Sharing Midwest hospitality, one musician at a time

In 2018, members of the American rock band Modest Mouse left their hotel rooms at the Cedar Rapids DoubleTree for a day out at Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery in Swisher.

Modest Mouse would play at McGrath Amphitheatre the next day, but a local named Zach Stewart had invited the band and crew to a no-strings-attached experience on their day off.

“We walked the property, we opened up a bunch of barrels, and they got to have like a beautiful experience in Swisher, Iowa,” Stewart said. “(It was a) beautiful sunset, dead of summer, and they loved it.”

The day trip launched Stewart’s hospitality venture, Not So Flyover. The goal of Not So Flyover is to have artists experience “flyover country” beyond hotel rooms and tour buses.

Stewart, 37, does this by crafting experiences, like a day at Cedar Ridge, and by putting care packages, filled with donated goods from Midwestern businesses, in the “green rooms” where musicians wait before performing.

For example, a bottle of Cedar Ridge bourbon greeted American pop star Lizzo in her green room before she performed in 2022 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

  Buy Photo

Stewart hopes making connections with artists will help close gaps in the Midwestern entertainment market.

“When it comes to routing a tour, people are putting bids in in certain cities … but very few bands will come consistently through the Midwest in the same region,” Stewart said. “Everybody will go play Chicago, but the cities and states in between, it’s kind of a tossup on which bands will go where.”

Stewart now lives in Indianapolis. While the city of 882,000 has more music venues than his former home in Cedar Rapids, “still, there’s a major discrepancy on (which) artists actually come through here and perform,” Stewart said. “And do they perform frequently.”

“I want people to understand that the Midwest, there’s so much worth exploring,” Stewart said. “And I think Cedar Ridge taught me that the best-kept secrets come from the Midwest. It’s just a matter of exposing outsiders to these great little things.”

The business

Stewart’s interest in taking care of touring artists led him to run artist relations for the first All IN Music Festival at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Because of that contract work, he registered Not So Flyover as a limited liability corporation, or LLC. Summer music festivals funded the business for a year, and Stewart continues with a donation-based business model.

Stewart understood years ago that he could monetize his service through a pay-to-play model where he could guarantee that a product or brand would be in front of a VIP.

"I just haven’t bitten the bullet in that respect yet.” Stewart said. “I think I’m more worried about an artist thinking that I’ve got ulterior motives beyond giving and just taking care of them."

Stewart credits his philanthropic spirit to his parents -- Amy and Greg Stewart, who run a mammoth toy giveaway out of their Fairfax home at Christmas -- though it’s hard for him to put into words.

“I would say it’s my being, it’s like my existence really,” Stewart said. “I think I’ll forever be a musician, but I don’t play music anymore and that was just the life that I always felt most comfortable in, and it felt like I belong to some degree.”

  Buy Photo

Building bridges, solving problems

Stewart describes himself as a problem-solver with the ability to get things done on a moment’s notice. Over the years, he has built relationships with venues and crew members by fulfilling “rider” requests.

A rider is a list of items artists want in their green room or on their tour bus. The most famous example is Van Halen’s request to have bowls of M&Ms in the band’s dressing rooms with the brown candies removed.

Stewart said it can be a fascinating job.

The goal is to get the item requested, like Kroger-brand French onion dip for American rapper Post Malone. Last year, a crew member called Stewart from Boston after realizing the closest Kroger was states away.

Stewart had two hours to fulfill the request before the overnight shipping deadline.

“And there I was at like 3 o’clock overnighting eight pounds of French onion dip to Boston for $450 so Post Malone could have it at 10 a.m. in Boston on the following day,” Stewart said.

Sometimes, rider requests need substitutions. In those situations, Stewart comes back to his roots at Cedar Ridge. When a 12-year bottle of Pappy Van Winkle couldn’t be found in time, a Cedar Ridge Bottled in Bond bourbon was sent in its place.

“It never feels great to have to issue notice to managers and talent that something couldn’t be sourced,” Stewart said. “But … it’s really cool in those moments to have talent leave the venue or festival with all of their procurements taken with them.”

  Buy Photo

What keeps him going

Though a bottle of bourbon or tray of local meats and cheeses may seem like a small gesture, Not So Flyover has made an impact on artists.

Over the years, Stewart has maintained a relationship with Modest Mouse, the indie band that started it all. While dropping off a care package at an Indianapolis show last year, drummer Jeremiah Green (who died in December at age 45) approached Stewart.

“There’s Jeremiah after I unloaded one set of things, and he was in tears and he’s like, Zach, why do you do this for us?” Stewart said. “And in that single moment I was like, man, this guy has the same reaction every time I do this. These guys have sold millions of records. This is how much this means. … It was hard for me to grasp.

"I’ve seen that so many times of people that you just don’t expect, but they want to be equally as hospitable to you as you hope to have been to them.“

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com