An initiative led by Emma Pollock and Idlewild’s Rod Jones, The Fruit Tree Foundation was a group of leading alternative musicians and songwriters, brought together to write an album which dealt loosely with themes of mental health and wellbeing.
Growing from the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival and in association with The Mental Health Foundation, Scottish Wave of Change and Breathing Space Scotland, ‘First Edition’ was an ambitious project involving the following leading lights of Scotland’s indie and folk scenes:
James Graham (Twilight Sad), Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit), Rod Jones (Idlewild), Jill O’Sullivan (Sparrow and the Workshop), Emma Pollock (The Delgados), Karine Polwart, Jenny Reeve, Alasdair Roberts and James Yorkston.
Thrown together for three days in a Perthshire farmhouse, the challenge was for these artists to form collaborations and partnerships, writing an album’s worth of material that was eventually recorded at Chemikal Underground’s studio Chem19.
The results surpassed all expectations.