Cody Jinks Joins Turnpike Troubadours in Matt Carpenter Walk Up Rotation
For years, St. Louis Cardinals lead off man and franchise face Matt Carpenter has been helping to spread the goodness of the Turnpike Troubadours by featuring their song “Long Hot Summer Day” as his walk up music when he goes to bat. As the long-time lead off man for the team, that means a Turnpike Troubadours song is one of the first things fans hear in 50% of games since he began featuring the song in 2012.
Showcasing “Long Hot Summer Day” at Cardinals games is one of the reasons the Turnpike Troubadours have cultivated such a strong fan base in St. Louis and surrounding areas, and “Long Hot Summer Day” was even featured in The World Series when the Cardinals went in 2013. Making references to the Illinois River and numerous small towns behind an infectious rhythm, it’s a song that’s hard not to love, and is a staple of the Turnpike Troubadours live show. The song was originally written and recorded by bluegrass legend John Hartford.
Turnpike Troubadours’ fiddler and St. Louis Cardinals fan Kyle Nix told Saving Country Music a few years back that the exposure has really helped the band out. “Regionally in Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and in Kansas and stuff like that, it seems to have blown up our fan base really big,” said Nix. “You’ll see it on Twitter quite a bit.”
Nix says the band didn’t initially plan to record “Long Hot Summer Day,” but after seeing how it was received live, it made it onto their second record, 2010’s Diamonds and Gasoline. “Evan [Felker] was listening to a lot of John Hartford, and I was listening to a lot of bluegrass stuff, and we lived in the same house here in Stillwater at the time. I was just kind of a neat little song. It was cool the way Hartford did it, just by himself, tapping his foot, playing the fiddle. And we figured it might be cool to put a whole band behind a song like that.”
Recently when speaking to KMOV4 in St. Louis, Matt Carpenter assured that the song isn’t leaving his walk-up rotation any time soon. “I just really fell in love with the band, I still love the band. I fell in love with the song, I thought it had some local ties to it, so I kinda stuck with it ever since.”
However Carpenter has added a new song to his rotation for the 2019 season. “Hurricane” by Band of Heathens is now #2 in his walk up music list. An older song written by Thom Schuyler, Keith Stegall and Stewart Harrisby, and recorded by Levon Helm and Leon Everette in the early 80’s, Band Of Heathens revived the song for their record Top Hat Crown and Clapmaster’s Son. It has since become the Austin-based band’s biggest hit.
Then coming in at #3 is arguably the biggest song from Ft. Worth native Cody Jinks. “Loud and Heavy” has been Cody’s signature tune ever since it was featured on his 2015 record Adobe Sessions, and is now his most streamed and best-selling song. It’s also what he chose to name his own personally-curated festival after. Now it will join “Long Hot Summer Day” and “Hurricane” being heard over the loudspeakers at Cardinals home games at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, as well as being piped into the homes of millions of TV viewers of both the home and away team during Cardinals home games. Cody Jinks happens to be a big Texas Rangers fan, but he probably won’t mind a Cardinals player embracing the song.
Even though radio continues to ignore many of the independent artists who’ve cultivated strong careers and huge fan bases, good music tends to still find its way to people in the end. Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals continues to be one of those outlets.
April 11, 2019 @ 9:36 am
Hurricane is the new one. He was alternating “Long Hot Summer Day” and “Loud and Heavy” last year
April 11, 2019 @ 9:57 am
That would make a good article. The best country walk up songs in baseball. I know Will Harris of the Houston Astros comes in to “When the Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash.
Very interesting article.
April 11, 2019 @ 11:08 am
I just pulled up the Reds and only 1 “country” song appears on the list Seein’ Red by Dustin Lynch
April 11, 2019 @ 10:37 am
“Top Hat Crown and the Clapmaster’s Son” is from 2012. C’mon Trigger, you’re a Texas guy, you should know this.
April 11, 2019 @ 11:17 am
Okay, well it says 2016 on Spotify, which seemed late to me. Just checked Wikipedia, and it says 2011. So I went to Amazon, which is usually the best source for dates, and it says 2017, but that’s an import. How about I just leave the date out?
Screw trying to find liner note info these days. And I’d be lying if I said the Band of Heathens more than from the outside looking in, Texan or not.
April 11, 2019 @ 11:19 am
I believe 2011 is correct.
April 11, 2019 @ 10:57 am
If I ever make the big leagues, my song will be Banana Puddin’
April 11, 2019 @ 11:10 am
Lance Berkman used to use “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” also from Cash
April 11, 2019 @ 11:17 am
Trigger – what’s your walk up song if you’re in the big leagues?
I’m trying to reinvent my fastball from years past so I can have an entire song when I come in from the bullpen.
April 11, 2019 @ 12:32 pm
Clearly it would be “Hummingbyrd” by Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives. I can’t confirm or deny that I’ve looked into how to make it my personal theme song. 🙂
April 11, 2019 @ 11:29 am
Go Cards baby!
April 11, 2019 @ 11:41 am
I always thought the intro to Funk #49 would be perfect. If I had to pick country, maybe Whiskey Bent And Hell Bound by Hank Jr. or Falling With Style by Jason Boland.
April 11, 2019 @ 12:30 pm
“Funk #49” is a good one, though I always though “Funk #48” was unfairly overshadowed.
April 11, 2019 @ 5:15 pm
I agree that Funk #48 is overlooked unfairly and that it is a great tune. Honestly, I think Yer’ Album is the best of the Joe Walsh era James Gang (I really like the Tommy Bolin albums too). I still maintain Funk #49 is ideal for walk up music, with its distinct riff that is just right for a short sound bite.
April 11, 2019 @ 11:50 am
JB Shuck for the Pirates is also playing Loud and Heavy.
April 11, 2019 @ 12:55 pm
Someone needs to walk up to “Feeling Single, Seeing Double”
April 11, 2019 @ 2:05 pm
I know some reliever came out of the bullpen to Stairts “the fireman” which is a perfect song for a closer
April 11, 2019 @ 3:43 pm
Current notable MLB walk ups:
Long Hot Summer Day (TT): Matt Carpenter, Buck Farmer
A Little Light (Sturgill): Daniel Norris
Boys From Oklahoma (Ragweed): Andrew Cashner
Loud and Heavy (Jinks): Matt Carpenter, Chance Sisco, JB Shuck
God’s Gonna Cut You Down (Cash): Ryan Burr, Brad Boxberger
The Man Comes Around (Cash): Will Harris, Luis Avilan
Dirt On My Boots (Pardi): Several
God’s Country (Shelton): Corbin Burnes
Snake Farm (RWH): Alex Wilson
Southern Thunder (Jr.): Hunter Strickland
Palmetto Rose (Isbell): Charlie Morton
Parachute (Stapleton): Mike Zunino
Midnight Train to Memphis (Stapleton): Jeff Mathis
Creepin (Church): Jordan Zimmerman
Burning Man (Dierks): several
Me in a couple months when I’m drafted: Down Here (TT) or Tough Folks (AA)
April 11, 2019 @ 8:10 pm
I just think it’s so cool Andrew Cashner’s walkup song is Boys From Oklahoma.
April 11, 2019 @ 4:44 pm
I heard Long Hot Summer day at the Astros game the other day when i was walking around in one of the stores at the stadium. It caught me by surprise but made me really happy.
April 11, 2019 @ 4:47 pm
Glad you liked the article Trigger and shared it with your audience.
To add to the list above, Adam Wainwright uses Alabama’s Song of the South as his walk-up song. Paul Goldschmidt uses Randy Houser’s We Went. Not sure if he’s still doing it this year, but last year Kolton Wong mixed in a cover of Brett Young’s In Case You Didn’t Know that is more of a Reggae style. Finally, while not used as a walk-up song that I’ve heard yet, Yadi Molina posted a video of several cardinals (him, Wainwright, Dexter Fowler, and more) singing Friends in Low Places
April 11, 2019 @ 5:41 pm
Mine would be “P.F.F.” – Hank III
when they’d ask me to pick another:
“Black Betty” – Ram Jam
April 11, 2019 @ 7:16 pm
I had the pitching part down back in the day, but could never quite figure out the hitting part. Turns out you can’t just get to the big leagues, or even college, off your arm alone, you’ve gotta be able to hit a little bit. And I couldn’t do that, not even in high school, not even a little bit. Too bad…
My song would have been Shotgun Willie or Don’t Let the Sunshine Fool Ya’ by TVZ.
April 11, 2019 @ 7:44 pm
Let’s give credit where credit is due: Long Hot Summer Day is a John Hartford song off of the Mark Twang album that Turnpike covered. It’s only the third or fourth best song on Mark Twang FWIW. Hartford was and is the man.
April 11, 2019 @ 8:05 pm
Going down in flames by Stoney LaRue!
April 12, 2019 @ 3:55 am
I wonder what a baseball stadium’s ASCAP/BMI fees are? I believe the number of patrons and/or square footage of the venue factors in. A small bar can pay $2,000 a year. A ballpark has to be over $100,000, I would assume.
And you can bet your boots they’re making them pay. They’re going after venues very aggressively these days.
April 12, 2019 @ 5:04 pm
This is not new by any stretch of the imagination. This list was his walk up music last year I know for certain. It was late July when I was at the stadium and heard all three songs.
April 12, 2019 @ 11:40 pm
The last time I wrote about Matt Carpenter’s walk up music was 2013—six years ago. Though it was a cool way to highlight and few cool artists and songs, and also give a search engine landing page for folks who may hear the songs and want to know what they are, or more info behind them.
April 13, 2019 @ 8:55 am
I first discovered TT (because of this site) about 2013, and that summer we listened to almost nothing else in the car. While driving to our first Cardinals game for the season, I said I was amazed that nobody (in the mainstream) had ever heard of them, because they were awesome. Sure enough, an hour or so later, the leadoff man comes up to bat, Long Hot Summer Day starts playing for the 40k+ fans in attendence, and I was glad to be proven wrong. (Carp is from Texas, fwiw.)