15-Year Artist Jack Ingram Likes Being "New"

Jack Ingram on the Orange Carpet at the "42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards," Tuesday, May 15, 2007. Photo by David Vespie.

May 16, 2008 — There’s a certain irony in Jack Ingram’s nomination for Top New Male Vocalist at this weekend’s Academy of Country Music Awards. He made his first album in the mid-1990s, so he’s got about 15 years of his career behind him, and some critics in the industry question whether he really belongs in the "new" category. He has no issue with it.

"The whole idea of being a new male vocalist is fine," he told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "It’s relative. The fact is that to millions of country fans across this nation, I’m brand new. They never heard of me until ‘Wherever You Are’ came around, and ‘Love You’ and ‘Lips Of An Angel’ and ‘Measure Of A Man.’ They’re just getting to know me. And I’m glad when they do commit and get to know me and decide they’re a big fan of mine, they’re gonna have all this stuff that I did before, and they’ll go back and check it out, and I love that, too."

Jack puts all those years of hard work — and his newfound status — into a very positive perspective.

"I love being a new male vocalist," he said. "I mean, I love the fact that what that category does is celebrate achievements made in the last couple of years to a guy that just entered the format, and that’s me to a T. And I’m gonna be honest about the fact that I’d love to win. I really do want to win. I’m okay with that."

It wouldn’t be the first time that someone who had been slugging away for a number of years picked up a "new" award. Kenny Chesney won the ACM’s Top New Male trophy in 1998, nearly five years after releasing his first album. And Shelby Lynne won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2001, more than a decade after she released her debut.

Jack’s competition for Top New Male Vocalist includes two guys who’ve released one album each: Luke Bryan and Jake Owen.