SUFJAN STEVENS mixes autobiography, religious fantasy, and regional history to create folk songs of epic proportions. His albums Michigan and Illinois grew out of his proposal to make a record for each of the 50 States. With his stepfather Lowell Brams, Stevens owns and operates his own music label, Asthmatic Kitty Records, named after Brams’ beloved cat Sara, who suffers from acute feline asthma. Stevens lives in Brooklyn and in 2007 presented The BQE (2007 Next Wave), a symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.