PEORIA MAGAZINE January 2023

Jake’s financial success is such that he and Katie live on five acres of ranch land south of Nashville with their five children – Rocky, Rainey, Scarlett, Mer akate and Ruby. Jake tends to about 20 head of cows, some chickens and a couple of horses. Neighbors let the cows roam their land and Jake takes care of their pastures and fences.

But the choral director at Metamora was Ron Kiesewetter, one of those spe cial educators with themagnetic ability to draw in kids, ignite their passions and open their hearts and minds. “He changed the whole trajectory of my life,” Jake said. By then, Jake was also learning to play guitar, in part because he discovered girls tended to dig guitar players. But music was still more of a diversion. It wasn’t until after graduating from EIU that it became an obsession. Jake started hanging with Jim Sledge, a coaching colleague who also played guitar. They did some open-mic nights around Charleston-Mattoon. Before long, they hooked up with some other teacher musicians and formed a band, Irons In The Fire. “Wewereweekendwarriors,” Jake said. “Our buddieswould come out to see us; a bunch of rowdy guys out drinking beer andcheering for us. Every sixweeks, we’d do the circuit – Charleston, Mattoon, Effingham, Arcola, Tuscola andAshmore. All the big towns. We had a good little following, usually 50 to 100 people. “Then I started thinking, ‘I wanna do this.’ I wasn’t married yet. No kids. I was making big money, $28,000 a year. I asked Katie tomarry me and said, ‘Let’s go to Nashville.’ So we did.” If you haven’t noticed yet, Jake has a wry, self-effacing sense of humor. It might be his biggest asset, helping him command the stage and earn a repu tation as a consummate entertainer. “Whatever you can make funny is good,” he said. “Get people laughing and feeling good, and you’ve won half the battle right there.” A few days after arriving in Nash ville, Jake got an audition at Tootsie’s. He played two songs and was hired. Management sent him to the Nashville Palace, off the highway near Opryland, to play two four-hour sets a day. “They put me with an older cowboy, Larry Hamilton, who’d been there for ever. He taught me how to entertain and interact with the crowd, which is huge. “I wouldn’t tell people in Nashville that I play guitar. Everybody in this

town can sing, and most everybody can really play. The difference factor is how you relate to the crowd. I found out I’m actually kind of good at that part.” Jake formed a band and wound up back at Tootsie’s, playing the 10 p.m.-2 a.m. shift for raucous youngsters who preferred their liquor served with rock and-roll. Not Jake’swheelhouse, which is traditional country. He got moved to an earlier time slot, where the audience is a littlemore seasoned and partial to the likes of George Jones andMerleHaggard. Now the Jake Maurer Band holds down the 6-10 p.m. shift five nights a week and packs the house. “You can’t soar with the eagles if you roll with turkeys,” Jake said. So he em ploys Jason Teska on lead guitar, C.J. Wilder on bass, Trey Cordle on drums and Kari Nelson on fiddle and vocals – along with a stable of backup artists to fill in as needed. “Like a sports team, knowing your role is important,” Jake said. “I know I’m the front guy and what I need to do as far as entertainment. But I need a good band with good people, and that’s what we have.”

“I want to be a cowboy when I growup,” said Jake, now 42. “I’ve loved reading about cowboys my whole life.” As a kid, though, Jake wasn’t sure what he wanted to be. He starred in football at Metamora High, helping lead the Redbirds to sec ond place in the Illinois Class 4A playoffs as a junior. He then played linebacker for four years at Eastern Illinois Universi ty, where he was a teammate of quar terback Tony Romo, who later starred for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and is a highly regarded TV football analyst to day. Maurer earned his degree in 2003 before starting his career as a teacher and coach. But he quickly discovered that line of work wasn't for him. By then, Jake’s passion was music. His parents listened to a lot of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers tunes back home. Mother Susan enrolled Jake and his younger siblings – Kendra, Luke and Adam– in piano lessons. Father Ken had worked to make fine arts a graduation requirement at the high school. Jake didn’t much care for the piano lessons. “Our piano teacher lived two blocks from our house,” he said. “I’d walk over with my piano books and see my bud dies playing football, throw the books under a tree and go play with them.”

Kirk Wessler is a former newspaper sports editor who has turned his attention in semi retirement to a new passion as a singer/ songwriter

JANUARY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 55