The 2005 Sufjan Stevens folk concept album about the state of Illinois is Illinois.
Often styled on its cover as Come on Feel the Illinoise!, Illinois is Stevens’s fifth studio album and a sprawling musical portrait of the state’s history, geography, people, and legends. Its songs reference figures and subjects including Abraham Lincoln, Superman, serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr., the Chicago World’s Fair, and the city of Chicago.
The album blends indie folk with chamber folk, orchestral pop, marching-band textures, and experimental arrangements. Stevens recorded it in New York between late 2004 and early 2005, using a wide range of instruments and assembling songs from historical research, literature, personal stories, and local anecdotes.
Illinois followed Michigan, Stevens’s 2003 album about another state. The two releases were initially presented as part of an ambitious plan to make an album for each of America’s fifty states, though Stevens later acknowledged that the project was partly a joke or promotional idea. Illinois became his biggest critical and commercial success at the time and was widely regarded as one of 2005’s best albums.