At first, it sounds like a familiar origin story. A talented band, itching for a big break, serenades a small crowd gathered around a subway.

Oklahoma State University student Zander Silva can technically say that’s how he launched his career as a touring musician, but with a twist.

Silva was performing in a former Subway restaurant.

Inside a Walmart in Newcastle, Oklahoma, the closed sandwich shop’s empty skeleton served as the makeshift stage for his first gig with Cam Allen Music. It’s unusual to shred on guitar in a place where someone once piled shredded lettuce onto footlong sandwiches, but the humble show led to big opportunities.

Only a few years later, in November 2024, Silva and the band graced the stage in Tulsa’s BOK Center, which has hosted rock icons like AC/DC and Metallica.

“That was an unreal experience,” Silva said.

Silva, a gifted guitarist from Mustang, Oklahoma, is a double major in management information systems and entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business. His whirlwind musical adventures include touring with popular country artists, recording in Nashville studios, meeting Alicia Keys’ guitarist and playing a show with Wyatt Flores, the Stillwater singer-songwriter who recently performed his own NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

Many kids say they want to be rock stars when they grow up.

Silva has actually done it.

Now, he’s going after his OSU diploma.

“I’ve lived my dream, and now I’m getting an education,” Silva said.

In fall 2019, Silva arrived at OSU as a freshman. Then, an irresistible opportunity took him on an unexpected detour.

Cam Allen, a friend who auditioned for “American Idol,” invited Silva to join his band. At first, it was a hobby as Silva traveled home to Mustang for practices and back to Stillwater for class. But after a few early shows, he realized the group was going places far beyond garage jam sessions.

Allen, whose gravelly voice contains flecks of Oklahoma Red Dirt and Tennessee country and blues, has reached more than 25,000 monthly Spotify listeners with more than 5 million career streams.

Silva played a part in cultivating that fan base as a guitarist and songwriter — all while juggling the demands of college life.

Then, after mulling it over with his parents, he left OSU in 2022 and toured with the band, planning to return after his once-in-a-lifetime journey.

“They were very supportive of me, and they knew that this was my dream,” Silva said. “They said, ‘It’s OK if you take a couple years off; as long as you go back and finish your degree, then you’ll be good.’”

Silva’s parents, both guitarists, fed his dream.

In his household, learning a famous riff was a childhood milestone, like reciting the alphabet. His mother gave him a guitar when he turned 4, and the pint-sized axe prepared him to form a trio with his brothers, who accompanied him on bass and drums. Silva also credits his grandfather, who had a band and played in church, as an inspiration.

Silva’s music flows between genres. His parents instilled in him a love of 1970s and ’80s rock. Country vibes pay homage to his grandpa. And on his vivid pink paisley electric guitar, Silva can cruise through the intro of Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter” so smoothly a listener might expect Eddie Vedder himself to appear and break into his garbled growl.

While performing with Allen, Silva gained another influence.

“The fans actually here in Stillwater; they brought us to where we are now, for sure,” Silva said.

In the cradle of Red Dirt music, popular groups such as Cross Canadian Ragweed and Turnpike Troubadours have sprung up out of Stillwater bars and across state lines before returning home to play The Boys From Oklahoma concert this April in Boone Pickens Stadium.

Naturally, Cam Allen Music also thrived in this college town, rocking the Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Arena and performing at Coney Island on Washington Street.

With Oklahoma roots, the band spread its wings, booking shows in Texas and California.

Some members rotated in and out, all connected by friendships or mutual friends. Carlos Encarnacion played drums and Desmund Richey played bass before drummer BJ Lee and bassist Eric Layton swapped in, joining the lineup of Allen, Silva and guitarist Will Murray. Silva said he knew Lee from an elementary school talent show.

“When you’re on stage, of course, you’re trying not to mess up, but you’re just looking at your bandmates and jamming out,” Silva said. “It’s like we were playing in the garage again. It’s nothing but fun to us.”

While basking in the joy, Silva didn’t lose sight of the long term.

He set out to finish what he started.

After about a year on the road, Silva eased back into OSU with online classes while continuing to perform. These days, he's back in Stillwater, stepping away from the band to focus on school with aspirations of working as a business analyst or a similar role in the tech industry. Silva is set to graduate in May 2026.

He remembers something Dr. Andy Urich, an associate professor in OSU’s Department of Management, said in his Practical Business and Interpersonal Skills class.

Silva paraphrased the advice: “It’s cool if you can live your dream and then also be a professional and have a degree.”

Instead of taking the road less traveled, Silva is taking both roads. When he dresses in business attire and shakes hands with potential employers at career fairs, he offers a perspective few of his peers have.

Meeting a business executive is a little less intimidating if you’ve seen the human side of famous musicians away from throngs of screaming fans, he pointed out.

No matter where his career goes, music is a fixture in Silva’s life. He continues to play guitar at church, and he even returned for a show with Allen in early March.

“Just playing the guitar, it’s my getaway,” Silva said. “When I don’t have anything to do, I just pick up a guitar, and I can play for hours. And music is super-universal. You can talk to anyone about music. Everyone has some sort of experience with music or some story.”

From a shuttered Subway to an amped-up arena, Silva has enough tales to fill a book.