1st leaked track from the lost Tree Shepherds album

Cadence&Eve

Here's a tune from our first record, a upbeat song with some great pedal steel work by grammy nominated Paul Rigby and some beautiful piano playing by our own Ian Lamont..

Past The Hassle

Here's a song that I wrote in one sitting in the magical space of around 10 minutes, only 1 other time has this happened to me on "I Might Be Able" on the first record. These are among my most personal lyrics. enjoy, feel free to download and pass along. 

I was feeling it here, slightly less after my 7th beer
I was under the weather but I've never been better
I was going to fall, were you ever going to try and catch me at all
I wrote it in your letter that I've never felt better

Can you see what all this negativity does to a perfectly good mind
Like water off of the back of a ugly duckling dressed in black
who's looking west for a sign

I took to the road, I was lonely I was cold, and the wind kept the hair from my face
So I could clearly see, what it looked like to be free
Of all that torturous self doubt and livid hate

That I had for my oppressor, I began to apply great pressure
Can you feel it
I hoped to bring on a little bit of empathy and maybe some sympathy too

Opportunities come and go, and go with the flow I know, to try and try again
To shine a light, thats just as gentle and just as bright as the harvest moon in october

Breaks in the clouds reveal and then shrouds my better judgement and common sense 
Of what I'm to do when you break through to me and what's the best I can do for you

Never Better

This is the other song where the lyrics flowed out of me in one sitting.. in a tent in the Amazon Rainforest at night in the dense, heavy rain.. 

I Might Be Able

Straight&Narrow

here's a sweet demo of a tune of mine thats taking shape, keep checking in to watch it grow! 

Little Oceans demo 2014

here's a tune where I talk about love, and how hard it is to keep it close and well.. 

Miles Away

From unreleased 3rd record, words and music Atterton, Robertson

It's Alright

Matt Robertson see’s the world around him like a movie, with infinite story lines and soundtracks weaving together the harmonies of sadness and joy and melodies of dark and light. Always the dreamer, he naturally fell into the life of a creative soul, listening and making music to give life as he knew it depth and meaning. In those difficult days as a teenager he could always count on his guitar to keep him company, until of course that fateful day in the spring of 1987 when Jason Atterton, a high school buddy who shared Matt’s love of all things Grateful Dead decided to buy a bass guitar. That afternoon, in the basement of Matt’s parents house, the Tree Shepherds were born. They didn’t know it at the time but this would forever change their lives, taking them to the highest of peaks and the darkest of valleys for the next 25 years playing their unique style of rootsy acoustic folk music. They covered the music of the Grateful Dead, interpreting the songs of the band they loved so much with clumsy charm and loose grace.
This naturally led Matt to the art of song crafting, he was shy and introverted and went through many of life’s trauma’s early on but with a creative mind that seems to know no bounds he began writing to try to make sense of all the experiences one goes through growing up and growing older. This is how he got to understand why things are the way there are, through music, art, writing, photography and dance he made his way through life and survived and prospered. Over the years many musicians have come and gone and come back again, all remain brothers and sisters, integral and essential parts in a musical journey, sonicly woven together like a tapestry, connected for life. At the end of the day though, the real essence of the Tree Shepherds is just Jay and Matt.
Through good times and in bad, they have managed to stay true to their course, fumbling along, meeting at least once a week to play some of the old stuff, run through some of the new tunes Matt has written after which maybe they might play some tunes of the artists they love and admire like the Grateful Dead, Ryan Adams, Iron and Wine or Elliott Smith. You might wonder why after 25 years of being together why haven’t you heard of them.. well, you see they are veterans, not so much of the beer stained bars and the lonely cafes of the city but of the barns, basements and shacks where they have been crafting there style, trying to make it be just exactly perfect, and having big fun in the meantime.


Tree Shepherds

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