Americana rock and country fleshing out a small unknown pocket of slavery in "free" Illinois at one of the most haunted places in the United States, Hickory Hill, "The Old Slave House."

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, COUNTRY: Alt-Country



Details:
CD RELEASE DATE 11-13-07

âIn Salt Sex Slaves Stace England has created another excellent song cycle about the history of his home state of Illinois, proving again that he has an excellent ear for both music and story telling.â
- BLOGCRITICS.ORG

"Stace England is like Sufjan Stevens, with balls.â
- PAT TODD, FOUNDER, RANKOUTSIDER RECORDS

âStace England has the artistic moxy the size of an Illinois cornfield. Only England would even attempt to do a concept CD about such a bizarre and subverted chapter of Illinois history as "The Old Slave House" and pull it off in spades while rocking out. â
- JASON RINGENBERG

âThe worldâs only remaining cool folkie.â
- SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE


Best known for 2005âs critically acclaimed Greetings From Cairo, Illinois, Stace England emerged as an intriguing geographical yang to Sufjan Stevensâ yin. âGreetingsâ told the remarkable story of Cairo, a once booming river town in heartbreaking decline straddling the American North and South at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Live performances featured extensive multimedia, culminating in a headlining performance at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague, documentaries in the US and Europe and stellar press on both sides of the Atlantic.

England and his new band, The Salt Kings continue his story telling mastery on Salt Sex Slaves, weaving tales of brutal salt production, kidnapped free blacks, ghosts, slave breeding and murder in a supposed Free State, the Land of Lincoln, into a volatile, provocative Exile On Main St.-ish stew. SSS bridges the gap between forced slavery and chosen servitude to the commodity of the moment, making the story remarkably relevant for modern times. John Crenshaw, the âSalt King,â operated a profitable reverse underground railroad in the No Mans Land bordering Slave and Free states. His castle, The Old Slave House, still stands near strangely named Equality, Illinois.