There's a T-shirt that says, "Illinois: it's not as boring as you'd think."

Illinois First!, a rock band from Chicago, takes this message as their manifesto. They want people to get excited about the Land of Lincoln. This may seem like a challenge in the state with a town called Normal. But the group achieves their goal by setting the history and geography of the Prairie State to a dynamic rock and roll soundtrack.

The band is named for Illinois FIRST (Fund for Infrastructure, Roads, Schools and Transit), Governor George Ryan's public works initiative. "It always seemed like a great band name to me," says singer-guitarist John Greenfield, who wrote the music on their debut album, "Songs About the Land of Lincoln." "Most people think of Illinois as being a pretty middle-of-the-road place, but that phrase has a passionate, almost militant ring to it."

A Pennsylvania native, Greenfield has lived in Chicago his entire adult life, but had never done much downstate exploration until 2003. That summer he took a few bike trips across the state, pedaling from Saint Louis, MO, across Illinois back to Chi-Town; and from Madison, WI, to Saint Louis along the Mississippi River.

On these trips he learned that there's a lot more to the 21st State than just the Windy City and cornfields. He stopped in fascinating small towns like Nauvoo, along the Mississippi in western Illinois. In the 1830s Joseph Smith and the Mormons settled the area, building a city that was the 10th largest in the U.S. at the time. But a few years later Smith was killed by a mob and his followers were ordered to leave the state. Recently the State of Illinois issued an official apology for the Nauvoo expulsion.

The idea for the band gelled in fall 2003, when Greenfield picked up the 1980's grade school textbook "Discovering Illinois" at a yard sale. This text would be the jumping-off point for many of the Illinois First! songs.

In addition to a song about Nauvoo, he wrote "Marquette and Joliet" (about the French explorers who first mapped out the region; "The Ballad of Jean DuSable" (a tribute to Chicago's founder, a Haitian fur trader); "Starved Rock" (the tragedy of the Iroquois siege of the Illini at the site of the present-day state park); "Who Was Abraham Lincoln" (which discusses our 16th President's early years); plus four more songs inspired by internet research, travel and recent headlines.

Greenfield recruited some of his musical friends to help out with the project. Mia Park (who plays in Kim and Early Risers, and hosts the local TV dance show Chic-A-Go-Go) signed on as drummer. Brent Olds (Wanamaker, ex-Poi Dog Pondering) joined on bass. And Rob Cruz (Vernon Tongues, Gypsy Garage Combo) was an obvious choice as one of the finest (and only) rock and roll accordion players in town.

The resulting band brings education and entertainment together in a whole new way - it's "Schoolhouse Rock" for the 21st Century. Their live show combines catchy tunes with thought-provoking lyrics, all illustrated by a colorful PowerPoint slide show. In the future, the group wants to perform their set for high school students, and tour small cities and college towns all around the state. Illinois First! invites you to join them soon for a musical celebration of the Land of Lincoln. To quote an old Illinois tourism slogan, they'll make you feel "A Million Miles from Monday."