Cody Diekhoff during Chicago Farmer’s performance in Chillicothe in October 2023. (Photo by Tim Alexander/for Chronicle Media)

If the Midwest is looking for a folksy, musical voice, they may have found it in Cody Diekhoff, a Bloomington native, who, for the past two decades, has entertained audiences and recorded albums as Chicago Farmer.

“After a few listens to the record it becomes apparent that Chicago Farmer has a refreshingly firm grip on where he comes from,” lauds No Depression Journal, a quarterly roots music publication, referring to an early Chicago Farmer recording. “The songs are covered to the elbows in dirt from the fields and smell of the sweaty factory floors. If the Midwest is looking for a voice, the search is over.”

Diekhoff will bring his band, the Fieldnotes, to Peoria entertainment mecca Kenny’s Westside , 112 SW Jefferson Ave., for two “Folksgiving” shows, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30. With thousands of “friends” scattered throughout central Illinois, expect the shows to sell out. For Diekhoff, the annual Folksgiving shows at Kenny’s have become a time of joy and reflection on where his musical journey — which began in his teen years — has taken him and his fans.

“I never really felt I was musically inclined; I was into writing,” said Diekhoff, who was born in Bloomington, but raised in Delavan, where he attended elementary and high school. “I think that living in that small town I needed an outlet, and I had all these thoughts in my head that needed to go somewhere. In my school study hall, I would go on these adventures in my head, and I just started writing them down.”

Diekhoff’s youthful thoughts eventually turned into stories, and later, poems. One summer while detasseling corn — a quintessential Midwest rite of passage — young Diekhoff decided to spend his next bimonthly check on a flat-top guitar. From then on, it became poetry in motion.

“The music really didn’t come to me until high school — I got started kind of late,” he said. “I was about 16, I think, and there was a gentleman in town named Kenny Forbes who had an old National flat top guitar and sang old Hank Williams songs. He was my friend’s dad. As soon as I heard him singing Hank Williams, that was the point in my life when I kind of knew what I wanted to do.”

Diekhoff’s Chicago Farmer sound, which has been captured on around eight independent recordings (some now out of print) since 2005, has been compared with that of Arlo Guthrie, John Prine and Bob Dylan, among other notable folk music troubadours. His personal influences, however, span a much wider musical plateau.

“I had one friend who played Creedence Clearwater records, and I fell in love with that sound; it was a definite awakening. In the 1990s Nirvana was a really big deal, and they had their Unplugged album that I loved. My friends and I were banging our heads to loud music like that, but at the same time I realized I also loved country and folk music,” Diekhoff said.

According to Chicago Innerview Magazine, “To call him a folk singer or categorize Chicago Farmer as a singer/songwriter wouldn’t be wrong. It might, however, not accentuate his commanding poetic voice and passion behind his storytelling.”

A fellow Midwest entertainer, Pokey LaFarge, said “Chicago Farmer represents the best qualities of Midwestern U.S.A. His lyrics, his stories and his heart are true. He’ll give you that feeling of ‘going home.’”

A glimpse into Chicago Farmer’s musical catalog reveals a plethora of foot-stomping singalongs with instantly identifiable titles such as “Assembly Line Blues,” “Workin’ On It,” “Flyover Country,” and “Indiana Line” that serve to acknowledge Diekhoff’s regional roots. Others, such as “Everybody in This Town,” “I’m Still Here” and “When He Gets That Way” offer introspective examinations of the human condition.

Diekhoff disclosed that his early “muse” for the blue collar “working man” music he creates was actually a multi-employed woman he knew as a Delavan youth.

“There was this lady that was a custodian working at the school when we got there, and then a short time later she would be working in the cafeteria. After school on my way home from baseball practice, I would get a candy bar at the grocery store and she’d be working there, and then on Sunday we would go to the Legion for biscuits and gravy, and she’d be working there.

“She worked like five jobs, and she was the first person I really wrote about, my first inspiration and character. I just write about what is around me — the good and the bad, the struggles and the victories,” said Diekhoff, who developed a lot of his early songs in his mind while toiling as a newspaper pressman, pizza delivery man, and door-to-door phone book distributor.

Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes will release a new album in early to mid-2025. With the help of a manager and booking agent, the band will be pushing to play their music for as many listeners as possible, including some jaunts outside the Midwest. With an ever-expanding audience and fan base, it seems Chicago Farmer could be on the cusp of something bigger than the study hall dreams of a smalltown kid could foresee.

“It’s time for me to put out a good, solid album we can be proud of, and this one is getting really close,” Diekhoff said. “We’re working on it. All we can do is keep plugging away.”

Meanwhile, Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes are preparing for their return to Kenny’s for their celebratory Folksgiving shows. Diekhoff said he always looks forward to playing his music in Peoria, which he considered the “big city” while growing up in Delavan.

“I really got my chops in Peoria. I was a busboy at Vonachen’s Old Place, the train restaurant, and after my shift I’d go to the Red Barn (tavern) where they had an open stage. That is the first place I played my songs and told my stories. It’s where I honed my craft and where I got my start in this area,” he said. “We’re starting a tradition of giving thanks for our live music scene and the fact that we’re still doing this after all these years. Slowly but surely this thing keeps growing, so on Thanksgiving weekend we’re going to celebrate it right there at Kenny’s in Peoria, where I started doing my thing.”

To check ticket availability for the Nov. 29-30 Chicago Farmer Folksgiving shows, visit www.kennyswestside.com.