GREAT WILLOW
The DEBUT SONG
“MANY THINGS”
Thanks for the airplay KCSN (Nic Harcourt and Julie Slater) and KCRW (Gary Calamar and Ann Litt)!
"Many Things" is the debut single from Los Angeles band Great Willow. A great chorus hook, poetic lyrics, mariachi horns, Gram/Emmylou harmonies from James Combs and Erin Hawkins, indie guitars... a gratitude song. Countrified Indie Rock. Or Indie-fied Country Rock. A Los Angeles/Laurel Canyon sound for 2017.
"Many Things” is at heart a song about gratitude. And specifically about gratitude for music and the holes it has filled in my psyche that didn't somehow get filled any other way. Spontaneity... the need for urgency ("go for broke - everything goes up in smoke - don't wait 'til morning, don't wait 'til spring.”) And to see people as they are, embrace them anyway, and express yourself openly ("unfurl your talk and learn to love with blinders off.”) It’s this weird and wild force, music, and it has provided me with almost all of my biggest thrills and deepest connections. It’s the telescope and the electricity and the bloodstream.
And for me music is essentially the lure of Los Angeles. I’d always eyed the fountain from afar but when life blew up at the last stop, i headed here. But then comes the hard part.
Finally, I thought it would be nice to start Find Yourself In Los Angeles with a gratitude song. The album does go to some darker places, too, so I wanted you to know that in the end it all worked out. Thank you for listening - we are grateful for your interest and support.
Pre-order the new album Find Yourself In Los Angeles from GREAT WILLOW and listen to "Many Things”.
credits
released July 9, 2017
written by James Combs
James Combs - guitar, organ, bass, vocal
Erin Shawn Hawkins - vocal
Rich McCulley - guitar
Ed Barguiarena - drums
Probyn Grergory - trumpet
Produced by James Combs and Steve Kaye
Mixed by Steve Kaye
Cover art by Natalie Wright (www.nataliewrighthome.com)
lyrics
MANY THINGS
you taught me how to sit
on dynamite and watch it tick
you made sure the fuse was lit
and you taught me to get over it
you said “unfurl your talk
and learn to love with blinders off”
you taught me how to drink
you taught me many things
you told me go for broke
that everything goes up in smoke
“don’t wait for morning, don’t wait for spring”
you taught me many things
without you – I’m a crooked tree
a crippled crow, a broken stone
the most wondrous thing I’ll ever see
is you,
you taught me many things