Search - Stace England :: Greetings from Cairo Illinois

The David Bowie of Southern Illnois' magnum opus

Shaun Mason | Los Angeles, CA | 03/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With 75 musicians and songs spanning over 100 years in style and history, Stace England, the David Bowie of Southern Illinois, casts a loving, yet starkly honest light on a small but fascinating town in Southern Illinois. England uses songs from the past combined with his own hearfelt compositions to tell the story of Cairo, what should have been a great metropolis, but instead, as a victim of its own history, lays fallow and nearly empty at the Southern tip of the state. From a barbershop chorus (how many times have you heard a barbershop chorus on a record?) through blues, Americana, rootsy rock, even Mayfieldesque soul, England guides us through the major events in Cairo history, from Grant's use of the town as his temporary headquarters during the Civil war, to Cairo's designation by freed slaves as the place where the north began, to early 20th Century lynchings (in this case the story of a black man and a white man lynched on the same day told by the deeply sardonic, yet poignant "Equal Opportunity Lynch Mob"), to a visit during the civil rights era by Jesse Jackson. The story of the town alone is astonishing and fascinating, and set against England's amazingly eclectic songwriting and musical collaboration, it makes one of the best concept albums of the past 20 years. This is record of the type they don't make much any more, when an artist is so moved by a place and its history that he creates a musical tour of history to tell the tale. Is it genius? England claims he's just really good at getting people together to play different kinds of music, but Greetings from Cairo demonstrates England's genius in that ability."

Illinois and Greetings From Cairo, Illinois

Boyd Johnson | Chicago, IL USA | 10/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One really has to wonder what in the heck is going on in Illinois this year to inspire two extremely interesting CDs, "Come On Feel The Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens and "Greetings From Cairo, Illinois" from Stace England. Steven's brilliant work has gotten all the press, but England's "Greetings" is almost as good in completely different ways. "Greetings From Cairo" tells the remarkable story of Cairo, Illinois at the meeting of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, a town England calls "the most fascinating in America." He makes strong case with this work, which ranges from acapella folk, acoustic and electric blues, funk, rock and country. A few of these songs, like Grant Slept Here and Prosperity Train flat out rock in a way Stevens never approaches, and fans of more traditional arrangements may even prefer this disk. Jason and the Scorchers aficionados will want this CD simply on the basis of Jason Ringenberg's guest appearance on a smoldering Prosperity Train, which sounds exactly like the Scorchers of old. Listening to both Stevens and England will give everyone a greater appreciation of the Prairie State, which, it turns out, is full of remarkable stories."