Callin' Baton Rouge

"Callin' Baton Rouge" is a country music song written by Dennis Linde. It was originally recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys on their 1978 album Room Service, and was later covered by New Grass Revival on their 1989 album Friday Night in America, and more famously by Garth Brooks on his 1993 album In Pieces. Brooks' rendition, the fifth single from the album, reached a peak of number two on the U.S. country singles charts in 1994.

Content

"Callin' Baton Rouge" is an up-tempo song with a bluegrass sound. In it, the male narrator, presumably a truck driver, is attempting to make contact with a female ("such a strange combination of a woman and a child") named Samantha, whom he met the night before in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

New Grass Revival version

New Grass Revival recorded the song on their 1989 album Friday Night in America, produced by Garth Fundis and Wendy Waldman for Capitol Records.^[1] It was the first of two singles from that album. In addition, it was the band's only Top 40 hit on the Billboard country singles charts, where it peaked at number 37. "Let Me Be Your Man" was the b-side.^[2]

Chart (1989)	Peak position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[3]	33
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[4]	37

Personnel

Sam Bush - fiddle, backing vocals
Eddie Bayers - drums
John Cowan - lead vocals, bass guitar
Béla Fleck - banjo
Pat Flynn - acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Garth Brooks version

Garth Brooks covered the song on his 1993 album In Pieces. The song was recorded at Jack's Track's Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, produced by Allen Reynolds, and backing Brooks were acoustic guitarists Mark Casstevens and Pat Flynn, electric guitarist Chris Leuzinger, keyboardist Bobby Wood, dobro player Jerry Douglas, drummer Milton Sledge, mandolinist/fiddler/backing vocalist Sam Bush, bass guitarist Mike Chapman, banjo player Béla Fleck and backing vocalist John Cowan.

Background and recording

Brooks provided the following background information on the song in the CD booklet liner notes from The Hits:

"I have always been a fan of "Baton Rouge." I was, still am, and always will be a fan of the members of New Grass Revival, four guys well ahead of their time (even if they came out thirty years from now). "Baton Rouge" was a single for them about the time my first album was released. This song did not even break the top thirty, and I believe it did not get a fair shot. When we recorded it, it seemed only natural to bring in the guys from New Grass Revival – Pat Flynn, Bela Fleck, John Cowan, and Sam Bush, teamed with Jerry Douglas. This was the first time the New Grass Revival had been together since their breakup over a year prior to the recording of this song. It was a very good day and an extremely proud moment, and I think this is reflected in the cut itself."^[5]

Chart performance

Brooks's version, the album's fifth single, peaked at number two on the U.S. country singles charts, and number one on the RPM country charts in Canada.

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[6]	1
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[7]	2

Year-end charts

Chart (1994)	Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[8]	50
US Country Songs (Billboard)^[9]	58

Preceded by "Who's That Man" by Toby Keith	RPM Country Tracks number-one single October 31, 1994	Succeeded by "She's Not the Cheatin' Kind" by Brooks & Dunn

Appearances

Brooks's version is the run out song for the LSU Tigers football team.

References

↑ Johnson, Zac. "Friday Night in America review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 297. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
↑ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 6423." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. July 24, 1989. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
↑ "New Grass Revival – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for New Grass Revival.
↑ Garth Brooks – The Hits: transcription from the CD booklet (bar code 7-2438-29689-2-4)
↑ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2639." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. October 31, 1994. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
↑ "Garth Brooks – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Garth Brooks.
↑ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1994". RPM. December 12, 1994. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
↑ "Best of 1994: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1994. Retrieved August 4, 2013.

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Garth Brooks singles

Garth Brooks	"Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" "If Tomorrow Never Comes" "Not Counting You" "The Dance"

No Fences	"Friends in Low Places" "Unanswered Prayers" "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" "The Thunder Rolls" "Wild Horses" (released in 2001)

Ropin' the Wind	"Rodeo" "Shameless" "What She's Doing Now" "Papa Loved Mama" "The River"

The Chase	"We Shall Be Free" "Somewhere Other Than the Night" "Learning to Live Again" "That Summer"

In Pieces	"Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)" "American Honky-Tonk Bar Association" "Standing Outside the Fire" "One Night a Day" "Callin' Baton Rouge" "The Red Strokes"

Fresh Horses	"She's Every Woman" "The Fever" "The Beaches of Cheyenne" "The Change" "It's Midnight Cinderella" "That Ol' Wind"

Sevens	"Longneck Bottle" "She's Gonna Make It" "Two Piña Coladas" "You Move Me" "Do What You Gotta Do" (released in 2000)

The Limited Series	"To Make You Feel My Love"

Double Live	"It's Your Song"

Greatest Hits (as Chris Gaines)	"Lost in You" "It Don't Matter to the Sun" "That's the Way I Remember It"

Scarecrow	"When You Come Back to Me Again" (released in 2000) "Wrapped Up in You" "Squeeze Me In" (with Trisha Yearwood) "Thicker Than Blood" "Why Ain't I Running"

The Lost Sessions	"Good Ride Cowboy" "Love Will Always Win" (with Trisha Yearwood) "That Girl Is a Cowboy"

The Ultimate Hits	"More Than a Memory" "Workin' for a Livin'" (with Huey Lewis) "Midnight Sun"

Man Against Machine	"People Loving People" "Mom"

Gunslinger	"Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance"

Guest singles	"Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy (with Chris LeDoux; uncredited) "In Another's Eyes" (with Trisha Yearwood) "One Heart at a TIme" (charity single) "Burnin the Roadhouse Down" (with Steve Wariner) "Where Your Road Leads" (with Trisha Yearwood) "Katie Wants a Fast One" (with Steve Wariner) "Beer Run (B Double E Double Are You In?)" (with George Jones)

Other songs	"Hard Luck Woman" "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy" "The Call" (with Trisha Yearwood)

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