Trees (band)

The original band comprised five members – bass and keyboard player Bias Boshell, lead guitarist Barry Clarke, acoustic guitarist David Costa, drummer Unwin Brown and singer Celia Humphris.

David Costa, son of British singer and radio presenter Sam Costa, was reading Fine Arts at the recently opened University of East Anglia when he met Barry Clarke (who had been working at Royd's advertising agency in London) through a mutual girlfriend who had suggested, as they were both guitar players, that they should connect. In David's words, following their first meeting—"I never went back to University, and Barry never went back to his office." Barry Clarke was living at the time in a house in Barnes, shared with Bias Boshell.

Bias Boshell and Unwin Brown had both attended Bedales School in Petersfield, Hampshire, and within a short time, all four were sharing their diverse musical experiences, exploring their different tastes and bringing together what they each enjoyed in common with each other. Lacking a singer, Costa suggested they audition the sister of an acquaintance of his and introduced Celia Humphris into the mix, who had just left Arts Educational where she had studied dance, drama, and singing. Humphris' father was the painter and illustrator Frank Humphris (e.g. for the Riders of the Range strip in the boys' comic The Eagle).

The five of them began rehearsing in the early spring of 1969, starting to do their first gigs and early demo tracks throughout June and July of the same year.

Signed to CBS in August 1969, Trees produced two studio albums in relatively quick succession, The Garden of Jane Delawney (released April 1970) and On The Shore (released January 1971), both recorded at Chelsea's Sound Techniques studios, and both produced by Tony Cox. On The Shore featured cover artwork by Storm Thorgerson of the Hipgnosis studio. Like other folk contemporaries, Trees was compared with Fairport Convention, but regarded as delivering with a more psychedelic edge. The group's material was divided between adaptations of traditional songs and original compositions, primarily by Bias Boshell. In a 2020 interview, Costa commented: "We got labelled as a folk-rock band, full stop, but our influences were generally far more American than British."[1]

The original group disbanded in 1971 after recording the two albums. A second Trees incarnation formed in 1972 and played until 1973; this group featured Celia Humphris, Barry Clarke, Barry Lyons (ex-member of Mr Fox), Alun Eden (also ex-member of Mr Fox) and Chuck Fleming (ex-member of the JSD Band). Recordings by this line-up can be found on bootleg releases.

This latest formation also contributed to Phil Trainer's solo album Trainer[2] (BASF, 1972)

Following the demise of the original lineup, Bias Boshell went on to work as a keyboard player and songwriter with The Kiki Dee Band, writing her hit song "I've Got the Music in Me", before joining Barclay James Harvest and subsequently The Moody Blues, replacing keyboard player Patrick Moraz. He now lives in North Wales. Barry Clarke went on to join the Vigrass and Osborne band, subsequently to rejoin David Costa in the 1973 band and eponymous album Casablanca[7] (Rocket Records). David Costa went on to become art director and designer for many notable artists such as Elton John, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Costa and Boshell performed together as the "reunion" On The Shore Band in 2018.[1] Barry Clarke continued into the jewellery business, now living part-time in France. After a brief spell as drummer with the pop foursome Capricorn, Unwin Brown went on to enjoy a long career as a teacher, eventually at Thomas's School in Kensington until his death in 2008.

Celia Humphris continued with Trees' second lineup. She provided guest vocals for several songs on Judy Dyble's Talking With Strangers album in 2009, Dodson and Fogg, a folk-rock project released in 2012, and as guest vocalist on Galley Beggar's 2017 album Heathen Hymns, released on Rise Above Records. Outside of music, she became a sought-after voice-over artist, providing voices for many different environments, notably train announcements on the British railway network. She later lived in Provence, France. She died on 11 January 2021.[8]

• Celia Humphris – lead vocals (1969–1972; died 2021)
• Barry Clarke – lead guitar (1969–1972)
• David Costa – acoustic guitar, mandolin (1969–1971)
• Bias Boshell – bass guitar, guitar, vocals, piano (1969–1971)
• Unwin Brown – drums, vocals (1969–1971)
• Barry Lyons – bass guitar (1971–1972)
• Alun Eden – drums (1971–1972)
• Chuck Fleming – fiddle (1971–1972)

Both The Garden of Jane Delawney and On the Shore have been continuously available since their original release in either vinyl, cassette or CD formats. A deluxe two-disc edition of On the Shore was released in 2007, containing previously unreleased and remixed material. A new edition of The Garden of Jane Delawney followed in 2008, also containing previously unreleased material as well as some new recordings. Both double packages featured an extensive essay by comedian, director and writer Stewart Lee.

A four-album box set of Trees' recordings, including demos, remixes, plus live recordings from the Trees' 1998 "reunion" On The Shore Band, was released in 2020 to mark the band's fiftieth anniversary.[1][9]

• Trees discography at Discogs
• Trees discography at MusicBrainz
• Trees at AllMusic