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There's a line in Jack Ingram's song, "Seeing Stars," that really captures my attention: "Wishing on stars/Only when you see ‘em/Is like asking God for help/Only when you need it." When I conducted an interview with Ingram about his new album, Big Dreams & High Hopes, he told me that's the most important line in the song.

"The relationship with God or with Jesus or with anybody that you follow religiously -- it seems like we're all guilty of only keeping that relationship up when we're really in need," he said. "This song is admitting guilt to that. Like, ‘I know I don't talk to You enough,' or ‘I know I don't reach out enough when times are good. And now that times are bad, here I am again but I need some help.'"

Luckily, the follow-up lyric moves the story forward: "But I'm wishing anyway."

"You just go ahead and do it," Ingram says. "Religious people and people of faith will tell you that that's OK. Go ahead. Don't be afraid to ask for help."

Ingram invited his longtime friend, singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, to sing harmony. He says that he e-mailed her the song but didn't hear back for a couple days, which made him nervous. Ultimately, though, she graciously agreed to lend her voice to it.

"For me, she really does make that song. Her voice brings that element of that angelic part of what that song is about," he says. "I've always thought of her voice as heavenly and like an angel. It really does make that song complete, to have somebody like Patty really putting that element in the song."

"I've always told people that there is an abyss of material out there about self-esteem and high anxiety," says Jack Ingram with a knowing smile. "I think opening yourself up to those types of feelings are when you really do find something."

On his new album, Big Dreams & High Hopes, the "Barefoot and Crazy" singer finds equal inspiration in the heavens ("Seeing Stars" with an angelic vocal by Patty Griffin) and the honky-tonks (a rowdy remake of "Barbie Doll" featuring Dierks Bentley).

"Go through the history of country music and great songwriting and you're going to find that it's not all upbeat and 'happy happy,'" says Ingram, who has a college degree in psychology. "'Sunday Morning Coming Down' is all about introspection and trying to figure out what's going on in the world around you -- and how you are affecting it and how it affects you. Those types of songs and that type of songwriting have always been what I'm interested in."

While paying his dues in his native Texas, Ingram self-released two albums in the early 1990s but his partnerships with Nashville labels throughout that decade were unfruitful. Nevertheless, he's always made a handsome living on the road. When his big break came in 2006 with "Wherever You Are," the reputation of his live show prompted opening slots for Brooks & Dunn, Sheryl Crow, Toby Keith, Martina McBride and Brad Paisley.

Here, Ingram discusses his incredible persistence, finding his voice and why his wife is living his dream, too.

• September 21: Big Kenny plays for his Love Everybody fund
• September 22: Heidi Newfield plays to benefit the National MS Society
• September 23: Bucky Covington plays for the Arthritis Foundation
• September 24: Jack Ingram plays for Tom's Shoes
• September 25: Emily West plays for the Alzheimer Foundation of America

Country singer Jack Ingram is talked out.

Guinness World Record spokeswoman Laura Plunkett says Ingram set a record for most consecutive radio interviews in 24 hours.

Ingram gave 215 interviews between 8 a.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday as part of a promotional blitz for his new album, "Big Dreams & High Hopes."

From the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, he spoke by phone with radio stations in most of the 50 states and parts of Canada, Ireland and Australia. He not only broke the record, he annihilated it. The previous mark was 96.

He says in a statement: "After that last 24 hours, I officially have nothing left to say."

Ingram's latest hit, "Barefoot and Crazy," is No. 11 on the Billboard country chart.

Those in “the know” had to be laughing in the audience when Jack Ingram won the 2008 Country Music Association Award for Top New Male Vocalist. It hardly seems that the road-weary artist from Texas that had sixteen years of performing under his belt, and with several critically acclaimed album releases to his name, could be considered new.

It wasn’t until that fateful award night that all of his musical roads finally crossed with the national commercial success that had eluded him for so long. But beginning with 2005’s “Wherever You Are,” 2006 releases “Love You” and “Lips Of An Angel” and 2007’s “Measure Of A Man,” Jack Ingram had finally arrived. On that award night, with a heart full of pride and triumph, Ingram said during his acceptance speech, “big dreams and high hopes” can come true.

Now, a year later, Ingram is back with his brand new Big Machine Records release appropriately called Big Dreams and High Hopes. The new album has already spawned two hit singles (“That’s A Man” and “Barefoot and Crazy”), and will hit shelves on August 25th. Ingram’s story is unique in this era of ever-changing new artists, youth and fast paced stardom, his ascent measured by live shows, decades and miles instead of hits.

Far from overnight success, this road to stardom was paved by Ingram’s own sweat and tears.

Celebrated by country music critics and hard-core fans for more than a decade, Jack Ingram didn't achieve mainstream success until signing with indie label Big Machine Records in 2005.

His single "Wherever You Are" reached No. 1 on the country charts — marking the first time a Big Machine artist had topped the charts. But he hasn't forgotten what it was like to be without a label after Sony's Lucky Dog Records dropped him.

Chronicling his despair, he wrote "In the Corner," which appears on his new album "Big Dreams & High Hopes," which will be released Tuesday.

"I had painted myself into a corner and people had stopped believing in me," Ingram said. "Writing it was a catharsis and I decided to get up out of that corner."

Along with Tara McCormick, Ingram will open for Travis Tritt on Saturday night at the Thunder Concert Bowl on Evansville's Riverfront (in Sunset Park, near the tennis courts). The Marshall Tucker Band will be the musical headliner on Friday.

"People think of my work as glamorous," said Ingram, who was named "Best New Male Vocalist" at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2008. "I do it because I love music, not because I wanted to become famous. To me, it's a job. I go to work and come home like any job."

Along those lines, he said the song he loves the most is "Ava Adele,'" written for his daughter.

Billboard: Do you feel more pressure now that you’re having more success?

Ingram: I’m a father, there’s a business that has my name on it, there’s a lot of things going on that create that pressure, but I love it. There’s an element to making my music now that wasn’t there before. I love the fact that we have a target that we can shoot for. Before it was, “Let’s make a huge piece of art.” Now it’s nice to say, “This needs to be this way because it will be a single. This is a song that people will sing along to with their arms in the air.” That’s artistic, and it feels fantastic to be able to chase that.

Jack Ingram didn't take the easy route to mainstream country music success. He spent years touring the Texas music circuit and had his ups and downs along the way. However, his perseverance has paid off in a big way, because Jack Ingram's seventh studio album, "Big Dreams & High Hopes," is his best yet.

The project starts off strong with the breezy "Free" by Jay Knowles and Trent Summar. "Big Dreams & High Hopes" also features the heartfelt Top 20 hit "That's A Man," which offers a compelling story in song. The terrific new single "Barefoot And Crazy," which was co-written by Rhett Akins, offers a rockin' beat, guitar solos, crisp lyrics and a pitch-perfect vocal performance from Jack Ingram.

The biggest surprise of the album is the poignant "Seeing Stars" featuring the vocals of Patty Griffin on a track Ingram wrote with Chris Tompkins. The voices of Jack Ingram and Patty Griffin provide glorious harmony in an understated performance that has a quiet intensity which builds to a crescendo at the end of the cut. Likewise, the second biggest surprise is the somewhat experimental alt-country track "In The Corner," which Ingram wrote. Ingram took a risk by ending the album with "In The Corner," but the song is a triumph.

Jack Ingram explores more familiar and satisfying country territory with "King Of Wasted Time," "Heartache" and "Man In Your Life." It's clear that the title track "Big Dreams And High Hopes" is autobiographical and especially meaningful for Jack Ingram, who said "big dreams and high hopes" can come true when he won his first Academy of Country Music Award in 2008.

The title of Jack Ingram's upcoming album, Big Dreams and High Hopes, sums up his approach to life and his career.

In a recent interview with CMT Insider, Ingram talked about the album, along with his decision to record a new version of the fan favorite, "Barbie Doll." He also displayed optimism in his effort to make the Guinness Book of World Records for the most interviews ever given in a 24-hour period. He'll work to achieve that goal around the time the new album is released on Aug. 25.

The idea for the new album's title track came about unexpectedly.

"I was talking with a buddy of mine, talking about being in this business and what it takes to get there and what it takes to stay there," Ingram explains. "I just said it in a conversation, 'All I've ever really had was a guitar and big dreams and high hopes.' And that's what's kept me going.

"I ended up writing a song called 'Big Dreams and High Hopes' which is about that -- just kind of looking out at the world from your window and seeing what's out there and kind of having that wanderlust of hitting the highway and doing it -- chasing your dreams. I think that's what you need. You need big dreams and high hopes. If you're gonna get up every morning, you've gotta have something to go for."

Award-winning singer/songwriter Jack Ingram will appear in an upcoming episode of Lifetime's Army Wives, the network's highest-rated television series to date. Sixty second promos for the episode featuring Ingram and his current hit single "Barefoot and Crazy" are already running with the full episode set to air Sun., Aug. 16 at 10:00P ET/PT.

Filmed during CMA Music Festival in June, Ingram gave cast members Wendy Davis and Sally Pressman a VIP tour of Nashville that included boot shopping and beer drinking at Roberts Western World and a backstage pass to the country rocker's stadium performance at LP Field.

"I can't ever remember setting my DVR to catch a Lifetime Show before now...it's sort of a chick thing, you know," laughs Ingram. "But what I love about this series is that it really goes pretty deep into what military families go through as part of their sacrifice for the rest of us. I've been on a couple of USO tours and played bases all over the country, and I love being part of making them forget about all of that for a night."

• Trip for two (2) to Beaufort, N.C.
• Round-trip coach airfare for two (2) to Raleigh-Durham International Airport, N.C.
• Ground transportation to/from airport.
• Two (2) nights stay at a bed and breakfast in Beaufort, N.C.
• One (1) day fishing excursion with Jack Ingram on a Hatteras yacht with a professional instructor.
• One (1) 2010 Bayliner 174 Ski N Fish boat.
• A barbeque at the bed and breakfast following the fishing excursion.
• One (1) Jack Ingram prize pack.

"I'm proud of this album like crazy," says Ingram, referring to the 11-track project. "We started to put it out a few times earlier this year, but then I'd hold everything up and go back to the studio and tweak this or mess with that, but now I'm finally ready. There are a few rowdy barroom sing-a-longs on there and also a few songs that are meant to be listened to when you're all alone...lots of long days and fun nights were spent making this one."

1. Free
2. Barefoot And Crazy
3. That's A Man
4. Seeing Stars
5. Not Giving Up On Me
6. Barbie Doll
7. Big Dreams & High Hopes
8. Heartache
9. Man In Your Life
10. King Of Wasted Time
11. In The Corner