The Wishing Tree (band)

The Wishing Tree
Hannah, at the Marillion Weekend 2009
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Folk rock
Years active	1995–present (intermittently)
Labels	Dorian Music, Racket Records (Intact)
Associated acts	Marillion, Enchant
Website	myspace.com/thewishingtreeband thewishingtree.com (currently not live)
Members	Hannah Craddick (née Stobart) Steve Rothery

The Wishing Tree is a music project by Marillion's guitarist Steve Rothery and American vocalist Hannah Stobart. Their debut album, Carnival of Souls, was released in 1996 and a second album, Ostara, was released 23 March 2009.

Rothery had been interested in starting an acoustic project with a female vocalist since 1985. At first All About Eve's singer Julianne Regan was approached through Marillion's manager John Arnison, but was not interested in working with Rothery. Later, an attempt to team up with the female singer of a band called The Escape Club (not The Escape Club), whose voice reminded Rothery of Annie Haslam's, failed as they couldn't get along on a personal level. When Marillion were recording Brave at Miles Copeland's Chateau Marouatte in Dordogne in 1993, Copeland offered Rothery "a substantial sum" for recording an instrumental solo album on his label No Speak. Although Rothery didn't take the offer, it renewed his interest in a solo project. During the Brave tour of 1994, Rothery was approached by Hannah Stobart, a student of French and Italian, who gave him her demo tape containing "She Moved Through the Fair" and Tori Amos's "Me and a Gun". Rothery was delighted and began recording further demos with Stobart at his new home studio. After Marillion were dropped by EMI following the 1995 album Afraid of Sunlight, several band members pursued solo projects before they began work on This Strange Engine (1997). During two weeks in early 1996, Rothery recorded acoustic material with Stobart on vocals, Pete Trewavas of Marillion on bass and Paul Craddick of Enchant on drums and keyboards. All music was written by Rothery and Stobart ("additional vocal melodies"), while the lyrics were written by regular Marillion collaborator John Helmer. Most songs were written right then, however, a handful had a longer history: "Nightwater" was considered for Seasons End (1989), when Steve Hogarth rejected Helmer's lyrics as "too gothic"; the chorus of "Midnight Snow" and "Evergreen" were written during the Holidays in Eden (1991) and Clutching at Straws (1987) sessions, respectively.