Rockin’ Rich Lynch is a Nashville-based independent recording artist known for songs such as “Keep Swinging,” an ode to America’s greatest pastime – baseball, and “Ow, A Bad Singer’s Pony Rent,” a Rolling Stones-esque song about the cost of seeing Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. One day while strolling through Green Hills Mall, Lynch stumbled upon a pickleball court and was inspired to write a song about the idea of playing pickleball at the mall.
Pickleball at the Mall by Rockin' Rich LynchLynch’s most recent release, aptly named “Pickleball at the Mall,” delves into the complex issues involved with the decline of shopping malls in America and how many mall spaces across the country are adapting to the change in the times. Shortly after finishing the song, several news outlets began reporting on the very topic he covers in the music.
“My original interest in putting the song out there was the potential social and economic impacts that pickleball could have on our nation’s dying malls. It is shocking to me that in the same week the song came out, several stories on major news and media outlets began breaking about this very subject matter.”
We recently covered several stories on pickleball taking over malls, including one about a new business start-up called Picklemall – a company hoping to take abandoned commercial spaces across the country and revitalize them with pickleball courts. They plan to have over fifty locations across the country within the next 24 months.
With pickleball’s recent astronomical rise in popularity, the need for court space has been one of the primary issues that pickleball communities face. So, as retail businesses adapt to the growing online market and move out of physical storefronts, pickleball entrepreneurs are moving in.
Lynch grew up in a mall as a kid, as his father owned a franchise of a retail company. In a recent press release, he explained that he was able to take inspiration from his personal experiences of what malls used to be and combine them with his impressions of pickleball’s recent connection to those spaces.
“When normal kids my age were outside enjoying regular playtime activities with their friends, I used to bring a tennis ball and bounce it off of the top of the awning over the Lord & Taylor for hours at a time. I have experience in the field, and it’s safe to say I was probably a bit of a menace at the time.”
Lynch is known for exploring more serious and political topics within his songs, such as “Kingdom Tonight,” which delves into the dark story of the Heaven’s Gate cult, or “Patriot Radio,” which discusses the agendas currently seen in political media outlets. With “Pickleball at the Mall,” Lynch took a more light-hearted approach, joking about the loud sounds made by the paddles and hitting a shot wide into the Crate & Barrel.
“I have a lighter side with dozens of lyrics that are more comedic in nature. But, this is the first time that I have really recorded a project with the main focus being placed on the humor behind the situation at hand.”
The song was fully realized when Lynch recorded and produced it with Dallas Jack of Record One Studios in Nashville. Southern rock is the primary genre of the song, but Lynch also notes several elements of punk and 80s-influenced gothic pop within the song’s final mix.
Lynch is a lifelong sports fan, tying his love of football into his act by specifically wearing football apparel while performing. He’s also been known to play racket sports in his free time, having played with the Nashville Table Tennis Club. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see Lynch out on the pickleball courts!
Lynch is an independent musician, releasing most of his work through his Bandcamp page; if interested, please check out more of his music here. Based on the reception he’s seen so far, he’s happy that the song resonates with pickleball event organizers and hopes to continue producing more tracks in the future.
“For once in my life, I might have finally timed a song perfectly. Sure, it’s no “OHIO” by Neil Young, but I will take what I can get in this day and age where it is really difficult to sell music. Hopefully, some Pickleball fans can pick up the track on Bandcamp as that will really help me make more in the very near future.”
