An acclaimed Dallas musician and producer has released an epic new work: Called Gods & Heroes, it's a rock & roll musical, written and produced by Paul Williams, and it will be released on Tuesday, September 12.

Willliams is a musical Renaissance man who began his music career as guitarist for Mercury Records' act Tablet, and who also played in Dallas bands Vibrolux and Mur, opening for acts from Oasis and the Plimsouls to Charley Crockett and Bob Schneider.

As a producer, he's recorded acts such as Reverend Horton Heat, Polyphonic Spree, 1100 Springs, and Air Review. He produced Are We Chameleons?, a release by Dallas band Home by Hovercraft which included songs for On The Eve, a musical that was performed at the Public Theatre in New York in 2015.

He also co-founded Dallas label State Fair Records in 2014.

Gods & Heroes started as a keep-busy project he completed during the pandemic, but one that quickly grew into a larger-than-life oeuvre.

"Also, I did a two-year stint teaching audio production at Booker T. Washington High School, and I think being around that super-creative environment helped inspire me," he says. "It was nothing I'd ever done before."

He started it out as a screenplay but as it evolved, it turned into a musical.

The piece follows rock star Simon Byrd, presumed dead since he vanished in the late 90s while addicted and spiraling under the pressures of fame and heartbreak.

After taking a mysterious drug called Sleep, Byrd falls into a Rip Van Winkle slumber for 20 years. He awakens to a struggling music industry and the aftermath of loved ones still grappling with his disappearance.

Musicians who appear on the album include Christopher Holt, Richard Martin, James Driscoll, Chris McGuire, and Mark Menza.

In January 2023, Williams hosted a staged reading of the show with a full cast and full band in the Crystal Terrace Restaurant at Broadway Dallas Music Hall at Fair Park, directed by Joel Ferrell. It sold out.

He has some starpower on board: Singing the role of Simon Byrd is Gregory Lush, known for his acting with Dallas Theater Center, Shakespeare Dallas, Theatre 3, Second Thought, Uptown Players, and WaterTower Theatre.

Dominique Lorde, Simon’s former lover and manager, is sung by Val "val." Truong. Simon’s niece Nina is sung by Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumna Madison Russell.

On Wednesday, August 30, cast and band members will join Williams at the Texas Theatre lobby bar from 7:30-10 pm for a listen-before-you-can-stream party — the first chance to hear tracks. For free!

There has not been a staged production, but that's the goal — to find a theater partner where it can be workshopped and performed.