Tim Hughes catches up with old friend, country rocker Reid Morrison of the band Treetop Flyers ahead of his return to the city he considers his second home

TREETOP Flyers are used to playing in unusual places. The country-soul-rockers have played everywhere from a Wild West saloon bar in the California desert to an apocalypse-themed stage at the Glastonbury Festival.

So they are frankly unfazed by the setting for their next gig – an Oxford art gallery.

“We have always played in strange and unpredictable spots,” laughs frontman Reid Morrison. “Nothing is ever straightforward with us – we like to keep things interesting!”

He’s right, of course. Oxford music lovers first met Reid more than half a decade ago playing a Salter’s steamer on the Thames, then, later, busking in Cowley Road. His Oxford credentials are impeccable – which is not bad for a lad from west London.

His first band, Morrison Steam Fayre, attained local cult status – playing Truck Festival in Steventon, and its winter sibling Equitruck, year after year. And the band spent as much time in Oxford’s pubs as in their haunts in the capital.

But it wasn’t until he formed Treetop Flyers, with drummer Tomer Danan, guitarist and backing singer Sam Beer, guitarist Laurie Sherman and bassist Matthew Starritt, that things started, well... flying. “

Since we got the band together things have gone from strength to strength,” he says.

The five-piece have carved out a name for themselves as a dynamic live act, playing what Reid describes as “country-soul with rock and folk, and lots of other things thrown in”.

Their’s is a sound rooted in 1970s California. “That sunny West Coast sound was our main influence,” says Reid. “But since then it has developed. We play music with soul and feeling. “

There’s Neil Young and Van Morrison in there but also Booker T and Fairport Convention. And lots of country. Some people still consider the word ‘country’ a bad thing, as they only think of Leann Rimes and Shania Twain. But that’s really pop; we are different.

“Everyone in the band brings something to the sound – and it’s not a Treetop Flyers’ song unless everyone has had their say. We all bring songs in, get our hands on them and what comes out is always better than what first comes in.

“And we are always changing. A band should absorb new influences – and that’s what we do.”

Their biggest break to date came when they won last year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition – selected by farmer and festival founder Michael Eavis to play a prestigious Saturday slot on the Other Stage – and five other sets at last year’s event.

They followed that up with a string of other appearances, culminating in a slot at the South by South West Festival, in Austin, Texas, and then the Hop Farm in Kent, supporting Bob Dylan.

“That Glastonbury weekend was one of the most exciting things we have done,” says Reid. “But our proudest moment was probably going to America.

“There’s something different about being in a different country – and we were up in the mountains and were just focused on what we were doing. You can hear that on the record – it’s been washed over with sunshine.”

But it was a trip full of surprises too. Like when they pitched up in the Joshua Tree National Park – and found themselves playing a ramshackle juke joint.

“It was like a cowboy saloon bar,” Reid recalls.

The band play the latest instalment of Modern Art Oxford’s Yard Sessions tomorrow.

“We’ve been playing Oxford for years,” he says.

It’s unlikely to be as eventful, however, as last year’s Wilderness show.

“This guy, who looked like a drunken clown, climbed on stage and went flying head first through the drum kit. I can’t imagine anything like that happening at the art gallery.”

  • Treetop Flyers play The Yard Session, at Modern Art Oxford, Pembroke Street, tomorrow.
  • Support comes from Oli Steadman from Stornoway and the Truck Store DJs.
  • Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5/4