Editing Shotgun Angel (section)

==Background==
The album is named after the [[Shotgun Angel (song)|song of the same name]], which finished side one of the album. The song was written earlier by [[Bill Sprouse Jr.]] for his band The Road Home which featured future Daniel Amos drummer [[Ed McTaggart]]. After Sprouse's untimely death at age twenty-six, sound engineer Mike Shoup dug up an old four-track tape of the song and asked Dom Franco of the [[Maranatha! Music|Maranatha!]] group Bethlehem to add [[pedal steel]] guitar to the song. When [[Daniel Amos]] heard it they decided to record it themselves and enlisted Franco to play the pedal steel and Shoup and McTaggart to add the CB radio voices on the recording.<ref name=MAP>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Mark |title=The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music |date=2002 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. |location=Peabody, MA |isbn=1-56563-679-1 |page=228 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

Although DA's previous release was largely country, this album marked the start of a return to the band's pre-label roots, rock and roll, which took some of their country fans by surprise. ''Shotgun Angel'' was half country and half [[rock opera]]. The 'side two' of the LP featured lush orchestrations and a string of rock songs linked together in a way that was reminiscent of [[The Beatles]] ''[[Sgt. Peppers]]'' album.<ref name=MAP/><ref name=DA>{{cite web |last1=Newcomb |first1=Brian |title=Shotgun Angel |url=http://www.danielamos.com/da/shotgunangel/reviews.html |website=DanielAmos.com |publisher=Syndicate/Daniel Amos |accessdate=23 June 2020}}</ref> The band even made a number of concert performances at this time with a full orchestra backing them.