By Katherine Weinstein | [email protected]

Draper Historic Park will come alive with the sounds of rock, jazz, country and much more this June when the free Monday night summer concert series returns. All are invited to come to the park, spread out a blanket and relax or rock out to bands such as The Fabulous Flynn’s Tones, The Time Cruisers, Cantana and Killer Keyz Dueling Pianos. 

“We’re really looking forward to playing Draper Historic Park,” said David Orza, who plays lead guitar for The Fabulous Flynn’s Tones. The band is kicking off the concert series on June 7. 

While this will be the first time the band is playing Draper Historic Park, The Fabulous Flynn’s Tones have been playing outdoor summer concerts for years. “Our focus is the festival circuit in the summertime,” Orza explained. “We play to this type of audience, this is our people.” 

The band’s saxophone player, Kevin Flynn, came up with the name for the band as well as the word “FRAZZL” to describe the mash-up of funk, rock, jazz and Latin music that they play. They perform a broad range of instrumental covers as well as original songs. 

“We take people on little adventures,” Orza said. “We put something special in every song.” After decades of experience playing in other bands, the members have been together for eight years now. Orza described the chemistry between the musicians. “We have a grand time together. You wait your whole life for a combination of friends like this.”

Dieter Wachtel, a vocalist and drummer with The Time Cruisers, also spoke of how much the members of his band enjoy playing together. “We’re doing it for fun, it’s a serious hobby,” Wachtel said. The Time Cruisers will take the stage in Draper Historic Park on June 14. 

This will be the second time that the band has participated in the concert series. “It’s a great venue to play over there,” Wachtel said. “We play all over the state—fairs, art festivals, rodeos and weddings.” 

Wachtel describes The Time Cruisers’ music as “Top 40 Oldies” or “family-friendly oldies rock.” They play well-known music from the ’50s, ’60s and a little ’70s including covers of songs by Elvis, the Beatles and Roy Orbison. All four band members sing together in two-part harmony.

“We’re not eye candy,” Wachtel said with a laugh. “We’re old guys, seasoned musicians. We play something for everybody. It’s fun to play for a wide audience.” 

Robyn Price, the lead vocalist for Cantana, also enjoys performing a variety of musical styles and genres. “We do classic rock, country, rockabilly, big band and more,” Price said. Cantana will perform on June 21. “This will be our first time at Draper Historic Park,” she said. 

Local music fans might remember Cantana from their pre-pandemic gigs at Draper’s Ridge Café. The band underwent some changes in their lineup during the past year. Three new Utah musicians have joined with original Cantana members Price and keyboardist Mark Dahl. 

What hasn’t changed much is the band’s repertoire. “We play a lot of the same songs,” Price said. These include covers by artists such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lauren Daigle, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tom Petty. One of Price’s favorite pieces is the Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” which she sings with Dahl.    

She is looking forward to playing Draper Historic Park. “I love performing to all ages with music through the ages, because the energy we get back is amazing!” Price said. 

Kirk Garrett, half of the Killer Keyz Dueling Pianos duo, has been playing the June concert series at Draper Historic Park for eight years and remarked that audiences there are special. “This is a family-friendly show which makes it fun for us,” Garrett said. “We get unusual requests that we don’t get at other shows.” Killer Keyz Dueling Pianos will perform on June 28.

The concept for a Killer Keyz show is that audience members submit song requests just before the performance. “We like people to ask us to play songs that we know,” Garrett said. “There’s always somebody that will try to stump us, but that’s not the point. We play everything across the board, all different styles.” 

Both Garrett and his Killer Keyz partner, Rich Wyman, have been playing piano their entire lives. They have amassed a huge repertoire of songs ranging from standards of the 1940s through pop, rock and country hits of the ensuing decades to current “newer stuff.”  

Killer Keyz Dueling Pianos tours nationally, but they look forward to the Draper Park concert series. “It is so much fun. We get everyone from little kids to seniors in the audience. We get such a wide variety of song requests,” Garrett said. “We love coming back every year and seeing many of the same people come year after year. It’s a pleasure for us to do this type of show.”  

The free summer concerts at Draper Historic Park begin at 7 p.m. on Monday evenings in June. Draper Historic Park is located at 12625 S. 900 East.