'Hometown Headliners' Q&A: Longtime local musician Lyle Grobe talks greatest gigs, more

Lyle Grobe, 80, of Polo, is a longtime local musician with a legacy of playing music most people can only dream about.

The frontman of Lyle Grobe and the Rhythm Ramblers grew up in Woosung and Grand Detour, and began playing music in the mid-1950s.

He’s been a Petunia Festival staple for decades, playing the “Dixon Petunia Festival Song” every year, and has entertained countless people at local clubs throughout the Sauk Valley.

When and why did you start playing music?

Well, my mother was quite a musician and probably when I was 12, she and I used to go around and do little things. And then in the mid-’50s, is when I got going ... getting serious about it.

What are some of your favorite venues to play in the area?

I like Moose clubs now and clubs like that, because of the clientele, more my age. We play a lot of fairs and things in the summertime.

Besides being a musician, what other things have you done for employment?

Started out hauling coal. Everybody burned coal in the middle ‘50s. Did a little timber work. Worked at WIXN radio for quite a while. Did a lot of broadcasting. Our whole band would play on WIXN FM.

In them days, in fact, most Friday and Saturday nights we would play. A lot of people enjoyed it because some friends in the steel mill couldn’t get the AM station because of the interference and they would listen to us on Friday and Saturday nights.

And I suppose that’s how we got so well known. People still remember them days. And just anything to scratch out a living.

How supportive has your family been about your music?

Oh, I think pretty good. My wife, Barb, always goes along and she used to be the roadie. Now, I don’t expect her to carry a lot of stuff. I got a lot of kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, and they show up every now and then.

What are your thoughts on the state of country music today and what’s popular on the radio now?

We started out with Merle Haggard, Wayland Jennings, Johnny Cash and all that kind of thing. And in that time, we were doing anything that was new. And now, there’s very few new songs today that interest me.

We do some Garth Brooks and my sister-in-law Lisa Grobe does Pontoon and Girl Crush and the newer stuff.

As far as the brand new stuff, we just don’t get into it. It’s just not country as we knew it.

Who are artists that inspired you to play music?

That would be those same folks. We had a club back in the ‘70s and we would bring in artists – Ricky Nelson, Chubby Checker, a lot of artists (who would play in Chicago or some other place) would stop in in them days for a few hundred dollars.

We backed up a lot of bands that would come in in the early ‘60s. And in them days, a lot of people drove around in a car. They didn’t have the big ole bus. That’s where we would have had our chance to try for the big time. Some of them would ask us to travel with them. And at that time, we were starting families, had jobs. You know, a job was a big thing. You didn’t want to leave a job.

I’m glad it turned out that way.

There was a club called Route 30 or something down south of Rock Falls on Route 30. They would bring in artists and we were playing there at that time – probably every weekend – and they would bring artists in and we would back them up. That’s where I met Little Jimmy Dickens for the first time. I think Tom Paul and the Glaser Brothers were there and Charlie Walker. They were big names at that time.

What are some of your favorite songs to play and who are some of your favorite artists to cover?

A lot of the early, classic country. Haggard, George Jones, Wayland Jennings, Johnny Cash. We play all kinds of music. We don’t just play country music, but when it comes to country, we’re pretty much the early, classic country.

What are some of shows, throughout the years, that stick out in your mind as the best?

I guess some of the small fairs. I think what I enjoy most is the Petunia Festival. When that started, they had what they called a beer tent in Page Park for years. It just seemed like every year, we were there.

Boy, there are a lot of places I guess I could mention. Some clubs, we played week after week for 3, 4, 5 years. Every weekend, Friday and Saturday nights. The VFW in Dixon was one of them. We broadcast out of there from 1965 to 1975. That’s what we do.

When we were playing a club, we would hook up a phone line and broadcast from that club. And that kind of gave us an in. Those clubs would say, boy, it’s going to be on the radio.

What I had to do was sell enough advertising to pay for the phone line. At 9, 10, 11 o’clock at night on FM, it didn’t take a lot of money to run it. So, I just would always come up with enough sponsors to pay our way.

Did you ever imagine that you would play music for as long as you have? How long do you plan to continue to play regularly?

Certainly not. I started in ‘56 or ‘57 and probably never thought I’d live this long, let alone play music this long. But we sure enjoy it. Every week, a bunch of us get together in my garage and play music. I guess you could call it practice, but it’s just playing music. Come up with something new every now and then.

It’s fun. Made a living out of it for a while, between that and the radio station, selling advertising, I was able to scratch out a living, but now it’s more fun than anything.

What is something a lot of people – even those who have listened to your music for years – might not know about you?

I’m just a regular guy. I’ve cut my own hair for 60 years.

In your free time, away from work, what’s your favorite thing to do?

Well, we traveled a little bit. I did so much traveling, I’m kind of a homebody. I like to go fishing now and then. I don’t do a lot of hunting anymore. A lot of television. A lot of listening to music. I like to putter around and do stuff around the house and help other people.

What do you watch/read/listen to?

The TV show that I really enjoyed was called “Sun Records.” It was on for a couple of seasons. It took me back to when we first started. But nowadays, ... whatever my wife watches, of course I’ll sit there and watch them. Otherwise, I’ve videotaped tons of shows on the TV, mostly country music shows, and I’ll watch them all the time.

I don’t read a lot, probably should. I like to watch History Channel a lot.

How would you describe the community you live in to a stranger?

I live in Polo. It’s a really nice laid-back town. School system is really good. Town people are oriented toward to school sports.

You are granted free travel for a month. Where do you go?

Most of my family, grandkids, great-grandkids, all live right around here. But I do have relatives here and there, where I’d probably jump in the car and spend a month visiting with those that I haven’t seen for a long time. As far as some destination to go spend a month, I’m pretty happy right here.

If you were president for a day, and could sign an executive order accomplishing anything you wanted, what would you do?

Boy, I don’t know. I don’t want to get into politics. I guess not have so many laws. They just keep making new law after new law that don’t make a lot of sense. I guess I would try to enter common sense back into the world.