The first ever modern baseball game to be played with its soundtrack provided by a musical supergroup will be at the Duck Pond this summer. Supergroup “The Baseball Project”, will play live music throughout a game to be held on Friday, June 10. The band plays original songs completely about America’s pastime, topics include Satchel Paige, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and more.
Gates will open an hour earlier than normally scheduled, at 4:30 p.m., for a special pre-game concert, which will run from 5:00 to 6:30. The band will also perform during the game in between innings from a stage located behind home-plate in the new “Duck Pond” seating bowl.
The Baseball Project was formed in 2007 and is composed of Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, R.E.M.), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Gutterball), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), and Linda Pitmon (Miracle 3, Golden Smog). Later that year, the group recorded its first album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails.
The group’s second album, Volume 2: High and Inside, was released on March 1, 2011. The band will follow the record’s release with a tour covering the U.S. and appearances at Major League Baseball spring training games in Arizona’s Cactus League.
The band also recorded a ‘real time’ commentary on the 2010 MLB season for ESPN.com. Each month, one song was made available as a free download.
In an article written by ESPN’s Jim Wilkie, singer and guitarist McCaughey jokingly said of the opportunity, “We figured out a way to give ourselves even more work and make less money.”
Singer-guitarist Wynn described the group as being part musicians and part sports journalists.
"I think it will be a lot of fun just to kind of see what’s going on and get fired up about something,” said Wynn. “And instead of just writing bemused e-mails to each other, we’ll put chords behind it and call it a song," Wynn said last week by phone from New York.
To add to the excitement, Madison’s own Hometown Sweethearts will handle music in between at-bats and at other times throughout the game on the 10th. The Sweethearts will become the Official Friday Night House Band for the Mallards in 2011 and handle all musical duties each Friday during the summer (except June 17, which will be the Kissers).
“This is what Mallards Baseball is all about,” said Mallards President Vern Stenman. “The Baseball Project is all about having a great time and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the first Friday night in our new ballpark than live music by a baseball-focused, national, rock band.”
