Jack Ingram Returns to Roots: “It’s Always Going to Rain”

Jack Ingram It's Always Going to Rain Jack Ingram is releasing his first album since 2009’s Big Dreams and High Hop. On the new album, Midnight Motel, Ingram reasserts his position as an outstanding roots singer-songwriter. Midnight Motel covers a range of topics, including real-life farmers in “It’s Always Going to Rain.”

Ingram recently explained to Billboard how his album hiatus came about. After some popular country music chart success in the early 2000’s with songs like “Wherever You Are” and “Love You,” Ingram felt a need to go in a different direction than the record company wanted him to go. Thus, some listeners may find that Ingram’s new album is more like some of his early albums.

Ingram’s Early Work and Returning to Roots

I had been a fan of Ingram’s early work before he started appearing on mainstream radio. While I was happy for his success and enjoyed songs like “Love You,” he had been recording and performing for more than a decade before the Academy of Country Music awarded him the “Best New Male Artist” award in 2008.

I prefer Ingram’s work that predated his mainstream discovery, slicker sound, and that “new artist” award. If you only know him from his work in more recent years, you should listen to his earlier albums like Livin’ Or Dyin’ (1997) and Hey You (1999). So, I am excited to hear that he is going his own direction on the new album.

Ingram explained that one reason for the recent break from recording was to allow him to “be whoever the f— I wanna be. I can make music my way and be the best me possible. I can tell you who I am, and you can decide whether you like me or not.”

The album sounds great, so hopefully both old and new fans will give it a listen. As Ingram has explained, in working on the new album, he wanted to focus on writing songs that he wanted to sing and that he would play for his heroes like Guy Clark and Johnny Cash. And he succeeded in creating one of the best albums of his career and one he should be proud of.

“It’s Always Going to Rain”

Ingram drew inspiration from real-life working people on one song on the new album, “It’s Always Going to Rain.” As Ingram explains in the video below, the title for the song came from an elderly woman interviewed in Texas Monthly.

The woman explained about the cycles of droughts faced by Texas farmers. Her line about believing it is always going to rain gave Ingram the inspiration for the song, and he worked with singer-songwriter Lori McKenna to finish the track.

Check out this 2014 performance of “It’s Always Going to Rain.”

Regarding the woman who uttered the expression that inspired Ingram to write the song, she appears to be Sandy Whittley.  She grew up in San Angelo and is the executive secretary of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association.

Although Ingram remembers Whittley being 94 years old, she actually was 74 years old at the time of the interview. Her quote in Texas Monthly that inspired the song came from her discussion of the droughts: “It was so disheartening because we needed it so bad, and everybody kept saying, ‘It’s gonna rain. It always rains. One of these days it’s gonna rain.’ Well, after seven years you’re still telling yourself the same old fable: ‘God won’t let you just die of thirst. I know he won’t.'”

Midnight Motel hits stores and the Internet on August 26, 2016. Currently, you may listen to the whole album over at The Boot.

What is your favorite Jack Ingram song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”
  • 10 Reasons Hope Floats is a Guilty Pleasure
  • 3 Movies That Make Us Mad
  • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”

    This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark

    One of my favorite recent CD purchases is This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (2011), which I have had on repeat play since I got it in December. This One’s for Him is a solid 2-CD collection of songs by the wonderful Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark. Although tribute albums often are hit-and-miss affairs with an uneven collection of interpretations by various artists, this one maintains a nice consistency throughout. One reason the CDs work so well is the consistency of Guy Clark’s writing, although tribute albums usually consist of well-written songs. Another reason that the listening experience is like listening to a CD by one artist is because the producers recorded live with the band and a limited number of overdubs, giving consistency throughout. Finally, the great collection holds up due to the group of artists assembled for the project. Although there are some famous singers on the collection, the producers clearly opted for talented musicians who love Clark’s music instead of just seeking big names, and the love comes through the music.

    It is hard to choose a favorite song, but one of mine is Jack Ingram’s version of “Stuff that Works.” In a video no longer available on YouTube, Jack Ingram talked about his love of Guy Clark’s music, noting that the music feels “like the Truth.” The great thing about Clark’s songs is that he writes beautiful words to go with his beautiful music.

    Stuff that works, stuff that holds up;
    The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall;
    Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel;
    The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall.

    Artists on the CD include a who’s who of great singers and songwriters: Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Prine, and many more. [UPDATE: In a promotional video no longer on YouTube, Hayes Carll, who sings “Worry B Gone” on the tribute CD, talked about hanging out with Clark.]

    If you are already a fan of Guy Clark’s music, you will love the CD. But if you are new to his music, the tribute CD is a great place to start. One of my favorite songs of all-time is Guy Clark’s “LA Freeway.” Radney Foster does an excellent job covering the song on the CD. I could not find his version on Youtube, so here is the songwriter’s version. He does a pretty good job too.

    If I can just get off of this LA freeway,
    Without getting killed or caught;
    I’d be down that road in a cloud of smoke,
    For some land that I ain’t bought — bought — bought.

    “LA Freeway” captures the common longing for running off and being free. Even if you cannot make that kind of escape, you might come a little closer if while you’re on the road you pop in this CD.

  • Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)
  • Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”
  • Happy Birthday Willie Nelson, A Hero of This Country
  • The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris
  • Andrew Combs Need Not Be A “Worried Man” (CD Review)
  • If a Song Could Be President
  • (Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

    Buy from Amazon

    10 Reasons Hope Floats is a Guilty Pleasure

    Hope FloatsHope Floats (1998) is not one of the greatest movies of all time, but it is one of those movies that I find myself watching whenever it pops up on TV. While the critics’ evaluation of the movie puts it at a low 25% “liked it” on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience puts it at a respectable 73% “liked it.” Why are regular audience members right on this movie and the critics so wrong? Here are ten reasons.

    1. Forest Whitaker directs the movie, and does an excellent job. The well-known actor may have been an unusual choice to direct this movie, but he captures the atmosphere of a small town in Texas, perhaps because he was born in Texas. There are excellent shots throughout the movie, and as someone who has spent some time in the Lone Star State, I think he does a great job capturing some of the beauty of the area. He should direct more often.

    2. Sandra Bullock gives one of her best performances as Birdee Pruitt. Bullock fits comfortably in the role of a likeable former small-town girl who was a cheerleader and “Queen of Corn.” She explains how the story attracted her to take the role in this video interview.

    3. The movie includes a musical performance by Jack Ingram, who is playing at a dance scene. Ingram started out playing country music in Texas bars in the early 1990s. A friend introduced me to Ingram in the late 1990s when Ingram released some excellent CDs. Live at Adair’s (1996) is a great live album. More recently, Ingram got a trendy haircut and had more commercial success with songs like “Love You.” The Academy of Country Music gave him a top “new” male artist award in 2008, about a decade too late. But it is great he’s still making good music.

    4. Speaking of musicians, Harry Connick, Jr. shows off his acting chops as Justin Matisse in Hope Floats. Connick has a lot of personality and it comes through in his performance here. Sure, he is not playing Hamlet or another great part, but he fits the role like a comfortable glove and is believable.

    5. The rest of the cast is engaging too. The movie has Gena Rolands, who has been acting since the late 1950s and has an impressive resume of outstanding roles. She’s great here as Bullock’s mother. And Mae Whitman is able to make us laugh while at other times conveying the pain of a child with parents going through a divorce.

    6. The movie has a number of elements that make it hard to classify. There are some laughs, but it is not a light-hearted romantic comedy. It is a Hollywood movie and it is not gritty, but there are several genuine moments in the movie about small-town life, death, divorce, and home.

    7. The film has an excellent scene at the employment office when a former classmate gives Birdee (Bullock) her comeuppance for her popularity in high school. Neither person is played as a stereotype, and viewers find themselves sympathetic to both characters.

    8. Two touching dance scenes illustrate romance, childhood, aging, and starting again: Birdie dances with her father, who has had a stroke and is in a nursing home, and she dances with Justin at the bar.

    9. “Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. But it’s the middle that counts the most.”

    10. The soundtrack works, and the movie includes “Make You Feel My Love.” The song, sung here by Garth Brooks, is one of Bob Dylan’s later career classic songs, as we discussed recently on Chimesfreedom. In the case of both the song and the movie, the fans are right and the critics are wrong.

    Is Hope Floats a bad sappy movie or is it a guilty pleasure? Leave a comment.

  • Dylan’s Late Career Classics: Make You Feel My Love
  • Which “Beer Run” Song Came First?
  • Jack Ingram Returns to Roots: “It’s Always Going to Rain”
  • “Gravity” Is Such a Lonely Word (Short Review)
  • Lost in Space: Trailer for “Gravity”
  • Napoleon Rules! Sweet!
  • (Some Related Posts)