It was the spring of 1983 and Chris Charles and I had a date with musical destiny. We had booked four days and nights at Recording Associates in Portland, Oregon with recording engineer Mike Moore at the helm. Also along for the ride was Lew Jones on lead guitar, Timothy & Francis Tompkins on cello and violin. Don Wiess sat in on bass on two cuts. But most of all this session was built around a special gift that only Chris and I shared...our voices. From the first time Chris and I sang together it was like magic. That Everly Brothers type sound; you could not split our voices apart they were so close. As folky/country types, we also loved playing our acoustic guitars together. It was all \"live\" in the duo. So that\'s also how we recorded; live as an acoustic duo to start with. Thanks to Chris\' talents on bass and drums, we layed them down last. Mike was amazed by this. I was the songwriter for this session. Chris and I were co-producers for the most part. I will always remember the day we layed the strings down on \"Pain Of A Poet.\" Timothy & Francis got it right in one take! Even though this song was composed in 1981, I still think of it as one of my finest songs and recordings to date. One year later I would return to Portland after living in Nashville for three months; and also recording with the Clovis music legend Norman Petty. Norman loved \"The Heroes Of The West\" session.(In 2006 the publishing reverted back to me. So, Chris and I have released it now. It\'s been digitaly remastered from the original masters and sounds better than ever. Then in 1984, Chris and I started a band here in Portland called The Surf Cowboys. There is no doubt that \"The Heroes\" session was the roots of things to come like The Surf Cowboys. Chris says: \"It\'s the most fun I\'ve ever had in a recording studio!\" I had a hell of a good time as well. If you want a unique listening experience packed with great songs and production, You might want to invest in \"Heroes Of The West.\" It\'s still fresh as of 2015 and that is a musical destiny. -Tim M. Otto