Article Contributed by Janine Catchpole
Published on 2026-03-18
Chicago Farmer & The Fieldnotes | Leo & Leona’s Tavern | Bangor, WI | photos by Jessica Miller
Friday the 13th—and we are going to see Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes at Leo & Leona’s Tavern and Dance Hall. Coordinating a meet up with friends driving in that night from La Crosse and Springfield, Illinois, could anything go wrong? It was a near miss. While the address says Bangor, Wisconsin, the tavern sits at a crossroads—Newberg Corners—with not many other buildings around, certainly not a gas station. I was dropped off to meet friends while the hubbie carefully drove the 17 miles to the nearest station with the car saying it had an 18-mile range worth of gas in the tank. Unfortunately, he missed Edward David Anderson (EDA) doing the opening set.
The dance hall was packed with a mostly gray-headed, music-loving crowd, close to being sold out for the show. While the hall exists behind a nondescript door off the tavern, I don’t know if I could have found it if I hadn’t seen someone step out and heard the music. Maybe it’s a way of separating locals from the Illinois riffraff looking for a good time. Back in the day this included Dick Butkus, as the Bears trained in Wisconsin at that time. He was told off in no uncertain terms that the bar would continue to sell “Da Bears Suck” t-shirts after Butkus complained.
When ownership changed, locals stepped in to keep the place going. The dance hall was renovated by local Amish craftsmen and is decorated with lots of classic bar memorabilia. Warm and inviting, the high ceiling provides space for the music. It’s a good, intimate room. The tavern is well respected by local and touring musicians as it has an attentive, supportive audience.
EDA commands a room with his easygoing charm and songs that reflect his life experiences, mostly. He performed a story song he’s reworking, imagining a junkie with a gun out to get the cash he needs and living on the run, “It’s Too Late,” a tune I hadn’t heard before. A new piece, working title, “Driftless of My Mind,” is reflective of living in the Driftless area of Wisconsin, akin to songs on Still the River. The former song got the biggest response from the audience, according to EDA. I suspect a certain worn-down rowdiness hangs in the air from years of hot times at the crossroads.
The crowd was eager to welcome Chicago Farmer and The Fieldnotes to the stage. Praising and naming his longtime friend EDA as one of his songwriting heroes, he thanked him for opening the show. A listening room like this is where Chicago Farmer shines. He is a fine entertainer and storyteller, connecting to the crowd through the common experiences of Midwest life. The band was missing drummer Frank Kurtz, so Cody Jensen cooked up a Wisconsin hot dish of keyboards, drums, and mandolin with a bit of cowbell thrown in for spice—a talented musical chef reprising a longtime role for The Fieldnotes.
The band worked through a lot of the songs on their new album, Homeaid, in style, perhaps inspired by the album’s producer and Chicago Farmer’s manager, Chad Staehly, being in house. Chicago Farmer told me, “He’s always said that the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. I’m so grateful he has gifted me endless hours in the studio and out growing Chicago Farmer.”
Jaik Willis showed such emotional range, coaxing and caressing delicate fills and grace notes from his guitar in songs like “Great River Road” and “Homeaid,” with a tasty bass solo from Charlie Harris. Then Willis turned on the fire, guitar crying and wailing for “Peshtigo,” and as they say, the crowd went wild. Phones whipped out to capture the moment. This song is their song, their history—and they ate it up, loving Chicago Farmer for writing it.
Reflecting the same vibe, the crowd had a hard time keeping it a listening room during “Tina Hart’s Mustang” and “The Twenty Dollar Bill”—here’s to glory days. I brought up Butkus and the Bears because as the time for “Mattress” arrived, he divided the hall into three groups: left side, right side, and Bears fans for the chorus singalong. Good humor prevailed; if Chicago Farmer can write a tune like “Peshtigo,” they can put up with a few Bears fans in the crowd.
The atmosphere calmed a bit for a new-to-me song Chicago Farmer wrote called “Midwest Chest,” a sweet love song. Then he moved onto a cover of the John Hartford song, a favorite of mine, “I’m Still Here.” At the much-beloved and now gone John Hartford Festival, I learned that early in Hartford’s career an audience member requested he sing something she knew so she could tell if he was any good.
He obliged. An inspired cover brings a great song forward to new ears. The night included two other covers—“Sorry You’re Sick” by Ted Hawkins and a song by another hero of Chicago Farmer, Todd Snider’s “Horseshoe Lake”—both inspired. EDA mentioned he was honored to have Chicago Farmer record his song, “Good to Be.”
Chicago Farmer and The Fieldnotes closed the night with a rousing version of “The Village,” sending us home high on the “way we feel” at Leo and Leona’s on a Friday the 13th in March.
The Homeaid tour continues, so put on your traveling shoes and get out to hear what will be a string of terrific shows. https://chicagofarmer.com/tour.
And looking ahead, keep alert for a new Backyard Tire Fire album EDA said is in the works. Steve Berlin of Los Lobos is producing. It should be as hot as a tire on fire. He’s hoping for a release late 2026 or early 2027.
And special thanks to Jessica Miller for her fine photographs.
