Article Contributed by Propeller Publicity
Published on December 3, 2025
Chicago Farmer, aka Illinois musician Cody Diekhoff, has released the first single, “Peshtigo,” from his fourth album, Homeaid, coming out March 6, 2026 on LoHi Records (Vince Herman, Fruition, The High Hawks). Diekhoff grew up in the tiny Illinois farm community of Delavan and went on to call The Windy City home but wanted a name that would honor his rural past. “All the things I learned from my grandparents, I take that with me wherever I go,” Diekhoff says. “They’re always in my heart and in my mind.”
“Peshtigo” was inspired by a horrific Wisconsin forest fire that claimed 2000 lives. (If you haven’t heard of it, it’s because it happened the same day as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which dominated the headlines.) The song premiered at Magnet Magazine, who wrote that Diekhoff’s “salt-of-the-earth upbringing gives his rough-hewn roots rock and indie folk a solid populist footing.”
“Many described it as a tornado or a firestorm from hell blowing through the town,“ Diekhoff says. “Some jumped into the river or even wells trying to survive. We tried to capture the screams, the confusion and the despair during those last moments as they were ‘praying like hell for rain.’ But prayers aren’t always answered—or they’re answered too late. And in true Midwest fashion, it finally rained in Peshtigo the very next day.”
“PESHTIGO” AVAILABLE ON STREAMING SERVICES HERE
PRE-SAVE HOMEAID HERE | PRE-ORDER LPS AND CDS HERE
Chicago Farmer follows a lineage of folk singers and storytellers that goes back to the days of Woody Guthrie, right up to touring extensively over the past decade opening up for the late Todd Snider all over the country. Snider was an early champion, saying, “I love Chicago Farmer’s singing and playing and songs, but it’s the intention behind the whole of his work that moves me to consider him the genuine heir to Arlo Guthrie or Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. He knows the shell game that goes on under folk music…which is sacred to me. Chicago Farmer is my brother; if you like me, you’ll love him.”
Like Snider, Chicago Farmer brought in a cast of characters to the studio on Homeaid to help him put his current batch of stories and poetry into motion. Produced by Chad Staehly (who worked with Snider on Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3), Homeaid is the first album to feature Diekhoff’s touring band, The Fieldnotes: Charlie Harris (bass), Cody Jensen (keys/mandolin), Frank Kurtz (drums), and Jaik Willis (guitar).
Lyrically, Diekhoff includes odes to teenage transgressions in the name of irresponsible enlightenment (“Tina Hart’s Mustang”), odes to the splendor and tragedy of growing older (“Sorry You’re Sick” by Ted Hawkins, the album’s only cover), odes to nothing and everything (“Mattress”), even a poignant dedication to his grandmother (“The Twenty Dollar Bill”). At age 97, she still lives in Delavan at the family’s farmhouse, a sacred place of respite Diekhoff returns to from time-to-time to recharge.
“If anything, I want my music to be genuine and authentic,” he says. “My grandfather was a storyteller. He was a veteran, a family farmer, and he just collected stories. Hearing him tell all these stories definitely transferred over into my storytelling that’s in my music.”
Homeaid puts a spotlight on the old soul nature and deep ethos of compassion and camaraderie that resides at the core of his being, blending Americana, indie-folk and roots-rock. These are songs written for a modern world facing uncertain times.
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