Luke Berryhill dabbled in song writing the last couple years, but it never took his full focus. His baseball career occupied nearly eight months of the year, leaving little time to pursue his second passion. This past offseason opened a new door, though.
The Houston Astros prospect took an offer from Banner Music in Nashville. There, the staff assisted Berryhill in writing 15 songs — three of which the publishing company produced. The first song, “Dance on It,” debuted Friday on four platforms.
“I think it was one of the guys that I wrote the song with’s idea,” Berryhill said on his debut single “Dance on It.” “He just thought it was a little clever line, and so, we just started writing it. Honestly, there’s not too much behind this song. For the next two songs that I’m putting out, there’s more of a story behind those.”
Berryhill worked with Daniel Kleindienst, Alex Dooley and Brian Carper on the single. And the team agreed it would be good idea to write a more “upbeat, groove ‘n tune” song.
Although the lone vocals, Berryhill didn’t pick up an instrument for his single. Banner Music rented out a recording studio and hired a full professional band with an electric guitar player, a drummer, a bass player, an acoustic player, a fiddle player and a steel guitar player.
“I played my song one time for them, and then, they went through it two or three times,” Berryhill said. “Within 20 minutes or so, the song was pretty much done from the music standpoint. It was pretty incredible.”
Berryhill expects to release his next song in 6-8 weeks, 2-3 weeks before the end of the minor-league season, with his final single releasing early in the offseason. Berryhill doesn’t know if his three singles will compile into an album — something he plans to talk with Banner Music about.
“I’m along for the ride right now,” Berryhill said. “(Banner Music) pretty much tell me what we’re doing, and I go along with it.”
Berryhill is scheduled to perform at multiple venues this offseason near his hometown of Woodstock, Georgia. Sugar Land Space Cowboys reliever Matt Ruppenthal also asked his batterymate to perform at his rehearsal dinner for his wedding this offseason. Berryhill is practicing a list of songs, including three of his own and “Dance Her Home” by Cody Johnson — what Berryhill called his “bread and butter.”
Berryhill changed his walkup song to “Dance on It” for the time being. He gave his teammates a sneak peek to it over the last couple weeks, and they all told him to make the switch.
“It might be be good advertising for the song as well,” Berryhill said.
Amidst his fourth professional season, Berryhill sits in Triple-A, one stop away from the big leagues. Beyond baseball, he has a career waiting for him in the country music world, and he is currently weighing the option of moving to Nashville this offseason to further that dream.
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