The song started with a very small dog.
It was the spring of 2025, and Mick Dooley was sitting in his expensive Chicago apartment in Streeterville, a concrete-heavy neighborhood where trees grow only where sidewalks allow.
Dooley was nursing a breakup, journaling, and looking out the window when the little pooch trotted by.
That Chicago moment sparked a longing of sorts for Galesburg, a couple hundred miles southwest of the city.
“I like little dogs, too, for the record, but this was really tiny,” Dooley said. “And I thought, oh, if you had a big dog, it would be better to have it somewhere like Galesburg. They have more space.”
Out came the song “Take the Train to Galesburg, Son!” In it, Dooley weighs the pace and energy of city life with the space and simplicity of a smaller town, singing of green flatlands, corner coffee shops, five-dollar beers — and of needing some room to run.
“I was just frustrated with the big city,” Dooley said. “And I thought, what do you really need in the world? You need maybe, like, one good friend, a cheap beer, and some decent rent would be nice.”
Dooley comes from a musical Chicago family. The Dooley band, formed by his father and uncles, has performed folk and Irish music in the Chicago area for more than 50 years. Dooley grew up to join the group as well.
He said he wrote “Take the Train to Galesburg, Son!” for fun and to test out the top of his vocal range. Now, he says, it’s gone “semi-viral” and is “kind of a jammer” at local shows.
“It gets people going. Then they start thinking about the lyrics and the words. I’ve definitely had people come up there, like, oh that’s so cool. This song is about Galesburg,” Dooley said.
“And that it’s kind of a positive song. I feel like sometimes people think it’s an old Rust Belt town. It peaked years ago. It’s all downhill or something like that. I guess I don’t really see it that way. That’s why I’ve been living here.”
A year ago, Dooley left Chicago and bought a house in Galesburg.
It’s actually the third time Dooley has lived in Galesburg. He went to Knox College, graduating in 2009. He also bought a house and lived in Galesburg for part of 2020, while grieving the death of a cousin and starting to focus on writing his own songs. He said he woke up from a nap one day and was compelled to check Galesburg real estate listings, but the 2020 move didn’t stick because of the pandemic.
“I was so lonely that year, which I think was a lonely year for a lot of people,” Dooley said. “I lasted like four months. It was just hard. There were no open mics, there was nothing like that going on.”
Dooley’s latest move to Galesburg has been different, full of open mics at The Beanhive, Budde’s, and Seminary Street Pub and other gigs, where he performs his original music and indie/folk covers. He said he’s healed from heartaches while in Galesburg and is just having a good time.
“There’s a lot of things I love about Galesburg. It’s like five minutes to drive anywhere. Not like the city,” he said. “I would drive to go work out and I’d be all sweating and a little bit angry by the time I arrived because of parking and other stuff. And there’s a lot of great open mics here, too. A lot of times they’re like, do you want to play for half an hour? Go for it.”
Dooley works in inside sales and writes romance novels part-time. He describes the novels as “Sex in the City” for men. He has a dog and an attic studio where he’s working on an album, and he joined the Galesburg Community Chorus.
He is often trying to convince his Chicago friends and family to take the train to Galesburg. He said it may not be the right move for everyone, but for those who can work remotely, the economics are hard to argue with.
As Dooley sings in “Take the Train to Galesburg, Son!”— I love the big city energy. But between the rent and the lack of trees, I’ve been thinking about alternatives where my dollar can go farther and I can really live.
Dooley has two gigs coming up in Galesburg.
- 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 — Orange Cup Side Hustle, 2701 E. Main St.
- 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 — Seminary Street Pub, 105 S. Seminary St.
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