Sufjan Stevens

We Chicagoans should feel lucky. Illinois is one of two states checked off the list in Sufjan Stevens's not-really-ever-gonna-happen 50 states album project. Though, really, his new one, Carrie & Lowell, named for his parents, is the de facto Oregon record, with references to Portland, the Dalles, Tillamook, Spencer's Butte and the state bird, the meadowlark. After the progressive Age of Adz, the indie heartthrob is returning to his folkier roots. Though of course everyone is going to want to hear "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "Chicago."