A perfect weekend in St. Louis

I wrote Ballgame On The Radio on Memorial Day, May 25th.

By July 24th the song was out into the world, playing in the Cardinals stadium, and playing on the radio.

This is definitely my new personal record on turn around time of a song, but this weekend was another reminder of why I took the risk to become an independent artist. FULL FREEDOM!

This was a special weekend for the fam and I. Thursday night I played the Grand Ole Opry alongside Lainey Wilson and Switchfoot. Though I had hoped to stay and see them preform, I sadly had to play my three songs early in the night and immediately hit the road towards St. Louis.

Jake, Jetty, and I hopped in Jetty’s high school 4-runner and headed north west by 8:30pm, not to arrive to the Arch until 1:30am.

We drove through the night because the Friday ahead was slammed. With the new song out in the world, we booked a packed day of promotion in STL. We met at the KMOX radio station at 9am, hopping on air with them to talk Cardinals baseball. KMOX being the longtime radio home of the Cardinals, this song was really written for them. They played in on air, and you could tell it was a special thing for them to be named in a country song.

Then we headed over right after to the STL country station WIL 92.3. Hanging there for an hour, we preformed live, shot some videos, and did an interview. I have known the guys who run this station for years and it was great to see them again. Later that afternoon, I was able to hear Ballgame On The Radio, on the radio, when WIL played it that afternoon. It has been a while since I have heard my song on the radio, and it felt even cooler knowing there was no record label behind it.

The Cardinals had a whole night planned for us at the game. Playing the Reds, a 7:15 start time, we arrived at the park at 3:30. When we arrived they gave me a customized Cardinals home jersey. When asked earlier in the week what number I wanted, I asked them if they could do something special. Normally on all jerseys like this, I tell them Smith 13, my go to number all the way through my playing days, but on this jersey I wanted something different.

My family and I are Cardinals fans because of my great grandparents. Living in a small-town called Caruthersville, Missouri their whole lives, and still in their 30’s when they became grandparents to my dad, my dad was raised there every summer going with his Grandpa often to see the Cardinals.

Dewey and Peggy Coomer, Papa and Grandma, were my great grandparents, both of whom lived well into my teens, and a walk through their home was a museum of cardinal decorations. Papa, dad, my brother and I went to the very first game ever played at the Cardinals current stadium, opened in 2006. There is a picture of us standing together, all smiles at the joy of being apart of this history.

The album cover of Ballgame on the radio is my Papa as well. A picture of him from a game in the late 80’s.

So, when we arrived to the game and they gave me my jersey, I was proud of show my dad. On the back it read Coomer, and the number said 19, which was my dad’s high school number. Though I wore it that night, it was a gift to him.

We watched Batting Practice, and met the Cardinals manager for the first time, after texting back and forth with him about the song in the weeks prior. He brought Leah and I back into the club house before the game and we talked for 20-30 minutes. He brought Jordan Walker over to us to meet, and told us he had played Jordan the song a few days before. Jordan thanked me for his shout out, and I thanked him for winning the Home Run Derby.

The game was fun, but we did lose… Sadly.

We played a small acoustic show the next morning with the country station and I got to meet some of y’all which was cool. A few of the Cardinals coaches even came to the show, including Oli, the Cardinals Manager, which was very kind of them.

A few weeks before this weekend, I texted Cory Asbury and asked him what the best show to come to was going to be on his tour with Forrest Frank. Cory being like an older brother, and also having known Forrest for years, and being so impacted by Forrest’s obedience to the Lord through his career, having missed the Nashville show they did, I knew I had to make my way to one of them before the tour was over. Cory told me to just look at the calendar and come to whichever one I could. You can imagine my joy when I saw they were playing St. Louis, the very weekend we were in town!

Going to that show Saturday night was incredible. Few people’s stories and obedience have impacted my life more than Forrest’s has. I met Forrest 5 years ago at a Thomas Rhett show at Billy Bob’s in Texas. At the time, he was coming off their first massive hit, Sunday Best, in the his band Surfaces. We hung all night that night and became friends, but in the years that followed, watching his surrender, to step out of the band, put out worship songs independently and to then see such insane fruit from his obedience, that journey has certainly convicted me in ways I can’t explain.

I have been to two of Forrest’s shows before, and both times I have left with a heart of complete surrender to the plan of the Lord. It was really special to see Cory up there with Forrest in worship. It all was a reminder to me of the perfect ways of the Lord.

We hung together for a little while after the show, and it was fun to see them outside of the Nashville. I couldn’t believe how lucky we got on the timing.

The weekend came together perfectly and was one I will never forget. I was super grateful for all the things that aligned. One of the coolest parts of it all, is that when we went to our seats for the game Friday night, we arrived and realized that we were sitting in the exact same place as I stood with Papa, Dad, and Cooper to take that picture above, 20 years before.

-Conner