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Dan Groebner celebrates release of new book

Signs copies of ‘Good to Be a Musician: Community Bands in New Ulm’

NEW ULM -- Local author and retired physician Daniel Groebner signed copies of his new book, “Good to Be a Musician: Community Bands in New Ulm,” Saturday at the Brown County Historical Society.

The self-published hardcover volume documents the comprehensive history of community bands and musical traditions in New Ulm, capturing the spirit of a community that has long celebrated its German-Bohemian heritage through song and instrumentation. Groebner chose a distinctive landscape format for a practical reason.

“I thought I’d write one book in my lifetime, and I thought I’d make it the nicest book I could. It is beautiful. So it’s hard cover, thick hard cover, sturdy. And why is it like, you know? Why is it landscape and not portrait? Oh, I know. Bands don’t lie on their sides,” Groebner said.

Groebner's lifelong dedication to music stems directly from his upbringing. He grew up in a household that listened together to classical music and Broadway show tunes recorded on vinyl records and played on a high-fidelity phonograph housed in a console cabinet.

Among Groebner and his siblings were dedicated players of the trombone, guitar, trumpet, baritone, and piano, instilling a deep appreciation for ensemble performance from an early age.

After completing a 34-year career practicing internal medicine, Groebner transitioned into historical research, serving as a copy editor of historical biographies, an avocational entertainment historian, and an active local musician.

The book chronicles how New Ulm, in the middle of the twentieth century, proudly referred to itself as the “Polka Capital of the Nation”.

It documents foundational figures such as John Lindmeyer, a Bohemian immigrant who founded the Goosetown Band, New Ulm’s first group to perform authentic Bohemian dance music.

It also highlights Whoopee John Wilfahrt, the son of Bohemian immigrants, who became New Ulm’s first old-time musician to perform music on broadcast radio, alongside other local musicians who made the earliest phonograph recordings of old-time music.

Additional groups featured in the exhaustive study include the Silver Cornet Band organized in 1878, the Great Western Band, which later evolved into the 2nd Regiment Band of the Minnesota National Guard in 1898, and the New Ulm Municipal Band, which was established in 1946 under a committee of music-loving community leaders.

The publication includes valuable contributions from several prominent local figures.

The foreword was written in April 2026 by Sarah Reed Jirak, wife of local musical director Don Jirak, providing an insightful preface on the evolution of American musical traditions and community bands.

Meanwhile, the back cover text and historical summaries were authored by Darla Cordes Gebhard, research librarian at the Brown County Historical Society, whose extensive knowledge of regional archives helped anchor the project’s historical accuracy.

During Saturday morning’s event, coffee and chocolate chip cookies were available thanks to the generosity of the Brown County Historical Society. Groebner said about eight to ten people came to the historical society annex during the morning session to discuss the book, share memories of local musicians, and view historic photographs depicting early streetscapes and community bands.

Among the enthusiastic attendees was Pat Eckstein, who visited specifically to secure an autographed copy of the newly released volume.

The book includes an explicit artificial intelligence disclosure, a modern addition that Groebner felt was important to include.

Groebner, who completed a four-course certificate program in grammar, proofreading, and copy editing at the University of California, San Diego, and has eight years of experience as a freelance copy editor, utilized Microsoft Copilot as an editing assistant during the writing process.

“Copilot just simply makes it go faster,” Groebner said.

Groebner emphasized that he authored every word himself and made all final editorial decisions, ensuring the authentic voice of the historian remained intact.

To guarantee accuracy and catch oversights, he enlisted eight other people to review the manuscript before publication.

“I can’t proofread this myself,” Groebner said, explaining the inherent challenges of self-editing. “When you write something and you proofread it, you know what you mean, and you think you can see a word organization and go right past and think, no, I meant organized. If you know what you mean, that’s the key. You miss your mistakes.”

Groebner explained that managing the commercial side of independent publishing presented unique challenges beyond the creative writing process.

“The business part of it that was tougher,” Groebner said.

As a self-published author, he covered all production costs out of pocket while retaining full distribution control and profits from sales.

Neal Bond from the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame said Groebner dropped off some books that morning, adding that the board is planning a talk soon with Groebner at the hall in the near future to discuss the research and history featured in the volume.

Groebner stated firmly that he has no plans to write another book once this project concludes.

“I have so many other things I want to do,” Groebner said. “I want to mow my lawn.”

Copies of “Good to Be a Musician: Community Bands in New Ulm” are available at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, the Brown County Historical Society, and at Lykke Books.