Supergroup the Baseball Project — comprising former R.E.M. members Peter Buck and Mike Mills, Steve Wynn (the Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey (the Minus 5 and Young Fresh Fellows), and Linda Pitmon (Filthy Friends, Alejandro Escovedo) — have announced their fourth studio album, Grand Salami Time!. Due out June 30 via Omnivore Recordings, Grand Salami Time! follows 2014’s 3rd and features a jangly, country-tinged lead single, “Journeyman.”
The band’s first release in nine years, Grand Salami Time! was produced by R.E.M. favorite Mitch Easter. (A press release also notes that this will be Easter’s final album.) It was also recorded at Easter’s Fidelitorium Studios in Kernersville, North Carolina, with the entire band performing live together in the same room. There’s also guest guitar work by Easter, plus as appearances by Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders) and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).
“I was in a hotel room just outside of Buffalo when I got an email from Peter with an instrumental version of this song,” says Wynn, who wrote the song with Buck. “The words came immediately, not surprising since a veteran musician stringing together a series of one-night stands has more than a little in common with a left-handed relief specialist who plays for a dozen teams in a workmanlike career. Extra points for anyone who picked up on the Walter White quote.”
Listen to “Journeyman” below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Grand Salami Time”
02 “The Yips”
03 “Screwball”
04 “Uncle Charlie”
05 “Journeyman”
06 “Erasable Man”
07 “New Oh In Town”
08 “Disco Demolition”
09 “Stuff”
10 “The All Or Nothings”
11 “That’s Living”
12 “64 And 64”
13 “Having Fun”
14 “Fantasy Baseball Widow”
15 “The Voice Of Baseball”
TOURDATES:
08/08 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
08/09 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
08/10 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
08/11 – Charleston, SC @ Music Farm
08/12 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheater *
08/13 – Myrtle Beach, SC @ House Of Blues *
08/15 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
08/16 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
08/17 – Washington, D.C. @ The Hamilton
08/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
08/19 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
08/20 – Ridgefield, CT @ The Ridgefield Playhouse
08/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
08/23 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall
08/24 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
08/25 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Beer Garden
08/26 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe @ Old National Centre
08/27 – Evanston, IL @ Space
08/28 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
08/31 – Evanston, IL @ Space
09/01 – Louisville, KY @ The Whirling Tiger
09/02 – Memphis, TN @ Overton Park Shell
* with Jason Isbell
Grand Salami Time! will be out 6/30 via Omnivore Recordings. Pre-order it here.
