Tommy Hawkins

What do you get when you take haunting vocals, piercing lead guitar lines, and dynamic hand drumming and blend it with the sounds of espresso machines and workers’ cries to “turn it down?” It’s not the newest trendy coffee shop drink, but rather Dan Welch and his band grooving acoustically at Spot Coffee in Rochester, NY.



Dan Welch grabbed the audience’s attention with the hard, bluesy strumming of an original tune that opened up the night of music. Lead guitarist, Tommy Hawkins, wasted no time solidifying grooves by jumping in with bends on his Fender Strat reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Brad Farrow, playing a single djembe drum, provided all the rhythm that was needed to get the crowd’s feet tapping.



The band used dynamics to let the listener focus in on the words and at times, want to get up and dance as if it were an outdoor festival with a large jam band playing. These three musicians showed what can happen when a band has played together for six years. As Dan Welch’s vocals soared high and held out a note, Tommy Hawkins would create a melody line accented by the drum beats of Brad Farrow that would push the whole band into an all out blues jam.



Not your typical singer-songwriter, Dan Welch’s original songs leave you wanting more. Catchy, well-sung lyrics, and a groove from his acoustic guitar, lay the foundation for Tommy Hawkins to perform his Strat-magic in perfect harmony with the drumming of Brad Farrow. At times, Welch would strum sparse chords letting Hawkins run wild with a flurry of notes pouring out of his lead guitar. As the tension would build up to one peak after he next, the band would stop on a dime and move into a subtle R & B groove and take the audience in a different direction entirely.



Tommy Hawkins proved himself to not be just a guitarist but a well-rounded musician too as he took over the vocal role for the band on two songs; a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “You’re Missing” and an original. Dan Welch played simple two note melodies behind the vocals on the Bruce Springsteen cover song and stepped aside as Hawkins showed his versatility by playing rhythm guitar, lead guitar and singing at the same time.



After the first band, Daniel Ball Jr. took the stage to close out the evening with his original, ambient music. The first few songs had the help of Tommy Hawkins on lead guitar, filling out the sound. An interesting guitarist, Daniel Ball Jr. can only be described as John Tesh on an acoustic guitar with faster strumming. Creating his own version of acoustic new age music, Ball used a loop pedal to create the illusion of a full band. He strummed chords into the loop pedal and it repeatedly played back those chords while he picked single notes over the top or sang lyrics.



A different style entirely from Dan Welch and his band, Daniel Ball Jr. created what one listener called “mood music” to close out the night of music at Spot Coffee. Loud, and even shouting at times, Ball tried to convey the emotions of his songs to the small audience by increasing the volume. Every muscle in his body seemed to go into punching the sound of his acoustic guitar out of the sound system. And so ended another night of music at one of Rochester’s coffee shops.

- GroundScore