"Measure of a Man" is a song written by

Radney Foster Radney Muckleroy Foster (born July 20, 1959) is an American country music singer-songwriter, musician and music producer. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his recording debut as part of the Foster & Lloyd duo, recording ...

and

Gordie Sampson Gordon Francis Sampson (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and producer from Big Pond, Nova Scotia. Beginning his career as a performer on his hometown island of Cape Breton, both in bands and on his own, Sampson has gone on to ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although ...

. It was released in April 2007 as the second single from Ingram's album '' This Is It''.

Critical reception

Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave the song an A− grade, calling it a "well-written story" and saying "it sounds like something that actually might have happened in real life."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Shaun Silva Shaun Silva is a music video director who works primarily in the country music field. He has directed a number of music videos for many country music artists, including many of Kenny Chesney's music videos. His other clients include Jason Aldean, ...

and premiered in May 2007. It starts with Ingram finishing a call in a phone booth, before driving off in his vintage car. Eventually the car breaks down and he calls a mechanic (played by his own father) and he comes to help him with the car. He hands his dad a picture of his family, scared of what his father's reaction will be. The father accepts, and emotionally the two embrace. Ingram is also seen performing the song with his band under an overpass (the same one his car breaks down under). The video makes use of multi-screening in certain scenes (mainly the band performance).

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 54 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for the week of April 28, 2007.

References

{{authority control 2007 singles 2007 songs Jack Ingram songs Big Machine Records singles Songs written by Radney Foster Songs written by Gordie Sampson Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Jeremy Stover