As the first chords of Jason Isbell’s “Palmetto Rose” play over the speakers at Camden Yards around noon on Thursday, Charlie Morton will momentarily leave the mound. Not physically — he will throw his warmup pitches as usual — but in a mental sense, transported by Isbell’s guitar and lyrics.
He’s a kid with his parents on vacation in Charleston, South Carolina.
He’s preparing to pitch in Game 7 of the 2017 American League Championship Series, perhaps the largest start of his life.
He’s a 41-year-old making the most of a career few can lay claim to, one that has lasted 18 seasons in Major League Baseball.
“Palmetto Rose” has been Morton’s walk-up song since 2017. It is, as he describes it, “my pal, my musical pal,” because “this song has traveled with me” throughout his career. This track, from Isbell’s 2015 album “Something More Than Free,” strikes Morton in a way only art can.
“The walk-up music, it gives you a moment where you go somewhere else,” Morton said. “I’m not saying you go on a journey, but you kind of go to a place inside yourself that’s not where you are right at that moment.”
So he becomes a kid again, exploring history-rich Charleston and learning about the origins of the Civil War. He becomes his younger self, when he donned a Houston Astros uniform and helped propel the club to a World Series title. Morton has started 250 games since 2017. About half of those were on his home mound, where they now play “Palmetto Rose” as he hurls his last few warmup pitches.
“It kind of gives you space, just for a moment, to detach and reattach yourself to the moment, in a good way,” Morton said.
What this song means to Morton has evolved. When he first chose it, he aimed for something from Isbell’s catalog because he is one of Morton’s favorite artists. But he also aimed for something upbeat enough to play in front of thousands of fans and something that carried an emotional connection.
He landed on “Palmetto Rose,” because it brings the listener to Charleston, a city in which Morton, who is originally from Connecticut, spent many summers growing up. Morton, who is fascinated by history, found Charleston to be a complicated place to discover.
There’s Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. There are museums that detail the slave trade. In one building, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
And there is Market Street, where the open-air stalls are filled with those weaving palmetto roses.
“It’s a very deep type of place,” Morton said of Charleston, which is where his dad, Chip, lives after retiring. “I think that it’s a hallowed place. I think it’s a very meaningful place in American history, good and bad. And then, it’s like, culturally, architecturally, the way they have preserved at least the peninsula, you name it, it’s there. For me, growing up a Northerner and going down there, not from there, I think that’s a unique relationship to have with it.”
“Palmetto Rose” takes a listener into the perspective of a Charlestonian, one who is driving a cab. In Morton’s experience, the locals understand the complexity of Charleston. “They have really tried to preserve as much of that charm and originality where they can,” and even as Morton watched parts of the city grow to appeal to tourists or higher-end visitors, there are pockets still rooted in a diverse culture.
That, to Morton, is what “Palmetto Rose” revolves around.
In the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium last month, Morton spat out the first verse of the song without hesitation. He knows those words by heart.
“In some ways that song is an important reminder that, as a baseball player, my day to day is very different than most people.”
Orioles pitcher Charlie Morton
Palmetto rose in the AC vent,
cross-stitched pillow where the headrest went
“I can see myself in this dude’s cab,” Morton said. “And then he talks about how he’s just driving around, and he tells me some ‘bullshit story’ from the Civil War. He’s bringing you into the vibe of what this guy’s doing and saying.”
But Morton knows the complex nature of Isbell’s writing. He has listened to songs and thought so surely he knew the meaning, only to listen again and change his mind.
The lyricism Isbell brings to his songs is part of the reason Morton likes his music. Although Morton understands the general meaning of this particular track, he finds that it extends beyond Isbell’s intentions.
Morton has been pitching in the major leagues since 2008. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Baltimore Banner)
“In some ways that song is an important reminder that, as a baseball player, my day to day is very different than most people,” Morton said. “My perspective on life and the way I live my life and the things I’m able to do are very different because I’ve been blessed to have an opportunity. I like to think I’ve made close to the most of this opportunity. But there’s a lot of people out there just grinding day to day and paycheck to paycheck, and I’m standing out there on the mound on a Major League Baseball field. I like that as a reminder of that, right? Because it’s not just my bubble that exists. It’s a whole world.”
And that cab driver in Charleston? Listening to the out-of-towners babble in a fictional tale? The lyrics don’t need to be about Morton for it to have a profound impact on the pitcher.
Isbell, a Braves fan, posted on what then was called Twitter in 2017 that he ought to root for the Astros because Morton was using his song. When Morton returned to the Braves in 2021, it became easier for the singer-songwriter to cheer on the pitcher. And in 2023 Isbell threw out the first pitch to Morton ahead of a National League Division Series game.
Morton came away from his interactions with Isbell with a belief that “he really tries just being a genuine guy,” Morton said. “My impression is that he tries, he makes a concerted effort to be a good human being, which is, I think, pretty admirable and a pretty big deal.”
That only makes it easier for Morton to admire Isbell’s music.
So, when “Palmetto Rose” comes on at Camden Yards shortly before first pitch, Morton will momentarily let it wash over him.
“In our minds, we have the ability to tap into feelings that are attached to moments and time,” Morton said. “Whether you’re tapping into that moment or if you’re tapping into that place, I think there’s a feeling associated with it. You can kind of feel that for a moment.”
He’ll feel Charleston. He’ll feel playoff baseball. He’ll feel full of life.