Kane Kalas has High Hopes for album dedicated to Phillies, dad Harry
Other than family and friends, Harry Kalas loved few things as much as Phillies baseball.
Singing might have been one of them.
If you’ve ever watched celebration videos of the Phillies winning championships, you’re certain to see the hall of fame broadcaster singing “High Hopes” to lead the celebration.
On Thursday, as the Phillies play in their home opener, there’s a new reason to celebrate Kalas, that song and the team he loved so much.
That’s the day his son Kane will debut his album “High Hopes” an album that pays tribute to his father, and the city and team he loves, the Philadelphia Phillies.
On that day, for the eight consecutive year, he’ll be singing the national anthem at the team’s opening day.
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“It means so much, I grew up part of the Phillies family and so much of my childhood was with dad and with dad with the organization and Phillies fan,” said Kane, who like his father loves music. “People in the area who love baseball, who loved Philly sports. I loved being around them.”
The album is something Kane’s dad would certainly love.
If you’re a diehard Phillies fan, chances are you’ve heard Harry Kalas sing. And if you were his friend in real life, you most definitely heard him sing.
How would Harry Kalas feel about 'High Hopes?'
“I think he would love it,” Kane said. “These are songs he sang all day around the house, at the stadium. In researching stuff, if you buy a physical copy of the album, it comes with a booklet that describes how each song relates to dad or Philadelphia.
“After talking to my family, I was amazed how many different examples there are of my dad performing these songs at a piano bar. There was a documentary of my dad and he’s humming 'On the Way to Cape May' to himself. He loved standards, he loved musical theater. If you introduced someone to my dad, there’s a good chance he would sing a song with their name in it.”
The album has been a true labor of love for Kane Kalas. He knows everyone will love it, but he certainly put in a lot of work.
“I’m pumped, we’ve working on it for two and a half years,” said Kalas, who was a professional poker player before turning his attention to music. “We hired over 50 extremely talented musicians from the Philly area. I’m excited to show off the immense talents Philly has to offer. Most people, including record labels, use computer generated music, but we didn’t because of the talent in the Philadelphia area.
“This is an album that has a chamber orchestra, 20 to 30 musicians in a room, playing. It’s unique. When you work with a record label, they want to keep costs low. If you’re going to get a similar sound with a computer generated version, that’s generally because it’s cheaper.
“I wanted to support the musicians, but I think (using computers) loses some of the authenticity. You lose things. When you have live instrumentalists, there will be minor vulnerabilities. You can tell it’s a live musicians. If I was going to honor my father and Philadelphia, it needed to be authentic.”
Kalas will be busy promoting his album and he’s excited to sing the anthem at the opener. He’s also preparing to do a live gig at Parx Casino with sports funnyman Joe Conklin, who also appears on his album. He’ll also be honoring dad in Bensalem.
“I’ll be performing with Joe and his orchestra April 14 at Parx Casino,” Kalas said. “Once every few months, he gets an orchestra and he does a musical parody, but he asked me to sing a serious piece. I’m doing ‘You’ll never Walk Alone.’ It’s a really dramatic song from the movie ‘Carousel.’ It’s a ballad having fortitude in the face of loss. It’ll be falling 14 years and a day after my father’s passing."
He’s also looking forward to hearing feedback from the album.
“It’s my first time making an album and I wanted it to be something that is special,” Kalas said. “It wasn’t the record label, they want to get it done and make a profit. Most of the money they spend is the marketing. For me, the most important part is making great music. My budget for the album was much larger than what a record label would spend.
“I made this album to honor my dad, the product has to be great. It has to be. With how much my father means to me and the product my dad put out in his work. I had big shoes to fill.
“And in terms of the music. This genre of music, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, it was a day they didn’t have this computer generated music. I wanted to replicate that. I think we definitely did.”
You can purchase the album during the home opener at the Phillies New Era store at Citizens Bank Park. You can also order it on Amazon starting Thursday and preorder at kanekalas.com/store. Vinyl copies must be bought on his site or through Amazon.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Harry Kalas' son, Kane, has album dedicated to dad dropping
