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“An international, inter-generational outfit of melody, crank, boondazzle: We deliver the next sound, which may arrive in a cracked vinyl and leave in a stitched up, strung out digital ear-worm. We are a fusion of underground radio high marks, 50 years in the making.”

Outer Park returned in late 2022 with a 3rd album, “Blood from an Orange,” following up their two-song preview single released in May, and their 2019 and 2021 albums “1968” and “Whole Lotta Orange.”

But first… Into the wayback machine…

In 1968, a rock band named “Strange Rhubarb and the Hell-bent for Election” played its first public gig, in the basement of a church in Springfield, Illinois. The personnel included 12-year-olds Patrick S. Noonan, James Singleton, and Charles Tobermann.

Many other bands (and some local notoriety) followed through 1973, when high-school graduation and college dispersed them around the country. In the years that followed, each pursued music professionally – but separately, and in very different ways.

In 2013, the three performed together, casually & briefly, at their 40th high school reunion. It was the first time in 40 years that Noonan-Tobermann-Singleton, once inseparable in music and life, had even been in the same room together.

The reunion was fun… and the seeds of Outer Park were sown, as they asked each other, “What would the music of our shared past sound like now, through the lens of decades of music we have played since, and the decades of life we have experienced?”

The answer turned out to be: It would sound like Underground Radio. Eclectic. Energetic. Innovative. Dreamy. Surprising. And honoring all the roots and branches of the musical family tree.

As 2018 would mark the 50th anniversary of that inauspicious church-basement beginning, the idea of getting together in New Orleans to mark it with a reunion recording was compelling. Luckily, the stars lined up and the schedules lined up.

The three musicians from 1968, joined by Atlanta-based singer Chelsea Austin, became “Outer Park” and headed into New Orleans’ acclaimed Esplanade Studios. With guests Jason Marsalis (drums), Jake Martin (saxophone) and Gabrielle Tobermann (recitations), and ace engineer Misha Kachkachishvili at the board, the year 1968 became “1968 (slight return).”

Outer Park returned to Esplanade Studios in October 2019, with Jason Marsalis again on drums (along with NOLA drummer/percussionist Justin Peake). The pandemic began a few months later, so the band members were hunkered down in their homes around the world. Nonetheless they completed the overdubs, even drawing in guest artists Paul Lieberman (flutes and saxes), Simon Couratier (baritone sax) and Franck Chevalier (viola). The result is the 2021 release, “Whole Lotta Orange.”

On September 30 the band released “Blood from an Orange,” continuing and bringing closure to those NOLA sessions. This 2022 set includes special guests Chinua Hawk (vocals), Paul Lieberman (flutes and saxes), Jake Martin (sax), and more! New original tunes by Patrick S. Noonan and Charles Tobermann, inventive mashups (for example, Joni Mitchell meets Quicksilver Messenger Service channeling Bo Diddly and Little Feat), and reinventions of classic tunes that dig deep into their emotional cores.

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Charles Tobermann also appears on:

Chelsea Austin also appears on: