“Come From the Heart”
Kathy Mattea
Written by Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
June 2 – June 9, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
July 1, 1989
Don Williams’ Traces album managed to produce four top ten hits without ever entering the album chart, and the song with the most meaningful legacy earns that status through a wonderful Kathy Mattea cover.
Mattea was enjoying a hot streak at the time, dominating the awards circuit as she produced all six of her career No. 1 hits with her two final albums of the decade. “Come From the Heart” is one of the few No. 1 singles among Mattea’s signature classics, most of which fell short of the top spot. As good as the Williams version of it is, this song is tailor made for Kathy Mattea.
Mattea’s always been best when she taps into who she genuinely is: an educated and worldly child of the mountains. “Come From the Heart” is as plainspoken as an Appalachian ballad from the Carter Family, cutting to an essential truth about the human experience, but it assumes a certain level of sophistication among its listeners.
Dolly Parton famously said when she went to L.A. that she wasn’t leaving country; she was taking it with her. Bless her heart, but that was really just her justifying going for pop airplay. Parton had already elevated her country background into the highest form of art, honoring her family’s homespun wisdom in the process. “Come From the Heart’ accomplishes a similar feat for Mattea, whose ancestors worked in small coal mining towns in West Virginia. It’s simply spoken truths would resonate with those ancestors just as much as it does for their grandkids on college campuses.
More so than any of her chart-topping hits, “Come From the Heart” represents” Mattea’s critical status as a bridge between folk and Appalachian traditions and contemporary country music. It’s long been overshadowed by this album’s Grammy-winning hit that didn’t top the charts, but it’s every bit as essential.
“Come From the Heart” gets an A.
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I hesitate to say that anyone ever does a song better than Don Williams. Don’s version is indeed excellent, but it is a different interpretation than Kathy’s recording. I agree that the song is well suited to Kathy Mattea’s voice and delivery and like Don, she knocks it out of the ballpark. An easy A for both artists – I do wish Don had released it as a single, but then Kathy might not have covered it and that would have been a shame.
Kevin, Come From The Heart spent two weeks at #1 on Radio & Records on June 2 and 9, 1989, not one week at #1 on Radio & Records on June 2, 1989. Please fix it ASAP, Thank You.
I never knew that Don Williams sang this song but I can easily see why as it’s right in his wheelhouse. I’ll have to give his version a listen. Kathy Mattea either must have been a Don Williams fan or was plugged into the same Nashville sources as she also covered the brilliant “Standing Knee Deep in a River” a few years later, also previously recorded by Williams.
This song is always a pleasant listen, as is almost always the case when Mattea is the vocalist, and the simple message is endearing. That said, it’s always struck me as pretty slight for a song that topped the charts. Perhaps I have a chip on my shoulder that this topped the chart while the spine-tingling “Where’ve You Been” fell far short, but either way there were quite a few Mattea songs I preferred to this one.
Grade: B
This is fine, if a bit slight in the Mattea scheme of things. As far as her Number Ones, I don’t think it’s up there with Goin’ Gone or Eighteen Wheels…; I also think it falls short of less successful but still creative benchmarks Where’ve You Been and A Few Good Things Remain. Still, I’d give it a solid B.