"Paper Angels" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Jimmy Wayne Jimmy Wayne Barber (born October 23, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He released his self-titled debut album in 2003 on the DreamWorks Records label. Four singles were released from it, including " Stay Gone" and " I ...

. It was released in October 2004 as the fourth single from his debut album ''

''. Wayne wrote the song with Don Sampson.

Content

The song is about the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

's Angel Tree program, in which the organization decorates a

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

with paper angels representing children who are in need. It is in a moderately slow tempo and the key of

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

, with a main chord pattern of A-E/G-Fm-D. Wayne later wrote a novel, also titled ''Paper Angels'', about a family who is aided by the Salvation Army's program.

Critical reception

The song received a favorable review from Thom Jurek of ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'', who wrote that "as the power chords and mandolin entwine around his reaching vocals and cascading acoustic guitar, we come to understand that ''he'' can understand that he can sing this way because he's been one of these children."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

and premiered in November 2004. Due to the song having somewhat of a theme with Christmas (though it is not officially considered a traditional Christmas song) the video is only played during the Christmas season, when many holiday music videos are normally shown.

Chart performance

The song charted for three weeks from unsolicited airplay on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart in December 2003–January 2004, peaking at number 40. Upon being released as a single, it re-entered at number 57 in November 2004 and peaked at number 18 in January 2005, tying the record for the highest-charting seasonal title of the

SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

era, which was set by

Jeff Foxworthy Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, author, comedian, producer and writer. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White. Known for his "You might be a ...

's "

Redneck 12 Days of Christmas "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" is a redneck parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" written by Jeff Foxworthy and Tim Wilson and recorded by Foxworthy on his 1996 album '' Crank It Up: The Music Album''. The song reached number 18 on the ''Billbo ...

References

{{Jimmy Wayne 2004 singles Jimmy Wayne songs DreamWorks Records singles Song recordings produced by James Stroud Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Songs written by Don Sampson Song recordings produced by Chris Lindsey American Christmas songs 2003 songs Songs written by Jimmy Wayne