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Issue date: 8/25/06 Section: Trinity Pulse

Media Credit: Jeanna Goodrich SING IT IF YOU KNOW THE WORDS: Students crowed the E.M. Stevens baseball field for a chance to rock out to Micky and the Motorcars and NSO concert headliner, Jack Ingram. The fourth-annual concert drew record numbers and concluded the orientation activities for first years.

Jack Ingram and the Beat-Up Ford band strode onto stage sometime around 9:15 p.m., fresh off a last-minute meal and an impromptu press conference held in front of their tour bus.

Behind "Brother" Pete Coatney's pounding drum roll, Ingram strapped on his guitar and paced to and from the mike stand. Beside him, lead guitarist Chris Masterson thrashed savagely at his Stratocaster, letting his cigarette fall from his lower lip and stomping it into the stage in a moment of pure rock 'n' roll bliss.

With John Michael Schoepf thumbing his bass quietly in the corner, Ingram planted himself center-stage, and with a sly swagger announced to the crowd, "Welcome back to school. I hope you don't fail anything."

From there, Ingram and the Beat-Up Ford Band launched into a raucous version of "Never Knocked Me Down," kicking off a 90-minute set before a record crowd of nearly 1,300.

The set featured his recent No. 1 hit "Wherever You Are," crowd favorite "Barbie Doll" and an acoustic sing-along of his ballad "Goodnight Moon" to close out the proceedings, Ingram even stayed after the show to autograph shirts, CDs and body parts.

In a career spanning over a decade, Ingram has released almost a dozen CDs (including his latest Live: Wherever You Are) and has played the Texas country circuit with legends such as Jerry Jeff Walker, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.

His most recent tours have included nationwide gigs opening for more mainstream artists such as Brooks and Dunn and Sheryl Crow.

"It was a big treat to go from buying Sheryl Crow's records to opening for her," Ingram said of a recent tour.

From the first time Ingram picked up a guitar during his freshman year at Southern Methodist University, he developed a niche in songwriting.

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