Let's hear that string part again, because I don't think they heard it all the way out in Indianola!

Let's be honest. Even if he lives to be 100, Sufjan Stevens will never cover all 50 states, unless he awards himself "School of Rembrandt" status and takes on collaborative apprentices in states like Iowa. If I'm Sufjan, I'm opening a six-month contest on the Asthmatic Kitty website, allowing artists from a state I'll never do to submit tracks, and if the stuff's any good, there's a compilation album that breaks 12 new indie acts, with a built-in audience. If that album sells, I'm doing a Paula Abdul impression on Alaska Idol on streaming video six months later.