| Heroes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 19, 1986 | |||
| Recorded | December 4, 1984–May 23, 1985 | |||
| Studio | Chips Moman's Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 30:30 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Chips Moman | |||
| Johnny Cash chronology | ||||
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| Waylon Jennings chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Heroes | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Heroes is a duet studio by American country music singers Johnny Cash (his 72nd overall album release) and Waylon Jennings,released on Columbia Records in 1986 (see 1986 in music).
Cash and Jennings first met in the mid sixties. Cash,who had fallen in love with June Carter but could not move in with her because her divorce was not final,rented a one-bedroom apartment in Madison,Tennessee so he could be close to her (the period is documented in the Cash biopic Walk the Line ,with Waylon played by his son Shooter Jennings). "It was like a sitcom;we were the original 'Odd Couple,'" Jennings wrote in his memoir. "I was supposed to clean up,and John was the one doing the cooking. If I'd be in one room polishing,he'd be in the other room making a mess...making himself a mess." Comically,although both men were taking amphetamines by the fistful,each tried to hide it from each other. In 1978,in the midst of Waylon's superstar success as a key figure in the outlaw country movement,the pair scored a #2 hit duet with "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang." The duo had previously worked with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson to form the highly successful Highwaymen,with whom they would work together again in the early 1990s,but Heroes was their first and only full-length LP.
Heroes was Cash's second-last original release on Columbia,with which he parted ways soon after the record's release (though he later returned to Columbia alongside Jennings for Highwayman 2 in 1990). It was produced by Chips Moman,who had helmed the Highwaymen sessions and had produced several Jennings albums,including 1977's Ol' Waylon . Despite the success of the single "Highwayman" and Waylon's chart topping album Will the Wolf Survive (his first album for MCA after twenty years with RCA Records),their presence on the charts had diminished compared to previous years. "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," the single from Heroes,reflected this state of affairs,reaching #35 on the country charts. The song was composed by Cash's son-in-law Rodney Crowell,who also contributes "I'm Never Gonna Roam Again." The duo also included "Love Is the Way," written by Kristofferson.
The tone of the album is bright,congenial,and sober,far removed from the hell raising past that had become a big part of each man's legend. It opens with a tribute to their fans,"Folks Out on the Road." The patriotic ode to Dixie,"American by Birth," also courts the country music fan base,augmented with marching band horns. The title track taps a similar vein,celebrating courage and self-sacrifice (this is not the song of the same name that appears on Jennings' 1982 duet album WWII with Willie Nelson,also produced by Moman). Cash co-wrote one song,"Field of Diamonds," which he would record again fourteen years later for American III:Solitary Man (2000). The last track,"One Too Many Mornings" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his album The Times They Are a-Changin' ,and had been recorded,but deemed unusable,by Cash and Dylan in 1969 during the sessions for Nashville Skyline . Jennings had recorded Dylan's "Don't Think Twice,It's Alright" during his earliest recording sessions for A&M.
The album got as high as #13 on the Billboard country albums charts. Cash the solo artist would not have another higher charting LP until 2000's American III:Solitary Man (#11 C&W). Bruce Eder of AllMusic calls the LP "one of the most obscure records in either artist's output,a fact that's astonishing,given the quality of the music,the singing,and the overall production. Co-produced by Chips Moman,and with Cash and Jennings at the top of their game (and so good at what they do that they make it sound easy),there's not a weak point anywhere here."
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Folks Out on the Road" | Frank J. Myers, Eddy Raven, David Powelson | 2:47 |
| 2. | "I'm Never Gonna Roam Again" | Rodney Crowell | 2:56 |
| 3. | "American by Birth" | Roger Alan Wade | 2:33 |
| 4. | "Field of Diamonds" | Johnny Cash, Jack Wesley Routh | 2:37 |
| 5. | "Heroes" | Jennifer Kimball, Thomas Kimmel | 4:16 |
| 6. | "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" | Crowell | 3:03 |
| 7. | "Love Is the Way" | Kris Kristofferson | 2:31 |
| 8. | "Ballad of Forty Dollars" | Tom T. Hall | 3:11 |
| 9. | "I'll Always Love You (in My Own Crazy Way)" | Frankie Miller, Troy Seals, Eddie Setser | 3:58 |
| 10. | "One Too Many Mornings" | Bob Dylan | 2:38 |
Album - Billboard (United States)
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Top Country Albums | 13 |
Singles - Billboard (United States)
| Year | Single | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | CAN Country | ||
| 1986 | "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" | 35 | 40 |
| "The Ballad of Forty Dollars" | — | 50 | |
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums like Elvis Presley's 1969 From Elvis in Memphis and the 1985 debut album for The Highwaymen. Moman won a Grammy Award for co-writing "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", a 1975 hit for B.J. Thomas.
Highwayman is the first studio album released by country supergroup The Highwaymen, comprising Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Highwayman, released through Columbia Records in 1985, was the group's first and most successful album.
The Highwaymen were an American country music supergroup, composed of four of country music's biggest artists who pioneered the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Highwayman 2 is the second studio album released by American country supergroup The Highwaymen. This album was released in 1990 on the Columbia Records label. Johnny Cash had left Columbia several years earlier, making this a "homecoming", and ultimately his final work for Columbia as the next Highwaymen album would be issued on another label.
Rainbow is the 70th album by American country singer Johnny Cash, his last for Columbia Records, released in 1985. "I'm Leaving Now", which was re-recorded 15 years later for Cash's American III: Solitary Man, was released as a single rather unsuccessfully, but the album's signature song is a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Here Comes That Rainbow Again", which also appeared on Cash's 1995 collaboration with Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings - known as The Highwaymen - entitled The Road Goes on Forever, though it was sung solo by Kristofferson on the latter. Also included is a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," from Pendulum. The album also includes the song "Love Me Like You Used To," which was later recorded by fellow country singer Tanya Tucker, and became a country hit for her. Following the release of this album and a duet album with Jennings in 1986, Cash moved to Mercury Records as a result of Columbia's fading interest in his music, though he later returned to Columbia for the second Highwaymen album.
I Would Like to See You Again is an album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1978. The title track peaked at #12 on the singles chart, while "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" reached #2; the album itself peaked at #23. The album features a pair of duets with Waylon Jennings, one of which was the "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" single; it was one of Cash's first collaborations with Jennings, and the two recorded songs together throughout the 1980s, including a separate album entitled Heroes. Cash and Jennings would also work together as The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
Repossessed is an album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Mercury Records in 1986. It was Kristofferson's first full-length solo album since 1981's To the Bone, although the singer did collaborate with other artists in the meantime, most notably on Highwayman with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
WWII is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, released on RCA Victor in 1982.
Take It to the Limit is an album by Willie Nelson with Waylon Jennings, released in 1983 on Columbia Records.
Ol' Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It was released on RCA Victor in 1977. It eventually became one of Jennings' highest-selling albums, due in no small part to the phenomenal success of the chart-topping "Luckenbach, Texas ." It was also the singer's fourth solo album in a row to reach the top of the country charts, remaining there for thirteen weeks and becoming country music's first platinum album by any single solo artist.
Black on Black is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1982.
Nashville Rebel is a box set by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville through Legacy Recordings in 2006. According to AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, it is "the first comprehensive, multi-label Waylon Jennings retrospective ever assembled," comprising ninety-two songs recorded between [1958 and 1994, with selections from the majority of the singer's recording career. The first track of the box set is the Buddy Holly-produced "Jole Blon," released in 1958, while the last is "I Do Believe," a song produced by Don Was that was included on The Highwaymen's 1995 release, The Road Goes On Forever. The other material on the box set covers Jennings' career chronologically, with songs ranging from his years on RCA's roster to later compositions from his short-lived stay at Epic Records; it ignores, however, the tracks from Jennings albums released on independent labels. The majority of the singer's charting singles are included in the package, as are collaborations such as "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" with Willie Nelson and "Highwayman" with The Highwaymen. A notable addition is the previously unreleased "The Greatest Cowboy of Them All," a 1978 duet with Johnny Cash which was later recorded by Cash alone for A Believer Sings the Truth (1979) and The Mystery of Life (1991); two others, "It's Sure Been Fun" and "People in Dallas Got Hair," had never been released in the United States. Nashville Rebel was released on four CDs, with a 140-page booklet and liner notes by Rich Kienzle and Lenny Kaye.
"Highwayman" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. The song was influenced by the real-life hanged highwayman Jonathan Wild. Webb first recorded the song on his album El Mirage, released in May 1977. The following year, Glen Campbell recorded his version on his 1979 album Highwayman.
"Big River" is a song written and originally recorded by Johnny Cash. Released as a single by Sun Records in 1958, it went as high as #4 on the Billboard country music charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks. The song tells a story of the chase of a lost love along the course of Mississippi River from Saint Paul, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana.
"I Still Miss Someone" is a song co-written by Johnny Cash and his nephew Roy Cash, Jr. and originally recorded by American country music singer Johnny Cash. He first recorded it in 1958 as the B-side to "Don't Take Your Guns to Town".
The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a box set by country singer Johnny Cash, released posthumously in 2012 on Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings.
"Silver Stallion" is a song written by Lee Clayton and originally released by him on his 1978 album Border Affair.
"Born and Raised in Black and White" is a song written by Don Cook and John Barlow Jarvis, and originally recorded by The Highwaymen on their 1990 album Highwaymen 2. Mark Collie covered it for his 1991 album Born and Raised in Black & White, and Brooks & Dunn on their 1998 album If You See Her.
"American Remains" is a song written by Rivers Rutherford and originally recorded by the Highwaymen for their 1990 album Highwaymen 2. The song follows the stories of 4 historically fictional men in a similar vein to their cover of "Highwayman". Unlike in Highwayman, however, none of the characters are implied dead; their legacies are instead emphasized.
