PATIO SESSIONS with Emily Watkins
An Eau Claire native, Emily has been an active member of the Chippewa Valley music scene for over ten years. For four semesters, she played guitar in the Grammy-nominated University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I under the direction of Professor Robert Baca. During her time in the band, UWEC’s Jazz I was awarded the prestigious Downbeat Award for Best Undergraduate College Big Band. Since 2012, she has been the guitar player for the Chippewa Valley Jazz Orchestra. In 2019, Emily also had the opportunity to attend the week-long New York Voices Vocal Jazz Camp in Kalamazoo, MI. During her time there, she was given one-on-one coaching by members of the Grammy-award winning vocal ensemble The New York Voices.
Though she is an experienced jazz musician, Emily is well-versed in a variety of styles of guitar playing, including funk, country/folk, classical, blues, and many varieties of rock music. Since 2018, she has been the guitarist, booking manager, and co-arranger for Uncommon Denominator, an 8-piece variety band that has been voted Best Cover Band in the Chippewa Valley in the Volume One Reader’s Poll for the last five consecutive years. As a lover of theatre, Emily has also played in pit orchestras for almost thirty different musicals, playing guitar primarily and doubling on banjo, mandolin. Most recently, she held the guitar chair for the storied Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre based in Grand Lake, CO in the summer of 2021.
Emily also has a passion for music education, with almost ten years of private teaching experience. Currently, she maintains a private guitar studio on the north side of Eau Claire, welcoming students of all ages, abilities, and experience levels. Emily is able to teach a variety of styles, ranging from beginner technique and basic note reading to jazz comping and advanced music theory. She also teaches ukulele and beginner bass guitar.
LIVE MUSIC: Tim Davis Trio with Hannah Durham
A fixture in the Chippewa Valley’s entertainment scene, and known for his inventive arrangements, collaborative spirit, and commitment to nurturing local talent, Davis blends traditional swing with modern harmonic language, drawing influence from artists like Bill Evans, Keith Jarret and Ryo Fukui. In 2022, Davis founded Artem Entertainment, an Eau Claire–based organization dedicated to supporting live performance, artistic collaboration, and community-based production. Under his direction, Artem has curated events ranging from intimate jazz nights to large-scale showcases, bringing together musicians across genres and generations. Davis continues to perform regularly while composing original work, directing ensembles, and mentoring young artists. His efforts reflect a deep belief in the transformative power of music and its role in building sustainable creative culture in smaller communities.
LAKELY LIMITED: Jon Loomis & Tommy Bentz
Tommy Bentz, singer-songwriter from the Tommy Bentz Band, has been performing for over 25 years and jams in the style of “Allman Brothers meets Van Morrison.” He performs songs from 6 original albums, a live DVD and CD, and unique covers from Cream/Clapton, The Band, SRV, Beatles/George Harrison, and more. His latest album “1000 Reasons” was released in May of 2021, with a new release scheduled for 2025. Tommy and TBB tours regionally, has toured overseas for 15+ years and competed in the International Blues Challenge (IBC) with artists from around the world in Memphis, TN in January, 2020, representing the State of Wisconsin. When not performing Tommy owns and operates Brickhouse Music in River Falls, recently celebrating 30+ years in business.
Jon Loomis is Professor Emeritus of creative writing at UWEC, and a founding member of the Flaming Doublewides, the Chippewa Valley’s popular blues, classic rock, R&B, rockabilly, lounge, retro country, alt-everything band—rocking the scene since 2016. Jon is a widely published, award-winning poet and novelist who started playing guitar at twelve and fronting bands at fifteen. He’s also an accomplished songwriter, whose original songs have been covered by numerous performers—his song “Heartbreak City,” recorded by Ohio-based bluegrass band the Rarely Herd, made it to number seven on the national bluegrass charts back in 1994. Jon’s currently working on a fourth novel, and an album project produced by rock n’ roll legend Eric Ambel at Cowboy Technical Services Recording Rig in Brooklyn, NYC.
LAKELY LIMITED: Mantis with Special Guest Aaron Hedenstrom
Lakely Limited is a series of live performances and special engagements at The Lakely, carefully chosen to create distinct nights of music, atmosphere, and connection. When you see this special designation, expect an experience that’s designed to be savored, and an event that’s worth planning for.
The first album from Mantis is a continuation of Scott Burton’s explorations of the intersections between composition and improvisation. The trio of Burton with Sean Carey on drums and Jeremy Boettcher on bass navigate sparse melodic frameworks filling them with life and bringing three individual voices to each tune. ‘If I Could See Heaven Without Dying’ was co-written by Burton and expat hiphop artist Jneiro Jarel and is based on a fingerstyle technique Burton stumbled on that emphasizes movement in the lower strings while leaving the higher ones open as a drone. The song was originally used to open Jarel’s ’After a Thousand Years’ album on Far Out Recordings, and here Carey and Boettcher bring groove and awareness of how to keep the song faithful while still adding their own touches. ‘GTO’ was written originally for Burton’s Richmond, Virginia based group ‘Glows in the Dark’ and was inspired by Warren Oates’ character in Monte Hellman’s film ‘Two Lane Blacktop’. ‘View’ first appeared as a simple guitar and synth recording on Burton’s bandcamp page, here rearranged as an open duration melody that leads to some of the more emotional highs on the album. Boettcher on bowed bass navigates the melody as Burton uses pedals to sample and build drama within the looped melody and Carey’s brushwork pushes the song higher and higher. The tunes ‘Fei Fei’ and ‘The Skyhawk’ were inspired by kung fu films and explore the idea of two independent time feels, with bass and drums locked in a groove and form and guitar in a different time and form floating on top. The title track ‘You Get Lost’ bookends the album with a further exploration of the low string fingerstyle technique and references the minimalism of Reich as the trio explores a repeated figure slowly breaking apart before gradually reforming.
