Chicago Farmer

The son of a small town farming community, Cody Diekhoff logged  plenty of highway and stage time under the name Chicago Farmer before  settling in the city in 2003. Profoundly inspired by fellow midwesterner  John Prine, he’s a working-class folk musician to his core. His small  town roots, tilled with city streets mentality, are turning heads North  and South of I-80.

“I love the energy, music, and creativity of  Chicago, but at the same time, the roots and hard work of my small  town,” he shares. Growing up in Delavan, Illinois, with a population  less than 2,000, Diekhoff’s grandparents were farmers, and their values  have always provided the baseline of his songs.

He writes music  for “the kind of people that come to my shows. Whether in Chicago or  Delavan, everyone has a story, and everyone puts in a long day and works  hard the same way,” he says. “My generation may have been labeled as  slackers, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t work hard - many people I  know put in 50-60 hours a week and 12 hour days. That’s what keeps me  playing. I don’t like anyone to be left out; my music is for everyone in  big and very small towns.”

He listened to punk rock and grunge as  a kid before discovering a friend’s dad playing Hank Williams, and it  was a revelation. Prine and Guthrie quickly followed. The name Chicago  Farmer was originally for a band, but the utilitarian life of driving  alone from bar to bar, city to city - to make a direct connection to his  audience and listener, took a deeper hold.

— Honest Tune“You can smell the dirt in the fields, hear the wind as  it blows across the plains, and see the people that Chicago Farmer  sings about. Each track captures a moment in time, whether for a person  or a particular place. Imagine if a John Steinbeck short story had been  written as a song, and this will give you a fairly good idea as to what  Chicago Farmer accomplishes on his albums.”