"Callin' Baton Rouge" is a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

song written by

Dennis Linde Dennis Linde (pronounced LIN-dee, March 18, 1943December 22, 2006) was an American musician and songwriter based in Nashville who has had over 250 of his songs recorded. He is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley song, "Burning Love", ...

. The song has been recorded by multiple artists since its composition. It was notably recorded by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

singer and songwriter

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

whose version was a chart-topping single in the 1990s.

Content and recorded versions

"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 Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. It was originally recorded by

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe ...

on their 1978 album ''

Room Service Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...

''. It was then recorded by

Billie Jo Spears Billie Jo Spears (born Billie Jean Moore; January 14, 1938 – December 14, 2011) was an American country music singer. She was known for a series of Single (music), singles whose characters often represented women in assertive positions. Among t ...

for her 1980 album '' Standing Tall''.

New Grass Revival version

New Grass Revival New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971 and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck, and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989 r ...

recorded the song on their 1989 album '' Friday Night in America'', produced by Garth Fundis and

Wendy Waldman Wendy Waldman (born Wendy Steiner on November 29, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Early life Waldman grew up in the Los Angeles area and was raised in a musical environment. Her father Fred Steiner was a ...

for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. It was the first of two singles from that album. In addition, it was the band's only Top 40 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country singles charts, where it peaked at number 37. "Let Me Be Your Man" was the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

Personnel

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

- fiddle, backing vocals *

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

- drums *

John Cowan John Cowan (born August 24, 1953) is an American progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival. Cowan became the band's bassist in 1972 after the departure of original ...

- lead vocals, bass guitar *

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...

- banjo * Pat Flynn - acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Garth Brooks version

Garth Brooks recorded 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,

resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar (often generically called a " Dobro") is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar' ...

ist

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

, drummer Milton Sledge,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

ist/fiddler/backing vocalist

, bass guitarist Mike Chapman, banjo player

and backing vocalist

Background and recording

Brooks provided the following background information on the song in the CD booklet liner notes from ''

The Hits The Hits was a music video Television channel, channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music. Overview and availability The channel showcased a ra ...

'': "''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.''"Garth Brooks – The Hits: transcription from the CD booklet (bar code 7-2438-29689-2-4)

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 Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' country charts in Canada.

Year-end charts

Appearances

Brooks's version is the pre-game song for the

LSU football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers, Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athle ...

team and run out song for the

LSU Tigers baseball The LSU Tigers baseball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in of the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers play home games on LSU's campus at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field, ...

team. It is also the version that is played at 2am when all of the college bars in Baton Rouge's “Tigerland” are closing down. Brooks’ version is also played during the nightly dances at 4-H University, the Louisiana State 4-H Convention, held at LSU. The song is usually the last to be played nightly at the

Pete Maravich Assembly Center The Pete Maravich Assembly Center is a 13,215-seat multi-purpose arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The arena opened in 1972. It was originally known as the LSU Assembly Center, but was renamed in honor of Pete Maravich, a Tiger basketball legend, ...

after

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

men's and women's basketball games and gymnastics meets.

References

{{authority control 1978 singles 1989 singles 1994 singles Culture of Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Oak Ridge Boys songs New Grass Revival songs Garth Brooks songs Songs written by Dennis Linde Song recordings produced by Allen Reynolds Liberty Records singles Music videos directed by Michael Salomon Capitol Records Nashville singles Song recordings produced by Garth Fundis 1978 songs Songs about telephone calls Songs about Louisiana