Stace England's Salt Sex Slaves

Singer/songwriter Stace England is a man of grand ideas and an infinite sense of history. England doesn’t write about a subject so much as he inhabits it, body and soul. Case in point: Salt Sex Slaves, a concept album about a sordid, mostly-forgotten era of Illinois history. Salt was the currency of the day in the mid-1800s, and although slavery was outlawed in the free state of Illinois, a loophole allowed slaves to be leased to work in the salt mines of Equality.

Here are the stories, then, of both the slaves and their master, salt magnate John Crenshaw. During a single year, Crenshaw leased almost 800 slaves from Kentucky and other states to work under inhuman conditions in the region's salt mines. Crenshaw's other source of income was kidnapping free blacks and selling them back into slavery, as reprehensible an action as any intelligent person could imagine. England cuts the long-dead slavemaster no slack even as he lyrically champions the brave African-American men and women that survived their trials and tribulations in Equality.

England’s stories of heroes and villains are supported by a rocking, rootsy soundtrack that lends urgency to his finely-crafted lyrics. A Keith Richards-styled riff kicks off the title track, but the bluesy lyrics are straight from any Mississippi Delta plantation. Another riff-driven rocker, "Liberty and the Baptists," tells the story of the unpopular Emancipation Baptist church that fought against the immoral slave trade. Illinois native son Jason Ringenberg drops by to lend his soulful vocals to the traditional abolitionist ballad “Freedom’s Star,” while "Rationalize" does a great job of illustrating people's ability to close their eyes in indifference to injustice.

The rest of Salt Sex Slaves also showcases England’s impressive and entertaining storytelling prowess, from the mythology of slave-breeding machine "Uncle" Bob Wilson, to ghost tales, and even the story of Crenshaw's eventual comeuppance. England is a clever and intelligent lyricist, shoehorning the words into a song to tell the whole story rather than allowing the facts to be obscured by brevity. The Salt Kings are a top-notch band, and when neccessary, England recruits friends from other fine Illinois musical outfits as the Woodbox Gang and Black Forties.

Although many concept albums are self-involved flights of fancy for songwriters, England has a purpose and a perceived responsibility to keep this history alive. Others may do so through academic works, but as a singer and songwriter of considerable talent, Stace England prefers to give voice to these long-forgotten stories, freeing the spirits of the past by throwing their songs to the wind. (Rank Outsider Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Salt Sex Slaves from Amazon.com)