Heroes

Description

Heroes is an album by the American singer and songwriter Paul Overstreet, released on BMG Music in the mainstream music market in 1990. Also distributed by Word the following year in the CCM market. The album was produced by Brown Bannister and Paul Overstreet.

In case you aren’t hip to the “new country” scene, brother Paul Overstreet has lassoed most of the songwriting prizes in the last few years, like the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and the Grammy Award for Country Song of the Year – all more times than I care to count.

It’s common for country artists to thank God or “the Man Upstairs” when they accept an award. Overstreet gets real specific about his faith, as in “I’d just like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…” etc. Fact is, Overstreet is salt and light in a beer and whisky world. Never preachy, always true, he has done what most Christian pop artists have only dreamed of in terms of having a major influence on the mainstream field.

‘Heroes’ will only strengthen that role for him. With any or all of these 10 songs headed for the country Top 10, his heartland homilies on faithfulness, livin’ right, and stayin’ true to your wife will be heard in thousand smoky barrooms from Texas to Taiwan. That’s because Overstreet and co-producer Brown Bannister (don’t be surprised – Brown’s from Texas, you know) have crafted a straight-ahead country sound that drives strong and fast as a new pickup.

By the time you read this, this album will probably be charting its second hit («Daddy’s Come Around», an upbeat tune about a family’s healing, had already reached #1 by press time.) Chalk that up to Bannister’s radio-perfect production and the fact that nobody writes’em like Overstreet, who handles a lyrical phrase the way old farmer pushed a handplow – turns it clean and sharp, drops the seed, and leaves the rest to the Creator.

If you don’t think you like country, give ‘Heroes’ a listen anyway. You’ll appreciate songs like these: the two -steppin’ «Straight and Narrow», «She Supports Her Man», a semi-autobiographical gift for his wife, the pro-marriage «Ball and Chain», the prayerful «Calm at the Center of My Storm» and «Billy Can’t Read», a heart-wrencher about illiteracy and human dignity.

Considering that Paul Overstreet is known as country’s champion of commitment, it’s nice that he keeps getting so much recognition for his God-given talents. I suspect that ‘Heroes’ will afford him more chances to thank the Giver by name. [Bernie Sheahan, CCM, April 1991]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/heroes/1489016758)

CD tracklist:

01. Ball & Chain – 3:38
02. If I Could Bottle This Up – 3:49
03. Daddy’s Come Around – 3:38
04. Love Lives On – 3:08
05. Heroes – 4:28
06. I’m So Glad I Was Dreaming – 3:43
07. Straight And Narrow – 3:20
08. Billy Can’t Read – 3:49
09. She Supports Her Man – 4:01
10. ‘Til The Mountains Disappear – 2:37
11. The Calm At The Center Of My Storm – 3:23

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by BMG Music and Word.

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“Heroes” (MUSIC VIDEO)