We knew The Baseball Project would be a hit at our MusicFestNW broadcast, especially with this line-up of ringers. Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, Mike Mills, and Linda Pitmon brought their A-game to the Doug Fir Lounge with an exuberant lunchtime session.
What began as a fun side project by baseball fans McCaughey and Wynn in 2007 has since taken on a life of its own as the band has been invited to provide commentary for ESPN.com, and has appeared at the Spring Training games in Arizona's Cactus League. The band are currently hunkered down in Portland working on their third album, The Baseball Project, Vol. 3, and treated KEXP to a couple of worldwide song debuts.
One of the exclusive debuts was a song about the infamous Dock Ellis, who, in 1979, plunked the first three batters for the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning. The band traded sideways smiles during songs of Harvey Haddix, Jackie Robinson, and Ichiro Suzuki, who McCaughey declared he would "always think of as being from Seattle." Together, this team clearly scored a home run with our listeners.
We may not have understood it when angelic frontwoman Lauren Mayberry started speaking in Jawa to the eager crowd at the Doug Fir Lounge this morning, but the dreamy sounds of Scottish electro-pop band CHVRCHES transcends any language.
