He was off to a good start. 2 down and only 48 more to go. Michigan was first in 2003 followed by his break through album Illinois, then he got sidetracked. There were two more LP’s (not state related), a rather lengthy Christmas box set, a string quartet remix album and most recently the soundtrack to The BQE. By this point it was pretty obvious that Stevens had lost his motivation for the project and all he had left to do was officially announce that it was dead in the water, which he recently did with Paste Magazine.

The whole premise was such a joke and I think maybe I took it too seriously. I started to feel like I was becoming a cliché of myself.

Even if Stevens had continued on this journey it would have taken him years to finish. Most bands would find it difficult to release one album a year if they were forced into it. Suppose that Stevens is as much of a musical genius that I think he is. Two albums a year is a lot to ask a person, but let’s suppose that he could pull it off. If he started back at it again at the beginning of next year we would receive the last state sometime at the end of 2034. Stevens would be 58 years old.

In a sad kind of way it’s nice to have that elephant in the room shown the door.