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With an affinity for classic Laurel Canyon songwriting as well as a forward looking perspective, award-winning close harmony duo GREAT WILLOW’S debut album “Find Yourself In Los Angeles” was called “an incredible addition to any Americana library” by alt-country bible NO DEPRESSION. They continued, “The perfectly combined voices of James Combs and Erin Hawkins is the stuff legends are made of …” That album also got the band named “Best Americana Group” by the LA Music Critic Awards. They’ve been compared to artists like The Buffalo Springfield, Jackson Browne, The Civil Wars, Big Star and The Swell Season but these diverse comparisons only go to show that their music is really all their own.

Elaborate harmonies and imaginative melodies tell tales about growing up among the streams and forests of Indiana (James) and Utah (Erin) and finding a way west to the pleasures and shocks of city life in Los Angeles. Broken sisters (Aileen), complicated attractions (Danger), lost highways (No City Can Cure Me), the beauty of redwood forests (High Pine Steeples), a deep connection with rivers (I Love A River), the power of long-term relationships (Old Love), and even a Shakespearean sonnet set to music (No Longer Mourn) all take listeners on a colorful, emotional journey during their live sets, which run the gamut from meditative beauty to barn burning Loretta Lynn covers.

These two longtime friends are prolific songwriters with a poetic flair who you can often find sharing bills with the cream of the southern CA Americana and folk scene. House concerts, theaters, festivals, songwriter series’, wineries, civic events… they play them all.

James and Erin have also shared bigger stages with Jackson Browne, Tenacious D, Sara Bareilles, Van Dyke Parks, Inara George… and were the only current LA band asked asked to play the main stage at 2019’s Love Street Festival in Laurel Canyon - along with surviving members of 60s legends The Doors, The Monkees, The Mamas and The Papas, and Love. 

James and Erin’s ongoing recording relationship with Grammy-winning producer and guitarist John Would (Fiona Apple) has yielded a full length album as well as a steady stream of singles. The band also released a collaborative single with California psychedelic country legends I See Hawks In LA called “Radio Keeps Me On The Ground” that MOJO journalist Michael Simmons called “a powerful dose of communal hippie optimism.”

In the spring of 2025, the duo recorded a ten song live-in-studio sessions with producer Fernando Perdomo (Echo In The Canyon) slated for 2026 release.  

You might have heard their songs on LA’s 88.5 FM The SOCAL SOUND or featured as a “Today’s Top Tune” on KCRW or in TV shows like True Blood and Shameless. One thing folks who hear the band live seem to agree on: they have a special warmth and musical chemistry that leaves audiences spellbound. Lots of audible “wows.”

In their other lives, James is a board member for the annual FAR-West conference, curator of the monthly FAR-West Presents performance series and a music supervisor for film and TV. He also co-wrote an end title punk duet for the HBO series True Blood sung by the legendary Iggy Pop and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino. A woman of many talents, Erin is a dynamic performing artist and session musician, a ceramic artist, and an in-demand visual artist who has painted beautiful interior surfaces and murals for pop stars like Rhianna, The Weeknd, and John Legend.

KIND WORDS

"I'm stupid-obsessed with LA-based harmony duo Great Willow. They are hands-down one of my absolute favorite music projects, so I try not to fan girl too much..the musical chemistry and creative songwriting between guitarist James Combs and cellist Erin Hawkins blends into a captivatingly rootsy, gritty sound that feels like an Americana melting-pot of my favorite music elements – hipster college radio, honest Midwest folk, bone-dry desert noir, and top-notch polished musicianship." ARIELLE SILVER, FORMER PRESIDENT FAR-WEST MUSIC CONFERENCE, ARTIST

“The perfectly combined voices of James Combs and Erin Hawkins is the stuff legends are made of … an incredible addition to any Americana library.” NO DEPRESSION

“I LOVE THIS SONG.” NIC HARCOURT 88.5FM THE SOCAL SOUND DJ

“Perfect harmony. Excellent… the new sound of the West Coast.” AMERICANA UK

(Great Willow’s collaborative single with I See Hawks In LA) “Radio Keeps Me On The Ground” is soothing nerve tonic for those unsettled by the viral plague currently re-writing human reality. With an irresistable melody and close harmonies, the song is a powerful dose of communal hippie optimism that couldn’t be more welcome. MICHAEL SIMMONS, MOJO, LA Weekly

"Love James Combs. He's one of those singer/songwriter/musicians who should have spent his entire career at the top of the charts." PENELOPE SPHEERIS, DIRECTOR, “THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION” “WAYNE’S WORLD”

"timeless, finely crafted, tuneful songs. James Combs is a musical force of nature who injects every song with genuine joy. Erin Hawkins paints these poignant melodies with luminous harmonies, creating a sound of hope that's good for the soul. When they sing “Love will finally find you, by and by,” you believe it, because it’s real. Long live Great Willow, song champions." PAUL ZOLLO, Author, Songwriters On Songwriting

“James Combs… the missing link between Low and John Lennon, but these are no stripped-down, bare-bones confessionals rendered on a dusty acoustic. Imagine the moody melodies and sepulchral atmospheres of the former and the plain-speaking lyrics of the latter. Oh, and a voice that quivers like the world's biggest nerve ending. And you should hear him sing.” PAUL LESTER, The Guardian