"Human Voices" downloads now available at Anthology Recordings

Download "Human Voices" by the Tree People at Anthology Recordings

Stephen Cohen - guitar, voice
Jeff Stier - percussion, recorder, flute, orchestra bell, voice
Rob McIntosh - voice
Laurie Brown - voice
Denis Mochary - drums
Jeremy Cohen - bass guitar

Origin: Oregon, USA, 1984

Released: 1984/Private Cassette, 2009/Guerssen Records

Recorded at Recording Arts Center, Eugene, Oregon in 1984 by Don Ross.

Remixed at Dead Aunt Thelma Studio, Portland, Oregon, 2007 by Dean Baskerville.

All compositions and lyrics composed by Stephen Cohen, except “Opus II”, “Things fall apart” “Rain, Rain” and “Sketches”, composed by Stephen Cohen and Jeff Stier, except vocal harmonies in “Human Voices” arranged by Rob McIntosh.

Late 70s predecessors of the ongoing New Folk movement in the USA, this is the second of the albums they released. Originally issued as a private cassette only edition of 300 copies only, first time ever reissue.

It features an unreleased track, “Sketches”, found on the same original master tape of “Human Voices”. It was a track done on commission for the soundtrack of a Los Angeles television show.

The Tree People "Human Voices

Stephen Cohen website

Guerssen Records website

"Human Voices" reissue released by Guerssen Records

THE TREE PEOPLE

Title.
Human voices

Format. CD
Label. GUERSSEN

Description. Watch out for this rarity. You know the Tree People, late 70s predecessors of the ongoing new folk movement in the USA. You know their 1979 debut album and you know it's a masterpiece….. but oh well, did you know about their second album??? Surely not, especially because it was a cassette only release at the time with a very short print.

Luckily enough, the Tree People guys kept the mastertapes of these recordings and we're proud to be making this wonderful music available now. Vinyl version will come later, here's the CD with splendid sound quality. The music here is equally as good, if not better, than the self- titled debut and a real must for any folk and psych- folk lover. Acoustic guitars, subtile percussions, wonderful flute work and some warm vocals, but overall a real big dose of quality and originality that makes the Tree People music be absolutely ahead of its time and therefore so much admired today. A real beauty!
The CD comes with a booklet including liners by the band's leader Stephen Cohen, as well as some pictures.

Ref. GUESSCD027

	grandfather
	human voices
	opus II
	thomas

The Tree People at the Matrix in Chehalis, Washington

The Tree People performed a two set concert at the Matrix
Coffeehouse on April 4th, 2009. Here are some photos that Jeff took as we arrived in Chehalis, Washington at sundown. You can see the outside of the Matrix below.
Inside it was a musical oasis. That evening was really what music is all about for the Tree People: a spacious, warm, comfortable room with great sound, a good sound person, nice people running the place, and an
audience that was with us
all the way. It really doesn't get any better than that!

Download "The Tree People" now at Anthology Recordings

Guerssen Records, who will be handling all our past and future recordings, has placed The Tree People on the Anthology Recordings site for downloading. And you can still order the vinyl reissue of The Tree People at Guerssen, as well as CD and vinyl records of the second (from 1984) and the third (which we are working on now!) Tree People albums when Guerssen releases them later this year.

Here is what Anthology Recordings has to say about The Tree People:

Artist : The Tree People : The Tree People

Stephen Cohen - guitar, lead vocals
Jeff Stier - percussion, recorder, orchestra bells, background vocals
Rachel Laderman - flute
James Thornbury - bass, background vocals, glassfinger guitar

Origin: Eugene, Oregon
Released: 1979/Private, 2006/Tiliqua Records, 2008/Guerssen Records

Guerssen Records

Originally recorded at a studio in the woods outside of Eugene, Oregon in 1979, the self-titled album "The Tree People" is a fantastic piece of hippie acid-folk. This album features free-hand percussion, eerie flute melodies, and bare hand guitar playing with Cohen's strong vocals completing the portrait painted through melody. The soothing and mellow "Pot Of Gold" and "The Pineapple Song", the almost heathen sounding "Space Heater", and half reggae, half backwoods sound of "Sliding" make for a highly diverse album that is a joy to listen to. It keeps you wondering what you're going to hear next.

Stephen and Jeff decided to bring The Tree People back together in 2008, including third member Rich Hinrichesen on double bass, and are once more touring as a live act.

the Tree People Centrum Creative Residency

The Tree People, Stephen, Jeff, and Rich, did a Creative Residency at Centrum, an arts
organization at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington in for a week in September of 2008. These Centrum Creative Artist Residencies, which attract artists from all over the world, are perfect for artists to create in a quiet, inspirational setting. Nothing is required or expected from the artists at these residencies, so artists have the opportunity to concentrate on nothing else but their art.

Fort Worden, featured in the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, was created to protect the west coast from attack in the early 20th century (you can now walk on and inside the numerous gun turrets on the grounds and imagine the soldiers on watch), but now is home to a state park, art and educational organizations (such as Centrum), and several college outposts. Musicians now enter the gun turrets to experience the deep and resounding echoes with musical instruments instead of weapons.

We stayed in a wonderful 3 bedroom house on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula and did nothing but play music all week. You can see Rich with his double bass and his stool (which he brings wherever he goes), Jeff with his artist badge that his young daughter made for him especially for the residency, Stephen and Jeff clowning around with a instrument made from a found object that Stephen painted at a previous Centrum residency that he did in 2002 (the other Tree People liked the look of the instrument, but saw no real use for it except as a possible fictional weapon), some photos of the house, the grounds and view from the house, photos of Stephen, Rich and Jeff, and a photo of Jeff's instruments in the house.

After 4 days of rehearsing, refining, and arranging new pieces, we went into Synergy Studio,
a studio on the Centrum grounds, with engineer Neville Pearsall, for two days and recorded a good part (8 pieces) of the music that will be on our our third and new Tree People album.
(We will record a few more pieces of music and mix the final results with engineer Dean Baskerville at Dead Aunt Thelma's Studio in Portland later this year, and then send the completed product to Guerssen Records of Spain, who will release it later in 2009).
On the last night of our residency we went into Port Townsend and did an evening performance for a nice listening audience at the Upstage, a really nice venue.
We would like to thank Lisa and the rest of the staff at Centrum for helping to make this fantastic residency possible, we would like to thank Neville at Synergy Sound for providing a warm, welcoming, and professional atmosphere at the studio, and we would like to thank Mark and his staff at the Upstage for the excellent sound and the warm, welcoming, and professional atmosphere there as well.

This residency will always be remembered by our Tree People trio!

Guerssen Records of Spain to release old and new Tree People albums in 2009!

  We cannot thank Johan and Tiliqua Records of Japan enough
for the beautiful job they did with The Tree People reissue
CD in 2006. Johan's belief in the album and the resulting
positive attention that the album received helped to inspire
the resurrection of the Tree People as a performing and
recording group.
But it didn't look like Tiliqua Records was going to get to
the Human Voices (our album from 1984) reissue for some time,
if at all, so we felt it was time to go with Guerssen, a
wonderful company in Spain, who did the vinyl reissue of The
Tree People album earlier this year. Guerssen's catalog is a
perfect fit for the Tree People, and I am looking forward to
working with Antoni and the rest of the Guerssen staff on our
next two releases. Guerssen will be reissuing vinyl and CD
editions of Human Voices in early 2009, and will also be
releasing our third and new album (which we are well on the
way to completing!) later in 2009. The Tree People story
continues!

Guerssen Records of Spain vinyl reissue of "The Tree People"

Guerssen Records of Spain has just released the vinyl reissue of our first album, from 1979, The Tree People. This reissue includes an insert that includes photos and artwork that have never been published until now. We are very happy with the work Antoni and his staff at Guerssen Records has done with this. They will also be doing the vinyl and CD reissues of Human Voices, our 1984 album, in early 2009, as well as the vinyl and CD reissues of our new album (which very close to being completed!) later in 2009, and we are looking forward it!
Here is the listing from the Guerssen Records web site:


LP TREE PEOPLE "The Tree People"
Same titled album by Oregon group Tree People has finally reached its deserved status after the excellent CD reissue released by Japanese label Tiliqua a couple years ago. '' Tree People'' is no other than a fantastic piece of hippie acid folk that clearly anticipates today's '' Freak Folk'' movement.

Very clean production, with an Eastern flavour noticeable in many passages and using acoustic guitars, varied percussions and flutes, while the strong vocals of Stephen Cohen finalize the picture. Remastered sound from masters, has insert with rare photos.