Coffeehouse offers a little day music

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Steve Justman

“I felt like I was two people,” said Steve Justman, of Wilmette, “and it’s nice to know that I can really focus on my music now. I count my blessings every day.”

Justman, 62 in January, is newly retired from a Fortune 200 company, Arrow Electronics, where he worked as the product marketing manager for over 26 years. When he wasn’t working or attending to family matters, Justman could usually be found playing guitar and singing folk and country songs, either at a gig or just for fun.

Now he’s got another place to play the music he loves. On Saturday, Jan. 21, Justman will host a brand new afternoon open mic event at the Grounds for Appeal Espresso Bar & Coffeehouse in Berwyn.

Great listening

“The folk music crowd overall is getting older,” said Justman, “and some are not getting out as much at night. I’m excited to do this. Grounds for Appeal is a great listening room with great beverages, and a throwback to the way it should be for live music. I hope to help make this a real music destination.”

Grounds owner and coffee creation specialist, Wendy Back, is scheduling all live music on Saturday afternoons, with the open mic hosted by Justman to be held on the third Saturday of each month.

Said Back: “I want to create a different audience, and to make it easier for people to get here and easier to get home. This will help those who can’t get out at night. I know I don’t like to drive at night, and I only have to drive a mile. And this frees up the night for those who want to go to out later.”

Justman has been a performer since his high school days.

“I’ve been playing since
I was 12 years old,” said
Justman. “That’s when I got my first guitar. I was influenced by the great folk artists of the day — Tom Paxton, the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Gibson, Gordon Lightfoot — and I had their records at home. I took guitar lessons for about a year, learned to read music. And I started gigging right away, in a folk duo with my friend Lee Share, as ‘Lee & Steve.’ We had matching shirts and played all through high school, played tons of sweet sixteen parties, high school variety shows, some events.”

Those early duo gigs were at Niles North High School in Skokie. Justman would later get involved in bands, and was part of the popular Chicago-based country-rock band, Pony Express.

“In the ’80s, I didn’t play out as much,” he said, “because I had kids to raise.”

Solo shows

But Justman returned to playing more music as soon as he could, and in recent years has focused on performing as a solo artist, performing everywhere from coffeehouses and restaurants, to farmers markets and library programs.

Not a singer-songwriter, Justman concentrates his repertoire on what he calls “vintage folk and classic country.” He’s developed some special programs, such as “Roots of Americana,” and is now performing a new show, “Songs of the American Railroad.”

Justman is a little different among the folk enthusiasts, with his distinct emphasis on country.

He still recalls when his musical path diverged a bit.

“I still loved folk after the British invasion, but saw folk changing, and wasn’t that interested in folk-rock,” he said. “I started listening to other music, to the other artists who were playing acoustic guitar and singing, with the fabulous musicianship, hot picking, pedal steel guitar and banjo, artists like Flatt & Scruggs. Images of the lost American landscape worked for me. The music is so real.”