 Stevens launched his 50 @-@ state project in 2003 with the album Michigan and chose to focus on Illinois with this recording because " it wasn 't a great leap " , and he liked the state because he considered it the " center of gravity " for the American Midwest . Before creating the album , Stevens read literature by Illinois authors Saul <unk> and Carl <unk> , and studied immigration records and history books for the state — he made the deliberate decision to avoid current events and focused on historical themes . He also took trips through several locations in Illinois and asked friends and members of Internet chat rooms for anecdotes about their experiences in the state . Although he began work in 2004 on Oregon @-@ themed songs and briefly considered releasing a Rhode Island 7 " , Stevens has since not released another album focused on a state , saying in a November 2009 interview with Paste that " the whole premise was such a joke , " and telling Andrew Purcell of The Guardian in October 2009 " I have no qualms about admitting [ the fifty states project ] was a promotional gimmick . " An Arkansas @-@ related song was released through NPR as " The Lord God Bird " and material intended for New Jersey and New York became The <unk> . 
