Trees

British folk-rock ensemble Trees failed to attain commercial traction amid their initial activity in the early 1970s, yet the short sequence of recordings they issued slowly acquired devoted cult regard in the decades that followed. Comparable to their London peers Fairport Convention, the five-piece merged British traditional material with electric guitars and rock propulsion while threading in progressive and psychedelic elements of their own. Following two CBS releases the group dissolved in 1973. Although Trees never reunited, interest revived sharply in the late 2000s once American soul duo Gnarls Barkley incorporated a sample of one of their tracks on the 2007 platinum-certified album St. Elsewhere. Fifty years after their debut, Earth Recordings marked the milestone with a 2020 four-disc box set that gathered both original albums alongside numerous unreleased and archival items.

The band coalesced in London during the first months of 1969 as the folk-rock wave gathered momentum. Its founding members were vocalist Celia Humphris, guitarists Barry Clarke and David Costa, bassist Bias Boshell, and drummer Unwin Brown. They performed a blend of traditional songs and original psych-folk compositions, most written by Boshell, and quickly established themselves on the university circuit before CBS offered a contract in August 1969. Their first album, The Garden of Jane Delawney, emerged in April 1970 under the supervision of producer Tony Cox, whose résumé already spanned both the folk-rock and nascent prog-rock fields. Fronted by a woman and built on electric folk arrangements, Trees invited immediate comparison with the era’s dominant Fairport Convention, yet their work also displayed a distinctly progressive inclination that frequently expanded into extended psychedelic passages and the style later termed acid-folk. Throughout 1970 and 1971 they toured extensively as support for Pink Floyd, Genesis, Fotheringay, Fleetwood Mac, and Procol Harum. The follow-up, On the Shore, likewise produced by Cox, appeared in 1971 and, like its predecessor, failed to reach a wider public, prompting the original lineup to split later that year.

Humphris and Clarke briefly assembled a second version of Trees in 1972; apart from circulating live bootlegs and a handful of contributions to Phil Trainer’s solo project, the new configuration issued no official material before disbanding in 1973. In time the group’s reputation solidified into cult status as successive generations rediscovered the catalog. Several members sustained careers elsewhere: Boshell joined Kiki Dee’s band, co-wrote her hit single “I’ve Got the Music in Me,” and later performed with both Barclay James Harvest and the Moody Blues, while Clarke and Costa collaborated for a period and Costa continued working as a noted art director. Recognition surged again in 2007 when Gnarls Barkley sampled the track “Geordie” for St. Elsewhere. In 2020 Earth Recordings compiled the retrospective box set containing the two studio albums, live recordings, demos, and additional rarities.