Rounder Records Preps Jack Ingram, Mark O’Connor Albums

Singer-songwriter Jack Ingram and accomplished fiddle player Mark O’Connor will issue new albums in August on Rounder Records.

Ingram’s new project, Midnight Motel, is now scheduled for an Aug. 26 release. (It was initially scheduled for June 24.) The first single, “I’m Drinking Through It,” is available for purchase now.

Ingram is scheduled for two Nashville shows this weekend. He will perform a Songwriter Session at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday (June 11) at 3:30 p.m. An autograph signing will take place immediately following the performance. On Sunday, Ingram and his band will perform at the CMA Music Festival at 11:50 a.m. on the Chevrolet Cruze Park Stage, located at The Park between the Hilton and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

In addition, The O’Connor Band, the family band led by acclaimed musician and composer Mark O’Connor, will release their debut album, Coming Home, on August 5 on Rounder. O’Connor is a six-time CMA Award winner for Musician of the Year (1991-1996).

In the O’Connor Band, he is joined by his wife Maggie (fiddle, vocals), his son Forrest (mandolin, vocals), and Forrest’s partner, Kate Lee (fiddle, vocals), all of whom are highly regarded young musicians. The lineup is rounded out by national flatpick guitar champion Joe Smart on guitar, and University of Miami PhD candidate Geoff Saunders on bass and banjo.

According to press materials, the new project is “centered on uplifting, smart, and exploratory original vocal songs.” New material draws largely upon the writing style of the top country writers of the ’80s and ’90s. The album also includes a rendition of the Bill Monroe instrumental “Jerusalem Ridge.”