ESPN was already planning providing baseball fans with plenty this holiday weekend, showing a tripleheader on Friday and its usual Sunday Night Baseball telecast. John Kruk was set to be part of the festivities as part of his usual duties with the Sunday night broadcast team.

But what about MLB games, Kruk and the former All-Star singing country music? Now it’s looking like a holiday.

Kruk has teamed up with country group Davisson Brothers Band to record exclusive songs that will play throughout ESPN’s July 4th weekend coverage, which includes Marlins at Cubs, Giants at Nationals and Mets at Dodgers. (The Giants and Nats are also the Sunday night matchup.) One of the tracks is titled “Right Here on ESPN.”

https://youtu.be/cgXBuaTRn5s

“It’s all about BBQ, fireworks and celebration,” Kruk, 54, told The Wrap’s Debbie Emery. “We included the teams that are playing [over the holiday weekend].”

ESPN producer Jay Rothman asked Kruk to write some songs for the 4th of July and then had the analyst fly to Nashville after the Sunday night game on June 21 for a quick recording session with the band. They wrote and rehearsed the following Monday, and recorded on Tuesday.

How did Kruk and Davisson Brothers Band end up making music together? As fellow West Virginians, they were all guests on a local public access show about the state’s famous natives and met during some downtime.

“They put me in a room by myself before the show started,” Kruk told For the Win. “I’m like, ‘I’ll go crazy if I sit here by myself.’ So I walked down the hallway and heard music playing, so I just kinda opened up the door and walked in and there they were, practicing.

“So I sat down, and Chris handed me a guitar, showed me a couple of chords, and I started strumming and playing, and they played a song I knew, so I started singing. That’s how I met ’em. That was probably six or seven years ago.”

https://youtu.be/bZ3vZ99TZDI

That is probably not the worst singing you will hear during this holiday weekend, people. Kruk might have a moonlighting career as a country crooner.

Anyone hoping that the songs Kruk and Davisson Brothers Band are recording will be available later on are going to be disappointed, however. The music is going to stay on ESPN for the weekend, as those tunes are “pretty specific to ESPN this weekend and they are only 45 seconds as we lead into the game,” according to Kruk. Maybe he forgot everything gets posted to YouTube these days. (We’ll still tune in for the baseball, Krukie!)

Kruk added that he and the band are hoping to release another song that’s not baseball-related. He also wants to write something for Stand Up 2 Cancer, hoping to get fellow ballplayers Bronson Arroyo and Randy Johnson involved. But if you see Davisson Brothers Band on tour this summer, maybe you’ll get to see Kruk make a surprise appearance on stage.

[The Wrap]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.