On July 5, 2005, “Asthmatic Kitty” label released “Illinois” (Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the Illinoise), the fifth Sufjan Stevens studio album. It was recorded 2004 – 2005, at “The Buddy Project” in New York City, and various locations in New York City, and was produced by Sufjan Stevens.

Personnel:

• Sufjan Stevens – vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, Wurlitzer, bass guitar,  oboe, alto saxophone,  flute,  banjo,  glockenspiel, accordion, vibraphone, alto, sopranino, soprano, and tenor recorders, Casiotone MT-70, sleigh bells,  shaker,  tambourine, triangle, electronic organ,  drums, arrangements,  engineer, recording
• James McAlister – drums, drum engineering
• Craig Montoro – trumpet, backing vocals
• Julianne Carney – violin
• Rob Moose – violin
• Marla Hansen – viola
• Maria Bella Jeffers – cello
• The Illinoisemaker Choir – clapping, backing vocals
• Daniel and Elin Smith – clapping, backing vocals
• Katrina Kerns – backing vocals
• Shara Worden– backing vocals
• Matt Morgan – backing vocals
• Alan Douches – mastering
• Jon Galloway – remix
• Tom Eaton
• Jennifer Hoover
• Katrina Kerns
• Beccy Lock
• Tara McDonnel
• Divya Srinivasan – artwork

Track listing:

All tracks by Sufjan Stevens.

1. 1. Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois
   2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You’re Going to Have to Leave Now, or, ‘I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!
   3. Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” (Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream)
   4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
   5. Jacksonville
   6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons
   7. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!
   8. One Last ‘Whoo-Hoo!’ for the Pullman!!
   9. Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!
   10. Casimir Pulaski Day
   11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Tube Socks, a Paper Airplane, and Twenty-Two Able-Bodied Men
   12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
   13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
   14. A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
   15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
   16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
   17. Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bloomington–Normal
   18. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth
   19. The Seer’s Tower
   20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders Part I: The Great Frontier – Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now
   21. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
   22. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run