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!

In 1986, the entire "side two" of the album was remixed and re-released on a collection called The Revelation with some narration by Chuck Smith included between songs.

The first CD was a re-issue of the original album while the second featured a two-part interview with Terry Taylor and Jerry Chamberlain on Rock & Religion Radio Show.

While the band's management had involvement in the artwork of the release, the overall finished product was disappointing due to the label's poor quality control.

Other band members pored over the liner notes and lyrics to make corrections to errors found on all previous releases - including the original Maranatha!

AllMusic showed a mixed reaction in their retrospective review, noting the overt similarity to the Eagles and deeming the rock opera of side two "a little too wide-eyed and doomsaying for most modern audiences".

from Buzz magazine (UK), and "Not until now have we seen an album that is as versatile, professional, or as serious musically as is Daniel Amos' Shotgun Angel."