Artist: Jack Ingram
Video: “Barefoot and Crazy”
Director: Stephen Shepherd

Let’s see: We’ve got a Jack Ingram outdoor show by the water. What’s next? We go “Barefoot and Crazy,” of course. Another very summery-looking, very energetic video.

Panelists’ comments: “Well, that’s the video of the day.” “The people looked real, not like they had been cast.” “Well, I prefer well-placed hardbodies. Just kiddin’.” “Looks like another ‘All Summer Long’ — without the boat.”

Artist: Whitney Duncan
Video: “Skinny Dippin’”
Director: Roman White

Let’s see: We’ve got a sunny day out in the country, pickup truck, a young couple and a picnic by a river. What’s next? “Skinny Dippin’,” of course.

Panelists’ comments: “That’s the best song she has done.” “Does she really sing ‘bare white tushes’ there?” “Yessir!” “Never heard that word in a country song before.” “The video looks beautiful.”

Artist: Dailey & Vincent
Video: “On the Other Side”
Director: Julian Smith

The bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent perform a lilting spiritual song, “On the Other Side,” with a string quartet here.

Panelists’ comments: “Beautiful singing, but that song is not the right vehicle for a video by them.” “I love them, but this looks awkward.” “Sounds great, but this just doesn’t work for me.”

Artist: Trailer Choir
Video: “Rockin’ the Beer Gut”
Director: The Brads

This time out, the risk-taking trio Trailer Choir begin the video with an audience contest. They invited tryouts for “Rock What You Got,” and we get to see all the results. Some are appealing. Some not so much.

Panelists’ comments: “Oh, Lord, I’m so tired of seeing the worm.” “It rocks out, but I dunno.” “I like these guys, but this video is boring.” “Their fans will love it.”

Artist: Luke Bryan
Video: “Do I”
Director: Shaun Silver
(Note: this video will be available online at CMT.com on Tuesday, July 7.)

Luke Bryan sings about the domestic troubles of a young couple living in one of the sleek new high-rise condominiums in Nashville. He appears throughout the action.

Panelists’ comments: “There’s something confusing here. Luke looks almost like the actor here.” “But he’s younger.” “I very much like the looks of this.” “It sounds great.”

Artist: Jimmy Wayne
Video: “I’ll Be That”
Director: Todd Cassetty

Jimmy Wayne sings “I’ll Be That” in shots that are intercut between rehearsals and live concert appearances.

Panelists’ comments: “Good song. I like it.” “That’s a very up performance.” “The audience response sounds like it was sweetened up a lot at the end.” “The video sounds great, except for that.”

Artist: Asleep at the Wheel, featuring Willie Nelson
Video: “Hesitation Blues”
Director: Zalman King

Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel take the viewer behind-the-scenes as they rehearse and then perform the old classic, “Hesitation Blues.” To be sure you know what you’re seeing, there are onscreen graphics telling you that.

Panelists’ comments: “Those graphics are very distracting.” “Yeah, this doesn’t need that.” “Great performance.” “Nice to hear horns again.” “It sounds great.”

Consensus: Jack Ingram’s “Barefoot and Crazy” has its debut in hot shot rotation on CMT on Monday (July 6). Whitney Duncan’s “Skinny Dippin’” and Trailer Choir’s “Rockin’ the Beer Gut” both debut in medium rotation on Monday.

Photo credit: Lester Cohen / WireImage

There’s some solid fiddle in “Middle of the Night” and “If the Rain Don’t Stop.” And some oddly cheery mandolin nestled in “Down Again.” But even though “El Cerrito Place” was a hit video for Robison a few years ago, I don’t know if this album will take him as far into the mainstream as his Lone Star country-rock brethren Pat Green and Jack Ingram.

The lyrics, though, are where Robison’s true range of emotions come into play. This is not the music you play at a summer barbeque. Nor is it the straightforward life-is-tough country downers that occasionally make it onto the radio. The stories here are as deep, raw and painful as Robison’s life must have been as he watched his marriage dissolve. Like on “Reconsider,” which much like Faith Hill’s “Cry,” is a broken-hearted lament for love to come back home.

But like any strong man with a pen and a guitar, Robison is over it by track nine, “She’s So Fine.” I’ve never gone through a divorce. But if I ever do, I would want Robison’s music by my side. Together we’d commiserate, bitch, plead and then move on.

Brandon Rickman is currently the lead singer for Lonesome River Band, although his first solo album, Young Man, Old Soul, veers more toward the singer-songwriter side of things. Indeed, you can tell he wrote the gritty “Always Have, Always Will” with the SteelDrivers‘ Chris Stapleton. Like Ronnie Bowman before him, you get the feeling that Rickman could evolve into an in-demand songwriter in Nashville.

Finally, if you’re looking for one of the sweetest singers in bluegrass history, try Mac Wiseman’s Bluegrass Hits and Heartsongs, an introductory collection of 1970s recordings that he made quickly to supplement his catalog after his previous label was snapped up in a merger. (Yeah, that happened in the 1970s, too.) Selections like “Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die” and “When the Roses Bloom Again” are classics in the genre, and now that we’re in festival season, you’re likely to hear them all summer long.

Jake Owen is going to hire a couple of fans to do just that. Granted, it’s a short-term job and, technically, you won’t get paid. But if you like Owen and his sexy Southern drawl, what better way to get close to the music than to be at his beck and call for 48 hours?

He just called me from the road to tell me about this contest he’s doing with LongHorn Steakhouse and said, “We wanted to give something away to the people who’ve been following us. It’s cool for them, but it’s cool for us, too. People don’t realize what goes on in this life on the road. Like how we stopped at a truck stop in the middle of the night last night and I bought a Triski [scooter].”

But it won’t be all 4 a.m. shopping sprees. The two winning fans, plus their guests, will fly to Nashville for the bus call. Then they will sleep on the bus bunks while it heads down the highway, then get up the next day and get to work. “It’s not slave labor,” Owen told me. “But they will have to round people up for the meet-and-greet, deal with the band and their gear — that kind of stuff. It’s not a contest to be a fan for day. It’s definitely a working day. ”

Owen also said he likes doing out-of-the-ordinary things for fans because it shows them he cares. Plus, he’s a fan, just like everyone else. He said, “If I’d gotten a call to go out on the bus with George Strait or Alan Jackson, I would’ve lost my mind.”