State Songs is John Linnell's first and only full-length solo album, released in 1999. It features sixteen songs, most of which are named after (but not actually about) U.S. states. A special limited-edition vinyl of the album was released in 2019 for Record Store Day Black Friday, and a digital "Expanded Edition" followed in 2021. Linnell: "I decided to start writing songs with the name of the states as a way of avoiding having to come up with song titles. I suddenly had fifty song titles and I could write fifty songs based on that. This is always one of my problems with writing lyrics is I'm just so lazy I don't want to have to think up all the words and what it means. ... It's just a way to create more music without having to get bogged down in verbal ideas." Linnell: "One other reason I was interested in writing state anthems is because I like the style they usually employ in state anthems. Sort of archaic and kind of square." User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.