Never mind their clear-as-country-water name. "The band name was a code, a question, a diffident invitation: If you see hawks, then maybe we should talk." Formed by Rob Waller and brothers Paul and Anthony Lacques, I See Hawks in L.A. was established on an Echo Park front porch in 2000, the last year of the Clinton administration, or as the band recalls, "mellow's last gasp." Now, four albums later -- each the source of radiant reviews in publications like Spin, USA Today, Village Voice, Uncut and the Los Angeles Times.

According to Rob and Paul's liner notes from Shoulda Been Gold, "The Hawks imagined an America post-oil, fertilizer and gated communities, and an American folk music with tendrils cracking concrete to reach people aware of the ground they stand on." The bulk of their eponymous first CD was recorded in the living room of Waller's Echo Park bungalow on primitive equipment. It was released somewhat ominously on September 11, 2001.

In 2003, Paul Marshall and drummer Shawn Nourse joined the band. "The big sound in our heads was here at last," they write. It took three years to finish a second recording, Grapevine, which garnered many long and serious reviews and a smattering of airplay. The band boarded a GMC Yukon bound for Vermont and back again, first of many tours that brought a loyal national following and three appearances at the top of the Freeform American Roots chart and #2 on XM radio's X Country channel.