Michigan's hometown hero, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, is pouring his clever charm and dynamite compositions into an ambitious new project. He is working on what promises to be fifty albums: one for each state in America. His first two (Michigan and Illinois) were received with solid, if not surprising, critical praise. With a style echoing Garrison Keller and Walt Whitman, it's no wonder that Sufjan's comforting and friendly storytelling is so appealing:

Our step mom we did everything to hate her
She took us down to the edge of Decatur
We saw the lion and the kangeroo take her
Down to the river where they caught a wild alligator

Doesn't that just make you want to know the full story? (See the full lyrics of Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!... or just buy the album.) What state will come under the magnifying glass next? His label Asthmatic Kitty Records provides some clues: "Sufjan began to intimate at other songs for other states, the American Dream, the national anthem, the continental rigmarole, the Delaware shuffle, Florida flamenco, California swing, all dramatized in song, the great epic symphony, in 50 movements, in 50 years! Lord help us!"