Michigan

The first state album: songs about Flint, Detroit, Holland and the Upper Peninsula, recorded and played almost entirely by one man.
Sufjan Stevens, 2003

Released: 1 July 2003
Label: Sounds Familyre / Asthmatic Kitty / Secretly Canadian
Producer: Sufjan Stevens

Michigan came out on 1 July 2003 on Sounds Familyre, Asthmatic Kitty and Secretly Canadian in the US and on Rough Trade in Europe. Its songs refer to places, events and people tied to the state. Stevens recorded and produced it entirely himself with two Shure SM57 microphones and an AKG C1000, running through a Roland VS880EX at a sampling rate of 32 kHz, and produced it in Pro Tools. The instruments were captured in a house in Petoskey, Michigan, at Buxton School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, at the N. J. Rec. Room in Clarksboro, New Jersey, and around Brooklyn, including his apartment, friends' apartments and St. Paul's Church.

The cover carries hand-painted artwork by Laura Normandin, and the two-disc vinyl has messages cut into the run-off grooves, among them the old tourism slogan "Say YES to Michigan!" and "Go! Tigers!". Pitchfork's Brandon Stosuy called the album a beautiful, sprawling homage to the state. It had sold 27,000 copies in the United States by 2005, and a 20th-anniversary re-release followed on 13 June 2023. The song Redford was the inspiration for the name of the protagonist of The Roots' 2011 album Undun.

Track listing

Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)
All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!
For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
Say Yes! to M!ch!gan!
The Upper Peninsula
Tahquamenon Falls
Holland
Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
Romulus
Alanson, Crooked River
Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie
They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For the Homeless in Muskegon)
Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickerel Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)
Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
Vito's Ordination Song

Personnel

Sufjan Stevens vocals, oboe, English horn, piano, banjo, guitars, bass, vibraphone, glockenspiel, recorders, drums, arrangement, mixing, production
Tom Eaton trumpet
Stephen Halker trumpet
John Ringhofer trombone, vocals
Elin Smith vocals
Megan Smith vocals
Alan Douches mastering

More from Sufjan Stevens

Seven Swans (2004), Illinois (2005), The Age of Adz (2010), Carrie & Lowell (2015), The Ascension (2020), Javelin (2023)

Sources

Michigan (album), Wikipedia