*** SPECIAL FUNDRAISER RELEASE – AVAILABLE ONLY ON BANDCAMP***

Dear Outer Park fans, music lovers, and friends of New Orleans music,

We are pleased to share with you a pre-release single, “Foxy Roxy,” from our forthcoming album, “Whole Lotta Orange.”

The proceeds will help band-mates James Singleton and Jason Marsalis, who have seen their livelihoods vanish due to the corona virus pandemic.

This tune was composed and arranged by our incredible bassist, James Singleton, and he has recorded it a few times over the years. Outer Park’s version, recorded live at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans in October, 2019, is special for us. We think it captures the sparkly essence of James’ writing, and the spontaneity of the rollicking good time that we had recording it. (Listen for the composer’s hearty count-off right in the middle, and his, “That’s it!” at the end!)

Also included in this release is “Darkness, Darkness,” from our debut 1968 (Slight Return) album, again featuring James and Jason laying down a New Orleans beat.

We are happy to give you a taste of our future release (and our recent debut), but there is also a very real need in this difficult time for performing musicians. Clubs, bars, and restaurants have been closed during the pandemic, and concerts impossible for the foreseeable future. Many musicians, including Outer Park’s James Singleton and Jason Marsalis, simply cannot work.

Outer Park is asking fans to pay whatever they can afford for this single, with the proceeds going to James and Jason. Also: You can buy the entire “1968 (slight return)” album, also on BandCamp, and if you pay more than the asking price of $10, all your excess contribution will go into the same James & Jason fund.

We hope that you will enjoy this music. Please contribute to assist our hard-working band-mates. We are confident that you will find their wonderful performance here worthy of whatever you can afford.

On behalf of all of us, thank you!
Outer Park

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Rhythm Section Relief: Q & A

Outer Park and Wild Orchard Records are pleased to introduce a new digital download single to benefit working musicians (our fabulous rhythm section) temporarily sidelined by New Orleans’ stay-at-home orders during the corona virus pandemic.

Q: What is the Rhythm Section Relief (RSR) project?
A: Outer Park’s RSR project is a digital release single on BandCamp. Proceeds will benefit our incredibly talented and hard-working rhythm section, James Singleton and Jason Marsalis, who, because all the clubs, restaurants, and concert venues in New Orleans are currently closed, are not able to be as hard-working as they would like to be.

Q: What do I get?
A: Two songs, ‘Foxy Roxy’, by James Singleton, a preview of our second album ‘Whole Lotta Orange’, to be released in 2020, and ‘Darkness, Darkness’ by Jesse Colin Young, from our first album, ‘1968 (Slight return)’ released in late 2019.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: The price is variable. You can get it for $10. But you can also pay a greater amount, whatever you wish and whatever you can afford.

Q: Who benefits?
A: The brilliant James Singleton and Jason Marsalis. They are the two who rely on live gigs to live and are currently deprived of that income. The other members of Outer Park, Chelsea Austin, Patrick S. Noonan, and Charles Tobermann, don’t rely directly on performance, and therefore choose not to benefit from this project, so that James and Jason can benefit more.

Q: Why these two songs?
A: ‘Cuz they are good! Because they give you a taste of our upcoming album and remind you to continue to enjoy ‘1968 (Slight return)’. And because they have a special relationship to New Orleans and its music. ‘Foxy Roxy’ is a James Singleton original that rocks with that gritty yet suave flavor that touches much of the city’s music. And the great story of recording ‘Darkness, Darkness’ is its evolution, during the session at Esplanade Studios, from a Bo Diddley beat, to a more New Orleans sound. Quoth James: “You come all the way down here, and you got me and you got him [nod to Jason], why not make it a real New Orleans sound?” OK, sold. James to Jason, “You know… put some ham fat on it!” And they did. Enjoy!

Q: Why New Orleans?
A: Because that is where these guys live and work, and where we record. So New Orleans is really part of Outer Park, even if most of us aren’t from there and don’t live there.

Q: Why just these two musicians? Aren’t there lots of other musicians in the same situation, in New Orleans and lots of other places?
A: Indeed, but these two are the ones who in are in our band, that we play with, that are our friends, our family, without whom we absolutely could not do what we do. And because we are Outer Park, not Beyoncé or the Rolling Stones. We tried to come up with something at a scale where we could actually make a difference (with your help and generosity) to the ones who need it most right now.

Q: Why should I buy this, and pay more than the minimum, when I can already listen to one of the songs for free on a streaming service?
A: Because, as the late Mary Tobermann, who was a literal and spiritual mother to some members of Outer Park, would say: “It will keep the light from going out in your heart.”

We have made the best music we can, and we have a lot of people to thank for their direct and indirect help. We hope that you will love it. Please join us in supporting one of the world’s most awesome rhythm sections in this time of unprecedented difficulty for performers.