Guest appearances include Lukas Nelson, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, Billy Joe Shaver, and Sheryl Crow.

The album includes country music classics "My Window Faces the South", "Home In San Antone" and "Cold War With You", which Nelson sang with Ray Price.

Special guest appearances include Merle Haggard on "A Horse Called Music"; Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson on the track "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die", Billy Joe Shaver on "Come On Back Jesus" and Sheryl Crow on "Come On Up to the House".

"Hero", "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" and "Come On Back Jesus" were recorded by Butch Carr at Cannon Productions and Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

[12] Nick Cristiano, writing in the Star Tribune, said that the participation of Lukas Nelson "lends the album an element of torch-passing, except Willie doesn't sound ready to fade away".

[22] Darry Sterdan of the Toronto Sun wrote a favorable review, and said about the selection of artists who collaborated on the album, "It sounds like a bummer, but thanks to Willie’s gentle charm and downhome wit, it’s mostly a hoot".

McCall said the cover songs were "all-over-the-map", that Snoop Dogg "croons tunelessly on 'Roll Me Up'", and that "[Lukas Nelson's] voice has Willie's reedy tone, but little of its musicality or range, making this collection less heroic than it could have been".

[24] Entertainment Weekly rated the release with a B, saying, "the music on Heroes is less diverse than Nelson's tastes suggest — it's all country lite — but there's a real warmth in his work with his kids".

The reviewer wrote, "the best thing here is opener 'A Horse Called Music', where wistful accordion and lachrymose pedal steel accompany Willie's duet with Merle Haggard, another Mount Rushmore voice".

[14] Jeff Terich of American Songwriter said that the album "follows a similar pattern to most of his recent releases, offering up a populist mix of original compositions, covers of cowboy classics and contemporary songs in equal measure".

Terich disdained the cover versions but praised Lukas Nelson's songwriting, stating that the songs "Every Time He Drinks He Thinks of Her" and "No Place to Fly" "[showcase] a winning earnestness, and an affecting second voice whose gentle warble could only come from the same bloodline".