The small downstairs area of a typical midwestern sports bar was fully packed. Every seat and stool had long been filled by locals of the area, leading several people to line up against three walls of the bar.
Against the fourth wall, a stout wooden stage is tucked between a digitized jukebox and dated score-keeping dart boards in a row. A small dance floor, smaller than the area of the stage, also accompanied the space.
The live music guest for the night was Blue Spectrum, and the playlist switched between R&B, blues and classic rock throughout. Seemingly, the star of the band was the lead guitarist, Zayne Harshaw.
Blue Spectrum performing at Gatsby's on Feb. 22, 2025
Harshaw wore his signature look: prescription sunglasses, a black long-brimmed hat with a blue scarf tied as a band, and a black button-up with a blue guitar graphic.
The lead singer, Allen “Uncle Al” Jefferson, led the crowd into their last song before intermission by stating, “You might know this next song.”
Many in the crowd already knew the next song to come and whispered to each other that it must be “Purple Rain.”
Many sang along with the song as it played, while some in the bar stood up to crowd around the dance floor, knowing what’s to come.
Abruptly Harshaw suddenly switched from the stage to the dance floor, catching the audience with his guitar solo. He switched from playing the guitar over his head to behind his back. He set the guitar on a stool to strum the frets, periodically pointing to the crowd to keep the audience in tune.
With his performance, it wasn’t apparent if the audience was made of fifty or hundreds of thousands, but for either occasion, it worked.
When Harshaw strummed the last chord of the song, he left the dance floor to stand in front of a table diagonal to him, where he led the bar in the song “Happy Birthday” to honor a family friend.
Harshaw got his first guitar around the age of 12, where it collected dust in the corner of his room for two years. His love for Guitar Hero made him want to have a real guitar.
“He had severe dexterity issues as a kid. He struggled to find his shirt, tie his shoes, but he’s gonna play guitar?” said Gwen, Harshaw’s mother and manager of Blue Spectrum. She was hesitant at first about the idea of him playing guitar but never told him it was something he couldn’t do.
Harshaw’s mother, and his father, Gene, hadn’t realized that Harshaw had picked up the guitar later on until neighbors in their cul-de-sac mentioned that they could hear Harshaw playing from his room and that he was starting to sound good.
At first, Harshaw’s parents didn’t believe what their neighbors would say. They would politely acknowledge their neighbors’ words but never thought much about it. Until one day, Harshaw’s gift became glaringly obvious when his father and older brother went to the store and overheard Harshaw playing the guitar in his room.
“So I went upstairs, turned the corner, sure enough he’s in his room. His back to me, he’s got his amp in the window, and he’s playing. And I just stood there for a few moments and listened,” said Harshaw’s father.
Being faced head-on with Harshaws’s talent had frightened his father at first, not knowing where it could lead.
Soon after this, Harshaw’s parents enrolled him into guitar classes, which didn’t last long, though it was found there that he has perfect pitch.
Harshaw then started going to as many open mics and jam sessions as possible in order to help foster his love for playing guitar, going several nights a week while still in high school.
His dream of being in a band became reality in 2013 when he and a group of people he met at the Special Olympics started practicing and performing anywhere they could find a space; this often led to jam sessions in the basement or garage.
While the band has seen many changes of talent in the past decade, Harshaw has always remained the lead guitarist.
Christy Wallace first watched Harshaw win an open mic competition at Gatsby’s Bar & Grille in 2017. She became not only a fan of the band but also a friend of Harshaw’s parents.
Wallace has seen Zayne perform many times since, “I am blown away at this since day one and always will be.”
Knowing about Harshaw’s past and the struggles he’s overcome to be a successful musician, Wallace looks upon the band with a sense of pride, “Well look at him today. He’s gotten him his own band, and he made that happen.”
Harshaw has always known he wanted to be in a band.
“I never doubted that,” he said.
He has played all over the country, with the band and solo, “I love a lot of English rock bands and ’90s rock … and I feel like one of them.”
Harshaw has received the Community Star Award issued by the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities. And in January of 2025, Blue Spectrum performed at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
John Spinelli had first heard Harshaw play in 2021 when he was looking for local bands to play at a fundraiser called the Red, White, and Blues Festival that is put together by the Gahanna Foundation.
“He can play the dickens out of the guitar,” Spinelli said. “He is an undiscovered diamond here in Central Ohio.”
The strong community around Harshaw and the band Blue Spectrum leaves an atmosphere that seems like old friends meeting up whenever the band goes to play at a local bar.
Harshaw hopes his story of accomplishing his own dreams will help to inspire others who have a passion they want to achieve, “If you can believe it, you can achieve it.”
He has been through occupational therapy, speech therapy and vocal therapy, but Gwen saw the most change in Harshaw when he started playing live.
“He seemed to connect with the musicians in a way he didn’t connect with other people,” she said.
Zayne Harshaw performing at Gatsby's on Feb. 22, 2025
Harshaw’s passion had seemingly changed him in a way that some didn’t see possible. While Harshaw still has anxiety about performing on stage, he will sometimes go back to the beginning of his dream, “I just remember when I started playing guitar when I was fourteen, when I had the windows closed, I just played in the dark … so I just focus on how I got started.”
Blue Spectrum’s continued commitment to their philosophy of “Promise and Purpose” guides the band in every performance.
“We love playing for everyone. We just love to inspire people.”
