Singer-songwriter Cody Diekhoff—also known as Chicago Farmer—has made his sets at Summer Camp Music Festival don’t-miss affairs. Chicago Farmer finds strength in Diekhoff’s unique mix of wisdom, wry observations, and effortless ability to relate and connect with his listeners. Chicago Farmer writes songs in the vein of the greats in his field, Arlo Guthrie and John Prine, though his work comes from a singular, small town point of view that is refreshingly honest and surprisingly universal.
While many folks think of huge stages, wild light shows, and walls of sound when drawing a mental image of Summer Camp, there is a long-standing home for acoustic music, especially the much-anticipated sets by Diekhoff outside the Red Barn. Though his set on the Campfire Stage took place on Scamp’s last day in blistering 95-degree weather with literally no shade to be found, the crowd packed in to hear this folk troubadour tell his tales and pick his tunes. As always, Chicago Farmer played a fun mix of his classics and several new tunes.
We’ve selected four of our favorites to embed below, but there are more from the show online including “All In One Place”, “Indiana Line“, and “Mother Nature’s Daughter“, which you can check out onRex-A-Vision’s YouTube channel. You can check out highlights from Chicago Farmer’s Summer camp set below, including his cover of Tom Petty‘s “Freefallin” and the uplifting ballad of perseverance, “Dirtiest Uniforms.”
“Free Fallin'”
“Dirtiest Uniforms”
“$13 Beers”
“Backseat”