If you weren’t at the Monarch Music Hall on Thursday night, you should be disappointed you missed it… and not just because it was the last show at the Monarch, but because Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes were phenomenal!
I wrote before, almost two years ago, about how I wouldn’t have guessed that a single guy with his guitar would be able to take command of a stage the size of the one at the Monarch until I actually saw Chicago Farmer, Cody Diekhoff, do it the first time he was at that venue.
I love hearing talented musicians rock out in whatever genre they are passionate about. I appreciate talent and good musicianship. But I am a lyrics girl at heart. All it takes is some of Chicago Farmer’s clever, easy-to-relate-to lyrics over a simple melody, and I’m singing along for days… but I know not everyone is like me and it is quite a feat to be able to capture and hold the attention of so many with your words and acoustic guitar.
Now in addition to the man and his guitar that are Chicago Farmer, there are three more high energy guys and a never-ending list of instruments they play between them to entertain the crowd. In fact, Cody even joked on stage that he’d never be able to afford enough band members to play all the instruments, so he hired guys that play several.
Jaik Willis playing with Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes at Monarch Music Hall Dec 26, 2019
I went into the show not knowing who the members were that made up the Fieldnotes, and left feeling like there could never be anyone else. Seeing these guys build on to the show that so many of us already loved was not only fun, but it seemed like a natural fit all around.
Jaik Willis has played in the area for years and is known to be a one-man band. He describes himself online as “freak show folk-like beat-boxing guitarist & multi-phonic scat-singing troubadour one man band.”
If you’ve never seen him going solo, keep an eye out on Peoria Music Live for upcoming shows. You will not walk away without saying at least once, “That was amazing.”
I have seen Cody and Jaik play together several times in the last year or so, most recently at a fundraiser at Kenny’s Westside pub. I always thought it was a great fit, not realizing Jaik was going to be part of Chicago Farmer’s band. I turned to my husband a few seconds in, “Oh, THAT’S why Jaik and Cody have been playing together so much!”
The chemistry with the other members the band is obviously great as well. Several of the photos and videos I took this weekend show Jaik and bassist, Charlie Harris, laughing together and playing off of each other’s energy during the show.
Charlie Harris played stand up and electric bass at Thursday night’s show.
Charlie Harris grew up in Chicago, and then Champaign Urbana. He has said in an interview that he was learning bass, banjo, and guitar when he was asked to be in a friend’s band in 2009, and he hasn’t stopped playing or writing music since.
Thursday night he played both the electric bass and stand up bass at the show.
I’m looking forward to getting to know these guys better and find out how they came together as The Fieldnotes.
I do know that Charlie Harris and Cody Jensen are in at least one other band together already.
Bones Jugs is a Champaign Urbana based band that has played locally at the Trailside Event Center and the Peoria Public Library’s Music in the McKenzie Series in the past. They even made it onto the Peoria Music Live 1 Year Anniversary T-shirt in 2018.
Cody Jensen plays all of the instruments seen here, and probably a few more.
I hate to simply label Cody Jensen (also from Champaign-Urbana) as the percussionist for the Fieldnotes, as he actually plays too many instruments to count. In fact during Thursday’s show alone he played the drums, keys, mandolin, xylophone, and sang harmonies!
The video below is my favorite video of the night for a lot of reasons. The biggest reason though is related to the video I posted right below it.
I have often written about how supporting your local music scene gives you the opportunity for "I knew them back when" stories. In this case, I have an "I loved that song back when" story.
Because, I loved that song back when it wasn't even finished yet.
On the first Folkin' Tuesday of January in 2019, Cody shared a story about his fear of flying and hitting a deer on his way home from a show on Father’s Day before he launched into what we now know as "Deer in the Sky."
I've edited the video here, but he was about a minute and twelve seconds into the song that night when he stopped and admitted "that’s all I have so far" and asked everyone to sing the chorus through with him.
It is pretty exciting to go from seeing 8 people sing along on the chorus of an unfinished song with a guy and his guitar... to seeing hundreds of people singing the same chorus with the same guy and his full band, completely finished, less than a year later.
And, I love this song!
You can find Deer in the Sky on his new album, Flyover Country.
If you weren't able to get the album this weekend, you're going to have to wait a little while longer. According to Cody, "The official album release for “Flyover Country” will be Feb 7th. But yes, we wanted to give our Illinois fans a chance to get it early in return for all of their support."
It will be available on Vinyl, CD, and Digital & Streaming platforms Feb 7th as well as at their next Central Illinois show, scheduled for February 14th at Castle Theatre in Bloomington.
In the mean time, this album's version of Indiana Line is available on Spotify.
While Chicago Farmer hasn't yet officially been announced as an artist at Summer Camp Music Festival 2020, I'm pretty confident we'll see him there. I hope to see the Fieldnotes with him as well. Although, hopefully we won’t have to wait that long.
