Dave’s Bio

    Dave Hawthorn was born in Southern California . He got his first guitar when he was twelve and has been writing songs and performing ever since. His first band (Blue Water), played for high school dances and in front of the local music store. At fifteen, he moved to Williams, Arizona which is a small town west of Flagstaff. There, he resolved to just playing his acoustic guitar for friends and family around campfires and or at parties. When he was eighteen, he met up with Harry Saunders, they put a duo together and started playing out locally. Things were going so well they ventured out and started playing bars in the Flagstaff area. When Harry moved away, Dave went on as a solo act. Over the next couple of years, Dave played all over northern AZ., including places like The Bright Angel Lounge (at the south rim of the Grand Canyon), Prescott, Sedona and all points in between. He soon developed the reputation of being one of the most hard-hitting, good-timing solo acts around. In 1980, he moved to Phoenix where he studied music full time at Mesa Community College while supporting himself through his music.

    Dave was doing so well in the club scene around Phoenix that he decided to concentrate his efforts on being a full-time musician. In the winter of 1983 he went to Colorado for three months to play various ski resorts ( Winter Park, Mary Jane, Vail, Crested Butte and Monarch). In 1984 Dave and his friend Steve Hill (who Dave had worked with before, making commercials in a local recording studio), put together the Hawthorn Hill Duo. They soon developed one of the biggest followings in the Phoenix area. In 1986, they added a bass player and a drummer and were playing the biggest clubs in the Valley including, headlining a show for seven thousand students at Arizona State University. They did concert openings for national acts and toured the North and Southwest playing in bars from Las Vegas to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That same year, they were named “Rock and Roll Band of the Year” by “Soundboard Magazine” which was a Phoenix music publication in the eighties. The band continued to play to packed houses before going their separate ways in the Fall of 1988.

    Dave then moved to Reno, Nevada where he again went right to the top of the club scene. He stayed there for a year before moving to New York. Since then, Dave has been playing all over New York and the north east region. In 1992 he started another band called “Mother’s Hobo” with Tom McCaffrey, Tim “Weasel” Smith (who now play in a regionally successful band called Frostbit Blue) and John Scott Hoey. After a year and a half, Dave decided to focus on his solo/duo shows. He continues to play solo as well as performing duo’s with Steve Webb and Charlie “Tiger” Vickery.

    Dave also has his own recording studio where he recorded his first CD “West” which was released in June of 2000. It has received critical acclaim in New York as well as in Arizona. In December of 2000 he played two songs live off his CD on “Good Morning Arizona” which is a morning  television show in Phoenix (KTVK TV3) that boasts over a million viewers.  

In the summer of "2004" Dave & Tiger released a live CD called "TOO PARTS COOL" that consists 15 songs, two originals and the rest covers. Dave is currently working on his next CD and hopes to have it released soon.

    Whether he is solo, duo or with a band, Dave Hawthorn plays with an air of seasoned confidence. His uncanny ability to adapt to many different styles is astonishing. Dave’s powerful voice, hard-driving acoustic guitar, combined with his harmonica and topnotch stage presence, can make even the most critical audiences stand up and take notice.