Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie J.T. Stepanek is the fourth studio album by American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Billy Gilman

Billy Gilman

William Wendell "Billy" Gilman III is an American country music artist. In 2000, at the age of 12, he debuted with the single "One Voice," a Top 20 hit on the Billboard country music charts and became the youngest singer to a Top 40 hit on the country music charts...

. It was released April 15, 2003 (see 2003 in country music

2003 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2003.-Events:*March 10 — During a concert in London, England, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that the band was "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas"...

) on Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 Nashville, and was his final album for that label. The songs on this album are based on poems written by child poet Mattie Stepanek

Mattie Stepanek

Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek , known as Mattie Stepanek, was an American poet, who had six books of poetry and one book of essays all reach The New York Times bestsellers list...

, who died of muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...

 one year after the album's release.

As of Nov 21, 2011 the album has sold 110,000 copies.

Track listing

1. "For Our World" (Mattie Stepanek, David Malloy
   David Malloy
   David Ernest Malloy is an American Country Music and Pop songwriter, record producer and A&R executive with 41 Number One Billboard Hits. He has received multiple Grammy nominations, as writer and/or producer, and has worked with many artists and projects including USA for Africa, superstars Tim...
   
   , Jimmy Nichols) – 3:24
2. "About Things That Matter" (Stepanek, Angela Lauer) – 3:12
3. "Morning Gift" (Stepanek, James T. Slater
   James T. Slater
   James Slater is a grammy nominated singer/songwriter based in Nashville. He has contributed several hit songs to the canon of American popular music.-Background:...
   
   ) – 2:13
4. "I Am/Shades of Life" (Stepanek, Malloy, Bruce Roberts) – 4:40
5. "It Happened Anyway" (Stepanek, Tom Douglas
   Tom Douglas (songwriter)
   Thomas Stevenson "Tom" Douglas is an American country music songwriter. Active since the early 1990s, he has written Top Ten hits for John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye and others....
   
   ) – 3:30
6. "Possession" (Stepanek, Randle Chowning, Mark Morton) – 2:49
7. "Songs of the Wind" (Stepanek, Richard Leigh
   Richard Leigh (songwriter)
   Richard Leigh is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is best known for penning "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" . In 1978 he received a Grammy Award for "Best Country Song" for the popular song...
   
   ) – 2:24
8. "Making Real Sense of the Senses" (Stepanek, Roberts) – 3:39
9. "The Gift of Color" (Stepanek, Slater) – 3:19
10. "I Could… If They Would" (Stepanek, Jon Stone) – 2:50
11. "About Memories" (Stepanek, Angela Bacari, Billy Gilman, Sandy Linzer) – 4:34
12. "About Watches" (Stepanek, Bacari, Gilman, Linzer) – 3:13

Chart performance

Chart (2003)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	15
U.S. Billboard 200	109