On one of the coldest nights of the year, three singer-songwriters who’d never met before teamed up to open a new Western Springs music venue.
Opry Provisions, at 4354 Johnson Avenue, (or just “The Opry”) sits in the heart of the downtown business district. The cozy venue had its official opening Saturday, Jan. 13, featuring Ella Gibson, Aaron Kelly, and Sheyna Gee.
Gibson, just 17, from outside Springfield, opened the evening with “Tin Can Taurus,” an ode to a trip she’d been on with her grandfather in an old Ford Taurus.
“I went on a drive with my grandpa,” she said. “We drove from Chicago to LA on Route 66. We spent about three weeks in the car and I realized how much there was to see in the world. I was driving from place to place and checking off boxes and I thought, ‘someone needs to write a song about this.’ So I wrote ‘Tin Can Taurus.'”
Gibson will attend Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee next year, where she will major in songwriting with a minor in music business. “I just want to be a songwriter. That’s what I want to spend my career doing,” she said.
Describing her music as “folky, alternative-western,” she listed the Dixie Chicks as among her influences, and other artists “with a little swing.”
Kelly, based in Oswego, also talked about his influences, acknowledging that some of his music could be described as folky.
“My first songwriting influence was Bob Dylan,” he said. “From him I got into poetry, John Prine, and Lucinda Williams. The art of storytelling, you might say, literature and that kind of thing.”
But Kelly stressed that he was definitely influenced by early country.
“When I fill in love with Bob Dylan, I realized that his heroes were Hank Williams and old country, that’s where my country influences come from; Hank, George Jones, Willie. Not so much modern country.”
Before the set, Kelly noted that he wasn’t sure what songs he was going to play, saying “you don’t know what you’re going to play first until you get a vibe from the crowd.”
Gee also noted the novelty of playing a gig at The Opry with total strangers.
“I never met the owner, and I’ve never played in Chicago,” she said, “I play country music. Good old fashioned country music.”
Gee said with a laugh that her original influences were Nirvana and Led Zeppelin, who she grew up listening to. But she started listening to country at age 19 and her course was set.
“I realized that my songwriting just lent itself to country, even though I was raised on rock ‘n’ roll,” she said. “So my music is definitely country with rock influences, but I don’t consider myself country-rock. I’m country.”
The trio wound up playing two full sets lasting about three hours, putting on an “awesome” show, as Opry owner Dan Schovain said.
*** ***
The Opry was the natural offshoot of Daydream Coffee, Schovain’s coffee roasting business located in the same location. Daydream is a boutique, artisanal shop with Schovain roasting the coffee beans himself, getting them from all over the world, particularly Guatemala and Columbia. Daydream’s website lists 16 different coffees roasted on site and 12 different teas.
More Top Picks Dual Batterys
In a recent telephone interview, he talked about how he wound up in the coffee business.
Growing up in La Grange Park, Schovain graduated from Mount Carmel High School and then attended DePaul University, where he earned his BA in political science.
“I thought I wanted to go to law school, so I studied political science at DePaul,” he said. “Upon graduating I got a job at a large law firm, and I did grunt work there for two years. During that time I decided I didn’t know if the law was really for me.”
After that, he worked in the field of data analytics for 10 years and found success in the profession.
“I did quite well and worked up to a pretty high level in my company, and other companies I worked at, but I just always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Schovain said. “But I knew I wanted to go out and do something eventually, and had a lot of ideas. But I never went ahead and took the first step.”
But his experience working long hours at his various job provided him with all the inspiration he needed to take that first step. Because every one of those jobs shared one sad reality — the coffee available was always terrible.
Consuming better craft coffee at home led him to wonder about the possibility of starting his own coffee-roasting business.
“I thought, ‘I wonder what the market is like for this’ and maybe I’ll try roasting some of my own at home,” he said, noting that his first efforts were roasting a half-pound in his oven at home.
When he realized he had roasted a pretty good batch of coffee, he started researching the marketing possibilities, eventually deciding he was going to “go out and do it.”
For the first six months or so, he operated out of his Western Springs home, then opened Daydream in the same spot he’s beginning The Opry.
Schovain is not the only entrepreneur in the family. His wife Anne is a graduate of Brown University and Stanford Business School, which led her to a position with the School of Rock corporate team.
She decided that she wanted to stay in the field and became a franchisee, opening School of Rock franchises in Hinsdale, Elmhurst, and Naperville.
“I think eventually some of our alumni from our schools, former students will play at The Opry,” Schovain said, “and also maybe some of our instructors.”
He noted that he even had some interest in learning music himself, saying, “I’d like to learn guitar and I’d like to learn vocals, too.”
But with several businesses going and four small children at home, what Schovain needs right now is to see The Opry fully staffed. In addition to several other positions, Schovain is currently in need of a head bartender and head barista.
Information on those positions, as well as operating hours and how to inquire about performing at The Opry, can be found at the company website, daydream.coffee.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.