The Slice Bar & Grill was jam-packed with patrons moving and grooving during the Windy City Opry on Jan. 11.
An opry is an event where an establishment hosts live folk or country music. This particular event put six local artists in the spotlight. The musicians were Shaela Miller, Ali Cat, John Wort Hannam, Skinny Dyck, Bailey Kate and Zach Passey. The opry didn’t feature any bands, instead individual singers and songwriters from local bands.
One musician in particular, Shaela Miller of the Shaela Miller Band, hosted the event. Miller said the Windy City Opry is fashioned after the Grande Ole Opry located in Nashville.
She said her drive to write music has always been within her. Miller started writing music at 16-years-old. Miller’s passion for music has always been there although it has not always been for country music.
“When I first started writing, it was kind of a dark folk kind of thing. It is really hard to say what it was. I started listening to the classic country hits and was immediately drawn to it. Now I tend to listen to everything under the sun,” said the lead singer.
Miller said her favourite song she has written was “Friend Tonight” that was featured on her last record Bad Ideas because it tells a beautiful story and the song creates an ambiance that is full of mood and emotion.
The lead of the Shaela Miller band started performing her self-written songs in front of an audience when she was 16, sneaking into venues that only allowed patrons over the age of 18. It was here where she met one of the interesting musicians that performed at the Windy City Opry this month. His name is John Wort Hannam.
Hannam’s passion for music started at a young age, as he was consistently in the boys’ choir throughout his school years. Hannam didn’t start playing music for a living until 2002.
Zach Passey 
Shaela Miller 
John Wort Hannam
“I quit my job teaching, went on unemployment insurance and made myself a promise that I would take that 10 months that I got and write as many songs as possible. I ended up applying for an arts grant and received it and my career took off from there,” said Hannam, the musician who is on a career path adventure that has spanned over two decades.
Hannam doesn’t qualify his music as country, instead, he prefers to call it “prairie music.” He said if he had to pigeonhole himself into a genre, he would classify his music as singer-songwriter folk music. He has always appreciated and enjoyed lyrically-driven songs because the story behind the words speaks to him.
Hannam’s musical inspiration was a United Kingdom punk rocker musician named Billy Bragg because it wasn’t just some pop A.M. radio, it was something different that spoke to him.
“That style of music was full of angst and anger and as a young kid, I liked that,” said the singer.
Hannam mostly plays with his band. He said his band was formed abnormally as opposed to most bands.
“I didn’t know most of my bandmates right away. Being a part of the music scene over the years, you start to realize how small the community is. So, if you needed a bass player, word of mouth travels fast and that is how the majority of us ended up joining a band together. Lethbridge has a ton of great local musicians,” said Hannam.
Hannam plans to release a new record in May and is currently in the process of finishing up a few songs from the album.
The Windy City Opry happens on the second Wednesday of every month to showcase Lethbridge’s musical talent at a variety of venues around town.
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