhound's minor league ballpark is awesome. I slid into third base just to take a test drive and damn near tore off my knee. It's been a long time since I've had a good strawberry but our road manager Morty Goldstein told me it was a text book slide. The show in San Angelo with Merle Haggard got canceled because of the weather so we took the show over to Blaine's Pub and did our thing. I think everything worked out. "Looks like we ate another shit sandwich on this deal now let's take this thing to titty city" Blaine Martin, owner/proprietor at Blaine's Pub. Anyway, I hear there is going to be a big benefit for the flood victim's in south Texas soon in north Texas. I've heard rumor that it's going to be at Texas Motor Speedway. I'm hoping to be involved. Hopefully it will be a big deal and will help out in a big way. All the best - Jack
June 22, 2002 I got back in off the road for a few days. The record is finally out. God Bless America. I spent the first week (6/3 - 6/9) doing in-store performances and radio visits and shows. I think I had a chance to take a nap but I don't really remember. It was nice to be in record stores though. I picked up the Norah Jones record and The Hives record. Those are my two finds of the month. I think it's pretty funny that at all of the shows so far, people seem to already know the songs from "Electric". It's nice to be able to play something that is "new" but people don't run for the beer line or bathroom. People can say what they want about downloading music, and I'm not even sure about my own opinion, but I am glad that music is being heard. I'm sure we'll find a way to get paid for it somehow. But back to the road, I'm going to be doing a lot of in-store visits in smaller towns we're playing throughout the summer so check the schedule. I'm looking forward to the shows with Dwight Yoakum on 7/3 and Merle Haggard on 7/5, sandwiched in between our July 4th gig at Gruene Hall. That should be a good weekend. Then it's on to the West Coast to follow JerryJeff Walker around for a few weeks. Should be a good month. Jack Ingram |
| CLOSE WINDOW | ||
