News & Opinion

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020 BY SHAWN UNDERWOOD 

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If you were born in the last century, radio, not podcasts or downloads, was the soundtrack to your life. That’s the idea behind an interesting collaboration between I See Hawks In LA and Great Willow, both LA bands. Nic Harcourt, DJ at KCSN, one of the epicenters of Americana in southern California, issued a pandemic challenge: collaborate on a song with another band entirely remotely. So with a little Facetiming to solidify the idea, Hawks and Willow members started emailing tracks back and forth until they had a final mix that satisfied everyone. The song is called Radio Keeps Me On the Ground, and if you download it from Bandcamp 25% of the proceeds go to a charity for at-risk Angelenos, the hardest hit community in our state.

About the author:   I’ve actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I’ve seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night. 

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FILED UNDER: AMERICANA, COUNTRY TAGGED WITH: GREAT WILLOW, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A.

 I See Hawks In L.A. & Great Willow release  “Radio Keeps Me On The Ground” acoustic/electric single about coronavirus crisis

May 22 2020

digital only release all streaming & download platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc) 

It started with an invitation from DJ Nic Harcourt at premier L.A. Americana radio station KCSN 88.5 FM:   collaborate on a coronavirus themed song with your musical friends, make healing music for these upended times.  A project called #TogetherTunes              

I See Hawks In L.A. and fellow Los Angeles folkies Great Willow have a longstanding mutual admiration society, and when James Combs of the Willow invited the Hawks to collaborate, they jumped on it.

Writing and recording by email has been interesting.

James and Hawks guitarist/songwriter Paul Lacques traded song ideas and came up with two very different sketches based on Paul’s chorus hook.  Interesting.  Now we had two songs.  Hawks singer/songwriter Rob Waller climbed aboard on a glitchy Facetime session with Paul, wrestling the two versions into verses and bridges, came up with a few more lines, and voila: “Radio Keeps Me On The Ground.” 

What started with lyrics addressing our upended lives turned into a love letter to radio, the constant in our lives pre and post crisis, the magic in the air, the aether, the wide open.

James recorded acoustic guitars and lead vocals, cyber sent his tracks to Paul, who cut his electric and steel, with Hawks drummer Victoria adding drums and vocals, in their Highland Park studio.  Rob and bassist Paul Marshall cut and emailed their tracks, with some sweet organ added by GW’s Ed Barguiarena.   Four time Grammy winner Alfonso Rodenas mixed and mastered.  A classic country rock sound resulted, emerging with soul from its digital realm.  

Just for fun, we did a more ethereal acoustic (Datura version) of the song, resulting in a two song electric/acoustic single.

“Radio Keeps Me On The Ground” addresses the crisis as viewed from our windows and screens, contrasting the limitations of today with the freedom of the road of just yesterday.  But no matter how bombarded we are by the reality of the streets or the info overload of the web we all live by, there’s always radio.  In our backyards or kitchens, it keeps us real. On the ground.

www.iseehawks.com                  contact Paul:        lacques at sonic.net

www.greatwillowmusic.com      
contact James:      jamescombsmusic at me.com

listen now!

RADIO KEEPS ME ON THE GROUND                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Lacques/Combs/Waller

It’s never been easier 
To lose your mind
Rabbit holes in the cloud
You don’t even have to try
You don’t have to cry
Or walk on by

Radio keeps me on the ground            
Radio keeps me on the ground

There’s never been a lonelier time
To learn to breathe in a way
That you won’t have to fly
Be fertile in this empty time
This will pass
By and by

 Radio keeps me on the ground
Radio keeps me on the ground

  A stranger’s voice
An invisible wind
Your almost friend
He’s almost you, you’re almost him
Yeah, she’s almost you
You’re almost you
But it’s different
On the road unsigned
Unknown frequencies
A twist of the dial
Unknown frequencies
A twist of the dial                 

Radio keeps me on the ground
Radio keeps me on the ground

by Paul Kerr
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California’s I See Hawks In L.A. and Liverpool’s Good Intentions met and became friends at a house concert in California back in 2012. Since then, the bands have shared stages in the States and here in the UK and along the way they began writing some songs together, the first fruits of their joint effort displayed on the Hawks’ last album, ‘Live And Never Learn‘, which had two songs co-written with Peter Davies of Good Intentions. Bouncing emails and mp3 files across the Atlantic they eventually came up with the ten songs on display here, sections recorded in L.A. and Liverpool with each of the bands’ contributions stitched together so well that the join is never seen. As it says on the sleeve, “Gleaming technology serving acoustic guitars and down home harmonies.”

It’s primarily an acoustic album with drums on only one song and some spare lap and slide guitar from Paul Lacques present. Lead vocals are shared between Davies and the Hawks’ Rob Waller and Victoria Jacobs while the other member of Good Intentions, Gabrielle Monk, weighs in on backing vocals. As such, it’s a collection which is finely laidback as various guitars strum and harmonies float reminding one of the “wooden music” side of CSN&Y or the more blissed out moments of the good ole’ Grateful Dead along with a sprinkling of acts such as The Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Loggins & Messina. Writing in various permutations with Waller, Lacques and Jacobs, Davies has a hand in all but one song and it’s his voice which opens the album on ‘Blue Heaven‘, a sun dappled slice of nostalgia laden with harmonies and sly Dobro, the kind of song which could accompany faded home movies of flower children celebrating. Waller takes the reins for the following western themed ‘Things Like This‘, a taut Larry McMurtry like murder tale which skittles along like tumbleweed before Weller and Davies swap their contrasting lead vocals on ‘Rolling The Boxcars‘, a gambling song with the protagonists always on the losing end with the song delivered as if all were singing around a late night campfire.

Plenty to admire then in this opening triumvirate which showcases the strengths of both ends of this collaboration. But there’s much more to come as the combo accommodate the folkier side of Davies on the Tom Paxton like ‘Rambling Girl‘ (with The Punch Brothers’ Gabe Whitcher on fiddle) and then  allow Waller to deliver the excellent railroad chug of ‘Steel Rails‘. ‘White Cross‘, one of the songs which appeared on ‘Live And Never Learn‘, remains as sinewy as the original while ‘Flying Now‘ finds Davies down on his luck but ever hopeful on a song which recalls the late Ronnie Lane especially with its accordion accompaniment from Richie Lawrence. ‘Epiphany On Town Hall Square‘, while fitting well into its surroundings in terms of its delivery, is somewhat odd, bearing as it does, echoes of a Christmas carol in its setting but the closing ‘Will You Watch Over Me‘, the one song written solely by Lacques and Waller, is bang in the Hawks canon as it gently rolls along with rippling guitar accompaniment  invoking a greater spirit.

Collaborations can often be tricky affairs but it feels safe to say that on this occasion fans of either band will be satisfied by ‘Hawks With Good Intentions’. It simply  radiates good vibes as these transatlantic cousins find common cause.

Hands Across The Water

7/10

EXPAND

Best Country Group
I See Hawks In L.A. are a house band of the Hippie diaspora. Twenty years and eight albums on (with a ninth en route), the country-rock quartet has supplied pot anthems (“Humboldt”), political profiles in courage (“Byrd From West Virginia”) and ecological laments (theme song “I See Hawks In L.A.”). Baritone lead singer Rob Waller and virtuosic string slinger Paul Lacques scribe these literate, pointed contemporary classics, while drummer Victoria Jacobs contributed the loopy hoot “My Parka Saved Me.” With bassist Paul Marshall, the front line’s close harmony is reminiscent of The Byrds — both flocks being rootsy and psychedelic avian-christened Los Angeles-based freaks. —Michael Simmons

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http://www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/