Last summer and autumn the band hit the road to support “Grand Salami Time!”, their 4th release of varied and melodic tunes with stories inspired by the characters (ofttimes imperfect!) and events surrounding the national pastime. It had been 9 years since their last release as The Baseball Project, but the band members had been working on myriad other projects together during that gap, so they never skipped a beat when they reconvened to crank up the machine again. In fact, this is undoubtedly their most assured, fully realized, and hard-hitting set of tunes yet!
If you like their other bands – R.E.M., The Dream Syndicate, Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5, Filthy Friends, and the Big Star Tribute band – you’ll love The Baseball Project.
The Grand Salami Time album is a homecoming of sorts, as the band recorded and produced the album with the legendary Mitch Easter. BBP members Peter Buck and Mike Mills’ made their first albums with Mitch back in the early 80s with a swingin' little combo called R.E.M.
The album was recorded at Mitch’s fabled Fidelitorium Studios in Kernersville, North Carolina in the Spring of 2021, with the entire band performing live together in the same room - a joyous experience that seemed impossible to imagine only one year before. Mitch adds guitar on a few tracks and the record also features appearances by Stephen McCarthy (Long Ryders) and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).
It's all part of an unusual arc and fun story of a band whose first gig was an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman followed by a wild performance at a festival in Sos Del Rey Catòlico, a medieval Spanish city. They followed up that auspicious beginning with years of touring, squeezed in between their many other musical endeavors.
Besides playing the usual rock venues and theaters all over the U.S., The Baseball Project has performed special events at The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and a 3-day residency at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, as well as performing the National Anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at major league parks in Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and more minor league and spring training fields.
The band will be out on the road throughout the upcoming MLB All-Star break in July, starting in Chicago on July 4th and then Summerfest in Milwaukee, before playing several shows on the way down to Texas for events surrounding the All-Star Game festivities in the area.
