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Stace England |
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“Every now and then a CD will find its way onto your stereo and proceed to stomp both your ass and
ears into the ground. Stace England's Greetings From Cairo, Illinois is one of those discs, an ambitious work of
staggering brilliance and stunning confidence.”
- ALT.CULTURE.GUIDE “Greetings From Cairo Illinois tells a very interesting story, Stace England has made a fascinating record, an admirable achievement.” - AMERICANA UK "Greetings from Cairo, Illinois" is a remarkable disc that grows in splendor with every listen, at a rate
that has yet to slow down. Enormously recommended and without question one of the best CDs in this genre this year.”
- ROOTSTIME, BELGIUM "A disc magisterial in its conception and its execution alike, Stace England’s Greetings From Cairo,
Illinois may at a glance appear to be a jape, a goof, instead of an extraordinary meld of music and history.” - PLAYBACK:stl "He doesn't detail much vice, which was once the town's bread and butter, but there's lots of race—1909
lynch mob, segregated bus crosses big river, 1967 vigilantes, young Jesse Jackson stops by.
- ROBERT CHRISTGAU, VILLAGE VOICE "It's (Equal Opportunity Lynch Mob) an irony worthy of Randy Newman. England's assuming the mob's
perspective is a brave move that few could match."
- LUNA KAFÉ, NORWAY
”Where Mississippi and Ohio Rivers merge into one powerful river lies Cairo. Its days as an important
traffic junction have been eroded by time; now it is a dusty borough where racism still slumbers. CD Rating 8 out of 10."
- DE VOLKSKRANT (Dutch National Newspaper) "For Stace England, the journey on 'Greetings from Cairo' begins and ends in the southern Illinois region
from which he hails. If (Sufjan) Stevens is a wanderer, then England is a settler.
- ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
"Along the way we meet General U.S. Grant, an “equal opportunity lynch mob” and the Committee
of Ten Million, a racist organization called “White Hats” thanks to the pale hard hats they wore.
Fascinating."
- HARP
"Stace England's Greetings From Cairo, Illinois not only provides a portrait of the city in question,
it succeeds in being a fine album musically . . . Who knows, maybe this long moribund city will finally live up to its potential
because of one person's affection and compassion."
- BLOG CRITICS.ORG
“Stace England has made a strong work here. It is pleasing to the ear, creative in its variety and
also offers some history, as well as food for thought. One is inclined to believe the songwriter when he says: ‘Cairo,
Illinois is the most fascinating town in America’.”
- DAS ROCKMAGAZIN, GERMANY
"An ambitious, very interesting work entirely dedicated to his city."
- ROOTS HIGHWAY, ITALY
"This is an entertaining record, as much for its History Channel vibe as the music itself."
- HIGH BIAS
"Greetings From Cairo, Illinois from Stace England is an enriching musical trip through the entire
history of that city."
- CONTROL.ALT.COUNTRY, BELGIUM
"A concept record that proves history does not need to be boring."
- ALT COUNTRY.NL, THE NETHERLANDS
"Greetings from Cairo, Illinois proves that America is still full of interesting stories, old and
new, for the curious to discover and preserve, like old postcards."
- MESCALINA, ITALY
"A both shocking and entertaining document that you will want to use on your next trip through America to
visit this city at the merging of the Mississippi and the Ohio."
- PLATOMANIA, THE NETHERLANDS
"The disk is an ambitious concept-album dedicated entirely to the story of the tormented town of Cairo,
Illinois and the reasons, while having potential, it did not succeed and develop to compete with other cities."
- IL POPOLO DEL BLUES, ITALY
"If you accidentally happen to end up this side of Cairo, Illinois this CD is definitely no dull history
lesson, and is also a fine travel guide." - KINDAMUZIK, THE NETHERLANDS "Greetings from Cairo, Illinois is not so much an album as an auditory history of the city that
haunts singer/songwriter Stace England. One listen to the CD and the audience will be haunted as well. . . Cairo is
the cultural metropolis that should have been, and England's seminal work lyricises the political corruption, incompetence
and racism begetting the once-great river city's downfall."
- FLIPSIDE
"The atmosphere of modern-day Commercial Avenue in Cairo is surreal. The wide street was designed
to carry large volumes of people and goods through the city's bustling commercial center on the riverfront. Any more, Commercial
Avenue is deserted like an Old West ghost town or Hollywood sound stage."
- SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN
"Stace England's latest album Greetings from Cairo is an elegant and uncompromising look at that
sad, storied town, from its roots as a major Midwestern hub during the days of Mark Twain to the ascent (and perhaps simultaneous
descent) into a vice economy before exploding with racial tension and subsequently rotting away into a red-state ghetto."
- NIGHTLIFE
"Cairo (pronounced 'KAY-ro,' like the syrup, not the ancient city in which Westerners risk life and limb
nowadays just for buying Big Macs), Illinois is a (sadly) non-fictional town in its death throes, long rife with corruption,
racism and limp tourist attractions (Grant Slept Here)."
"Our weekly interview has gone deep into Southern U.S.: Cairo, Illinois, is a real ghost town. That's
where Stace England has recorded his third solo cd, featuring many ghosts from the past and from the present too."
- MESCALINA, ITALY
"The history is told beautifully and each song is sung in a musical style that has been tailored to the
story."
- VPRO, THE NETHERLANDS
“Stace England has maintained a firm creative focus on southern Illinois for most of his adult life.
His focus has been kept on the area because of a certain vibe the musician says the area emanates. That vibe reaches
all the way down to Cairo, a small town at the southernmost tip of Illinois, which has served as the inspiration for England's
latest CD, Greetings from Cairo."
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