Turnpike Troubadours Get Song Into World Series with Matt Carpenter
Oklahoma country band the Turnpike Troubadours have lived a pretty charmed life in 2013 so far, and so has St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter who is heading to the 2013 World Series vs. the Boston Red Sox, and will be taking a little bit of the Turnpike Troubadours with him.
An emerging staple of the Major League Baseball landscape over the last few years has been the walk up music batters select to be played as they make their way to the plate. Matt Carpenter happens to favor a song called “Long Hot Summer Day” that appears on the Turnpike Troubadour’s 2010 album Diamonds & Gasoline. The song was originally written and performed by country legend and father of Newgrass, John Hartford.
When Matt Carpenter made an appearance in the All-Star Game earlier this year, social network channels erupted with chatter from Turnpike Troubadours fans elated that “Long Hot Summer Day” had found its way onto primetime television. Now it will be showcased on baseball’s biggest stage during Cardinals home games.
Turnpike Troubadour fiddler and St. Louis Cardinals fan Kyle Nix says 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,” says Nix. “You’ll see it on Twitter quite a bit.”
Kyle 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. “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.”
Matt Carpenter isn’t just a fan of “Long Hot Summer Day,” he’s been a solid fan of the Turnpike Troubadours for a few years, attending shows in McKinney, TX, and College Station, TX. Carpenter’s wife is from College Station, and Carpenter was born in Galveston. While in St. Louis recently for a Cardinals game, Kyle Nix was invited down on the field by the ball player.
“Got to meet him, got to watch batting practice, met some great people in the clubhouse,” Nix says. It was a really cool experience. Kind of a surreal thing. It’s you’re favorite team and you’re down on the field. And he was such a nice guy. He talked to us for a long time. Just a really humble guy, and a hell of a ball player too. I’ve been a Cardinals fan ever since I was a kid because of Ozzie Smith. I used to love to watch Ozzie Smith because of the flips and all that stuff. Then of course when Mark McGuire got on the team and hit all the home runs. I played baseball growing up , and the closest thing you have in Oklahoma is the Cardinals.”
Does Kyle Nix have a prediction for the World Series?
“I have a want. I think it was ’04 that the Red Sox actually swept the Cards in the World Series. I would really like the Cards to sweep the series just to pay them back for it, that’d be great. I’m not going to predict that, but I’d like to say the Cards in 6 games. I think they’ll do good. I think they’ll take it, but don’t hold me to that. I just hope.”
But no matter the outcome, the 2013 World Series will be a win for the Turnpike Troubadours.
October 22, 2013 @ 5:58 pm
If that song doesn’t turn people on to the Troubadours, I have no idea what will. Such a fantastic band
October 22, 2013 @ 9:34 pm
Amen and Hallelujah!!! Turnpike is one of the best out there, and Evan is one helluva songwriter. Here in Texas, Turnpike is already a radio staple and shows no signs of slowing down. So rare to find a band where the lead singer/songwriter could easily make it as a solo act, yet the band is also incredibly tight and amazing on their respective instruments. Ragweed was a good example of this, but even they weren’t as great as these guys. One more record (at least) and I predict they’ll have the sort of following that the Old 97’s or Drive-By Truckers had when they first broke nationally.
Come for the Hartford cover (which many of us Texans can certainly relate to in spades) and stay for classics like “7 and 7” (some of the most literate lyrics married to one of the catchiest melodies ever created).
October 22, 2013 @ 10:19 pm
Good song. The electric guitar is unnecessary, though. Having listened to several bad songs that combine fiddle with hard electric guitar, that mixture creates an automatic negative association in my mind.
October 22, 2013 @ 9:54 pm
Great! Still gonna be rooting for Boston. Hopefully we can break out the broom again.
October 23, 2013 @ 8:32 am
I’m going to reserve my first-ever comment on my site for this…
GO CARDS!!!
October 23, 2013 @ 9:04 am
Thanks for this article! I live in the St. Louis suburbs, discovered Turnpike in 2011, and have been a Cards fan for life. When Carp started using that song as his at bat walk up music, my husband and I were so excited and it made us even bigger Turnpike and Carpenter fans. Glad to see both getting the recognition they deserve.
October 23, 2013 @ 9:07 am
I was at a cards game during the reg season and I heard this song played and was soooo excited and happy!! One of my favs! Love turnpike!! 😃
October 23, 2013 @ 12:02 pm
That is kick ass! Even though I can’t stand the thought of rooting for either team, I can sure as hell root for the Troubadours!
October 23, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
In the music wasteland we find ourselves in in modern times seeing a band like the Turnpike boys get some national exposure gives me hope for the future of music !
October 25, 2013 @ 9:21 am
Great to hear them at the World Series, but I’m a Boston fan. Go Sox!
October 27, 2013 @ 5:29 pm
Never cared who won a baseball game before, but I’m gonna root for the Cardinals now!
October 27, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Matt Carpenter is a great hitter and has good taste in music to boot.
Go Cards!