  The serendipitous discovery by Preston and colleagues of the
neutron-capture-enhanced RR Lyrae variable star TY Gru (a.k.a. CS 22881-071 in
the "HK" survey of very metal-poor halo stars) has resulted in a growing set of
initiatives on the chemical compositions of RR Lyrae stars and their
application to broader topics in Galactic halo structure. Here we summarize the
main aspects of our work on TY Gru, including a new discussion of our search
for possible orbital motion of this star around a putative unseen companion.
Then we describe a few of the results of a newly-completed intensive
spectroscopic investigation of 10 additional field RR Lyr stars. We finish by
outlining current projects that seek to contrast the atmospheres and chemical
compositions of RRc stars with those of the RRab stars, and that employ a much
larger RRab sample in a chemo-dynamical study of Galactic halo RR Lyr.
