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In the liner notes to his debut CD, "Covering the Bases," Boston Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo thanks his sister for not getting him into 80s music and "ruining" his musical taste.
 
Fans of Arroyo's album - released July 12 and selling close to 20,000 copies in its first month on the shelves - can thank her, too.
 
Arroyo and his all-star band will be in Plymouth on Saturday, Nov. 5, to perform at Memorial Hall. And instead of being subjected to covers of Motley Crue and A Flock of Seagulls, the 1,200 listeners expected to be in attendance will get Arroyo's take on the likes of Pearl Jam, The Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
 
Those bands and others caught the ears of Arroyo during his teenage years, with the grunge movement of the time essentially serving as the 28-year-old's introduction to the world of music.
 
"I really started listening to music when I was 15," Arroyo said in a telephone interview last week. "I didn't like anything in the 80s. The only time I had ever really listened to music was with my father in the gym, listening to oldies."
 
Pitching for Pittsburgh Pirates AA affiliate Altoona Curve in 1999, Arroyo's interest in music intensified, as he picked up a guitar for the first time.
 
"The assistant GM [for Altoona] saw me pick up a guitar, and he said he had an old Yamaha lying around," said Arroyo of the instrument he still has and holds on the cover of his CD. "He gave it to me, and I just started playing it."
 
And playing, and playing, and playing. Post-game jam sessions are now a regular occurrence for the Red Sox, with Arroyo leading the way.
 
The Brooksville, Fla. native (Arroyo's southern twang becomes far more noticeable on the phone than what comes across on television) first made a name for himself on the Boston rock scene at last year's "Hot Stove, Cool Music" concert to raise money for The Jimmy Fund. His version of Pearl Jam's "Black," his favorite song, earned himself quite a bit of attention.
 
Things snowballed from there, and during last autumn's World Series run, record executives asked Arroyo for a list of songs he'd like to cover for an album. Among the 12 tunes that wound up on the aptly named CD are "Black," Alice in Chains' "Down in the Hole," Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush," and "Hunger Strike" from Temple of the Dog.

And, of course, there is "Dirty Water," which has received consistent air play on WBCN and other area rock radio stations. At Arroyo's record release party on July 13 at the Avalon, Dick Dodd - lead singer of The Standells, the band that originally sang the tune in 1966 - joined Arroyo on stage to perform the song, which appropriately served as the show's finale.
 
Teammates Johnny Damon, Kevin Youkilis and Lenny DiNardo also appeared on stage, as they did for the album version of the song. Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams, himself an avid musician who has also released his own CD, was also on hand to take in the performance. Among those backing up Arroyo at the show, as they did on the CD, were former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and drummer Kenny Aronoff (Bob Seger, John Mellencamp).

Close to 2,000 people attended that show, in which Arroyo stuck to vocals (as he does on the CD). Arroyo admits he gets more nervous for his gigs than he does for pitching in front of 50,000 people, and that the attention his performances have received have been a bit overwhelming.
 
That really is not a surprise considering that, before last year, he had never dreamed of making a CD or singing in front of a big crowd.
 
"It never really crossed my mind," Arroyo said. "I'm still not even close to a good guitarist. I'm just a guy who sits there and strums away. I thought that, vocally, I could probably make an album. But I never really aspired to do that.
 
"I just envisioned myself sitting on a stool in a bar somewhere, just playing in front of 100 people or something like that."
 
That show put Arroyo under some fire after a so-so start the following evening against the Yankees, where he left with a 5-4 lead despite giving up 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings (the Sox went on to lose, 8-6). Arroyo admits that, while the Avalon show itself did not affect his start, the three days of preparation leading up to it did.

Arroyo said that was the only start in which his music did have an effect.
 
Fans may still wonder where his priorities lie, but make no mistake about it: baseball remains Arroyo's true love. He is still a pitcher first; one that just happens to rock on the side.
 
"Without question, baseball is number one," he said. "I've been playing ball since I was 6; music has definitely been just a hobby. I'll take a few more world championships over a platinum record, any day."
 
Tickets are still available for Bronson Arroyo's concert at Memorial Hall in Plymouth, scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.plymouthhall.com, by calling the box office at (508)747-1340, or at local Strawberries stores. The show's producer, Loretta LaRoche Productions, expects to donate $5,000 of the show's proceeds to The Jimmy Fund.