How The Abandoned City of Cairo, IL Became a Favorite Muse for Country Artists
It’s the charge of country and folk musicians to sing about the struggles of the common people that often go woefully unheralded by the rest of popular culture. But sometimes it’s not just people, but places that deserve the dignity of poetic adulation.
Cairo, IL is one of those places that personifies the implosion of America’s once thriving industrial revolution and agrarian bounty. Sitting right at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, right at the southernmost tip of Illinois and at the state’s lowest elevation, it’s a crossroads if there ever was one, with the Kentucky border and the Southern influence mere miles away to the east and south, and Missouri and the Midwest experience as a western neighbor.
No matter what the geographical or economic hardship, Cairo, IL has experienced it. From boom and bust, to flood and racial strife, the city has seen it all, and has the scars to prove it.
“It’s pronounced ‘Karo,’ like the syrup,” says Lori, the City Clerk of Cairo. “We get mad whenever people pronounce it like the city in Egypt.” Cairo obviously pulled its name from the nearby river confluence, and the comparable Egyptian city on the Nile delta, but has decided through its waves of residents over the years to Americanize the annunciation. Very first inhabited in 1818, but with various attempts and commerce and settlement mostly failing, the area remained generally unorganized with only a few ragtag settlers into the 1840’s. Charles Dickens used the location in his novel Martin Chuzzlewit as the inspiration for his nightmare city called “Eden.” Not exactly a glowing recommendation.
But the 1850’s brought the serious growth that the intersection of the two major rivers seemed to promise from the little city, and it began to thrive. During the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant occupied the town, and used it as a military depot, training base, and his own headquarters for an extended period, coining the city Fort Defiance—a name that is synonymous with the city of Cairo for many. The population began to swell, and due to the large expansion of industrial shipping on the two rivers, by 1920 the population of Cairo was over 15,000, and it was known as a thriving little Midwest river town.
Today, the population of Cairo, IL is an estimated 2,467. The implosion of river transport and the industrial economy, as well as major floods in 1937 and 2011, racial tensions including high-profile lynchings and racial riots stimulated by the economic strife and the melting pot of cultures that settled in Cairo have rendered it a virtual ghost town today, with it’s once picturesque and vibrant downtown drag and its opulent buildings and houses sitting mostly abandoned, overgrown, and in various states of dilapidation. There mere sight of the town has been the subject of numerous photo galleries and magazine features due to his eerie state.
The story of Cairo, IL can be repeated hundreds of times all across the United States, but it’s the strange beauty in Cairo’s specific manner of decay that has inspired musical artists to write and sing about the town to an abundant degree compared to its prominence in the world, so much so that two songs specifically titled “Cairo, IL” have been released in the roots world just this year, and both that are considered in the top leagues of poetic mastery and expression, while other songs and albums over the years have also soliloquized the haunting sense of loneliness one is taken with when beholding Cairo’s vacancy and dilapidation.
“As a kid growing up, it was my favorite part of the drive on the way to Puxico [Missouri], and also, the saddest part as I was leaving to go home back to Nashville,” says well-known Nashville songwriter Natalie Hemby, who included a song called “Cairo, IL” on her new album called Puxico released in January. Puxico is Natalie’s hometown, population just under 900.
“Only the skeletons of buildings remain, and what was once a thriving city one hundred years ago, is now what feels like a ghost town…a relic of its beauty,” says Hemby about Cairo. “I’ve been driving thru that town for 40 years and it has become a landmark of my childhood.”
All the fields are flooded up to Highway 51
Illinois is coming ’cross the bridge where the Old Ohio was
Don’t look away, it will be gone
Kentucky and Missouri, a trinity of states
Nothing’s in a hurry ’cept the water in between the rising banks
Oh nothing moves but nothing staysWhere the longing for the leaving and the welcome-home receiving join
Still I’ll keep driving past the ghost of Cairo, Illinois
“Jonathan and Cassandra Lawson are both writers and artists who are married and in the band The Railers,” Natalie Hemby explains. “We have become good friends over the years, but the turning point of that friendship was when we wrote this song. Jonathan is from Missouri, and he would also pass through Cairo, IL on his way back home. Jonathan is an amazing guitar player and came up with the beautiful acoustic melody that is the backdrop of the song. He and Cassandra poetically helped me carve the song into a story, my story, my memories. I loved it so much, the day we wrote it, I made them sing it with me over and over again.”
The same week Natalie Hemby released her album Puxico with her ode to Cairo in the tracks list, so did a folk duo originally from Illinois, but now residing in New York called The Brother Brothers. On their album Tugboats also exists a song called “Cairo, IL.”
“Having grown up in Peoria, IL I have always been fascinated by river boats, and at the intersection of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers,” says David Moss of The Brother Brothers. “The song began as an ode to an old river town and then turned into an exploration of the kind of person that would long to return to a town long depressed and with a striking history of racial tension. Many know what it is to be poor, many have seen booming cities go bankrupt, many people live in places where racism is intertwined in its social fabric and history, but with Cairo it is as if these problems have existed forever.”
Well I’m wasting time, wasting time
And I only know one way to go to start again
Let it roll, let it roll, down the banks of the Ohio
When you can’t rely on what you make to pay the rent on time
So I’m going away, down to the Fort Defi-o
Oh way down there in Cairo, Illinois, I’m gonna stay…
And this is just where the songs about, inspired by, or taking place in Cairo, IL begin. Son Volt‘s new album Notes of Blue includes the blues song, “Cairo and Southern.” In 2015, throwback country traditionalist Pokey LaFarge included a song called “Cairo, Illinois” on his Something in the Water album.
Take me to the bridge where the rivers collide
Down in Cairo, Illinois on a Saturday night
I might jump in…
The Chicago-based instrumental band Brokeback composed a song called “Cairo Levee” for their album Illinois River Valley Blues that works like a sonic travelogue through the region.
All of these efforts are dwarfed in the homage paid to Cairo and its history by Illinois-based roots musician and songwriter Stace England, who in 2005 released an entire concept album based on the town called Greetings From Cairo, Illinois dealing with much of the town’s history, and specifically the racial strife that has ravaged the town over the years.
Though places may go abandoned and their dots might deteriorate on the map, their legacies live on in the songs of country and folk musicians who find inspiration in the sense of loss and loneliness they inspire. From early American artists like Woody Guthrie and The Carter Family, to the storytellers of today, the beauty, vibrancy, and people of towns like Cairo, IL may be gone, but they won’t be forgotten.
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The Confluence of Rivers & States: The Musical Tributes to Cairo, IL
- “Cairo, IL” – The Brother Brothers – Tugboats
- “Cairo, IL” – Natalie Hemby – Puxico
- “Cairo, Illinois” – Pokey LaFarge – Something In The Water
- “Cairo Blues” – Stace England – Greetings From Cairo, IL
- “Cairo and Southern – Son Volt – Notes of Blue
- “Cairo Levee – Brokeback – Illinois River Valley
Kaylee
June 7, 2017 @ 9:03 am
When I think if Cairo, I think of the brawls that break out at their high school basketball games. They’ve had quite a few fights in the bleachers over the years, some even getting national attention. http://www.espn.com/sports/news/story?id=1746680
Farmer
June 7, 2017 @ 2:56 pm
When my hometown football team would play Cairo we always had a police escort out of town.
Trident
June 7, 2017 @ 4:37 pm
I grew up near Cairo, across the river in KY. It’s been hanging on by fingernails for years now. If you go digging for Cairo history, you’ll find lots of pain.
oh and for the North/South line comment……Cairo is most def in the South. The line is somewhere near Marion/Carbondale 🙂
Zues
June 7, 2017 @ 5:17 pm
@Trident. I totally agree. People not from IL often ask me why so many people in IL have southern accents. My usual response is, “Cairo is farther south, geographically, than Richmond VA, and they’re surrounded by KY and MO.” That accent, like the blurry line that is the figurative Mason Dixon, only starts to fade as you get closer to I-80.
Jeremy
June 7, 2017 @ 8:59 pm
I always say the “line” is I-64.
Jeremy
June 7, 2017 @ 9:05 am
Great article! I love about 2 hrs north of Cairo, and I’ve been through there a couple of times. The plight of Cairo is the same for much of the lower half of the state of Illinois. Not many jobs unless you are a farmer, coal miner, or work in the healthcare field. Singing about the town is singing about much of the area in some sense, or lots of disparaged towns all across the nation really.
Zach
June 7, 2017 @ 10:11 am
http://www.npr.org/2017/06/04/528650995/saving-cairo-a-once-thriving-river-town-finds-itself-on-life-support
Mike2
June 7, 2017 @ 10:17 am
I used to live about 2 hours north of there. I don’t think I ever went through Cairo but southern Illinois in general has an interesting cultural mix of Midwestern and southern influences. It’s a place that doesn’t really fit in with either.
Kim Grant
June 7, 2017 @ 10:36 am
Thanks for this. I grew up 3.5 hours north of Cairo and remember going down there with my archeologist friend for arrowhead digs. Going to explore all of these songs.
Whiskey_Pete
June 7, 2017 @ 10:41 am
“It’s pronounced ‘Karo,’ like the syrup,” says Lori, the City Clerk of Cairo. “We get mad whenever people pronounce it like the city in Egypt.”
It’s just as annoying for the traveler passing through to get rudely corrected. Well stupid, maybe they should have spelled it Karo then. (have family from IL)
Jf
June 7, 2017 @ 3:05 pm
Illinois also has a San Jose, pronounced San JOES, not San Ho-say. I met someone from there back when I lived in the California San Jose and thought that was pretty funny.
Zues
June 7, 2017 @ 5:23 pm
Don’t forget the Des Plaines river, pronounced “Dez Planes”…Or “Vair-Sales”…
Adrian
June 8, 2017 @ 9:25 am
I had a similar experience while traveling in Alaska several years ago. We stopped in the town of Valdez. When I pronounced the name the normal way, one of our tour guides quickly corrected me and said “ValDEEZ”. I asked him why the people there chose this strange pronunciation, and he answered, “because they’re Alaskans!”
Tunesmiff
June 9, 2017 @ 2:26 am
We’ve got the same spelling and mispronunciation here in Georgia, too, along with:
• HOUSE-ton for Houston
• ALL- benny for Albany
…but I can see we’re not alone in that department…
🙂
Chris
June 7, 2017 @ 1:15 pm
I was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, which is similar from the standpoint of being a river town that all industry has left and that is now an urban wasteland.
It’s a relic of itself. I have always heard the same about Cairo, but I have never driven through it.
I grew up in a neighboring town a couple of miles from East St. Louis which was a smokestack town (pre-EPA, I might add).
Jeff Tweedy, Jay Ferrar and the other 2 members of the former Uncle Tupelo grew up in the only town in the county in which modestly affluent people resided (not my family).
Uncle Tupelo produced a song called Sauget Wind, which was about the town which separated my town and East St. Louis and which has been an EPA Superfund site for decades now.
Kudos to these artists who don’t let towns like Cairo die any further with the rest of the world not even knowing about their plight.
Honky
June 7, 2017 @ 3:58 pm
Nice article. My only quarrel with it is that you reference a “Midwestern” influence, across the line in Missouri. In that part of Missouri, people speak with Southern drawls. In fact, if you draw a line through Springfield, from the East to the West, most Missourians south of that line are cultural Southerners.
nascarfan999
June 7, 2017 @ 4:18 pm
Springfield Missouri or Illinois? I’d say the line is somewhere between the two, maybe from Rolla Missouri and south (if not a touch further north of there to just south of the St. Louis Metro).
Honky
June 7, 2017 @ 4:38 pm
Missouri.
Pops90
June 11, 2017 @ 6:34 pm
Yep. The Missouri Bootheel is the northern edge of the deep south. There is quite a bit of musical heritage out of that little corner of Missouri & the surrounding parts of IL & KY. I grew up there.
They have an excellent county station in KWKZ as well.
nascarfan999
June 7, 2017 @ 4:17 pm
Building upon the story of Cairo to the region as a whole, your story of your 2016 video of the year (Dry Up or Drown) is from a town only 30 miles from Cairo and is very characteristic of Cairo’s plight as well.
AG
June 7, 2017 @ 5:46 pm
Josh Ritter also references it in “Monster Ballads” on his album The Animal Years.
Fantastic Americana track and even better album.
Steve Schmidt
June 7, 2017 @ 5:49 pm
Jason and the Scorchers have a song called “Going Nowhere” which refers to Cairo twice. The first time as Cairo and the second time as “K-Mart, Illinois”. My guess is that is a common derogatory term for Cairo and that Jason Ringenberg did not coin that. By the way, it is a fantastic song and one of their most country ones. Check it out.
Trigger
June 7, 2017 @ 6:26 pm
Jason also appears on that “Welcome to Cairo, Illinois” concept album I mentioned above. He must know the town well.
scott
June 8, 2017 @ 11:47 am
Jason is from the Galesburg, Illinois area. I’m about an hour from Galesburg. We all know Cairo fairly well, or think we do.
the Hill Billy Muslim
June 7, 2017 @ 8:15 pm
wow amazing!
Christian H
June 7, 2017 @ 11:02 pm
Thank you for the excellent article. Cairo is an interesting and poignant topic considering all the recent references. My curiosity peaked after the Brother Brothers article and I appreciate the back story and added comments.
Adrian
June 8, 2017 @ 9:29 am
Interesting article. Cairo is not a mass market kind of place. I like to hear about these out of the way, mostly forgotten towns in country songs. It’s not the kind of town that would be mentioned in a Taylor Swift song, a Luke Bryan song, or a Florida Georgia Line song …
Jim
June 9, 2017 @ 4:32 am
Good article, Trigger. I live just a few miles from Cairo. Ray Butts lived in Cairo, and invented the first humbucker electric guitar pickup. He worked together with Chet Atkins and Sam Phillips….
Farina
June 9, 2017 @ 4:32 am
I was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, Il., so this was a real treat. Don’t forget about Cairo Blues, I believe by Henry Townsend.
deb morris
June 10, 2017 @ 4:33 am
im third generation born in cairo
Pops90
June 11, 2017 @ 6:42 pm
That area in general is a hard place to live. My mother’s friend grew up in Cairo & she is in her 70’s now. When she was young Cairo had stores with things that couldn’t be found in St. Louis or Memphis. Needless to say, alot has changed.
Jon
June 18, 2017 @ 1:10 am
Does it bother anyone else that Natalie Hemby pronounces it like the city in Egypt? I feel like if you’re going to claim it as something that influenced you or had some sort of effect on you, you ought to know how to pronounce it. Or maybe us native Illinoisans are the only ones who say it that way and it’s common for Missourians to go Egypt style. Guess that’s not unheard of.
Jon
June 18, 2017 @ 1:11 am
Otherwise it’s a good song.
Jon
June 18, 2017 @ 1:14 am
Brother Brothers say it wrong, too.
Trigger
June 18, 2017 @ 7:40 am
When I reached out to both Natalie Hemby and the Brother Brothers, they both told me that it’s pronounced differently that what most expect. But I agree, when you hear them sing it, it sounds more like “Cairo” and “Karo.” Could just be their cadence, but I believe both know how to say it properly.
Jon
June 20, 2017 @ 10:39 pm
Yeah, it’s not a big deal, and probably 90% of the country would never notice, anyway. I guess when there are no major problems, you have to invent some small ones, huh? But in Southern Illinois, it’s definitely “Karo.” Which is weird, with the whole “Little Egypt” thing, but whatever.
At any rate, it’s interesting to see a town an hour away from my hometown featured so prominently all at once. Thanks for the effort you put into this site. Becoming a daily stop for me.
Trigger
June 20, 2017 @ 11:22 pm
Thanks for reading Jon.
Nancy Lane Deason
August 22, 2017 @ 4:37 pm
This was my fathers family hometown. I spent every summer there. My grandmother lived just blocks from downtown and my Uncle Morris Lane owned the hardware store in town. I have the best memories of this town. 1959-1980. My Uncle passed away in 1981. And I haven’t been back since then.
STEVE S.
June 20, 2018 @ 2:44 pm
Bring back Cairo! It should not be left to decay.