Last year, singer/songwriter Ellis Paul said he was feeling in a 'family way.' And, as a result, he's recently given birth. His impressive offspring is a record called "The Hero In You." He plans to sign all sorts of songs from it when he performs on Friday, Jan. 20 at Montclair's Outpost in the Burbs. 

"As most people know, I've done 'kids' records before," said Paul, best-known for his lyrical grown-up tunes. "Still, this is the first time I've ever done what I consider to be a real 'family album.' It's a record about American heroes and it's aimed at slightly older kids and their parents. I have a specific goal tied to the record: I'm hoping it gets the whole family communicating with one another."

It certainly could.

Paul's disc, which is out this week, is called "The Hero In You." It's part sing-along, part history lesson, featuring tunes about early American journalist Nellie Bly and Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks. People who stood up, or in Parks' case, sat down, for something important.

"These people are important to the development of our country," said Paul. "But I also wrote the songs for my own kids. They're getting older and I wanted them to know about certain Americans who changed things for the better."

Paul was born in Maine, is based in the Boston area, and is considered one of the Northeast's musical treasures. His songs have been featured in a number of movies and TV shows. He's made a slew of fine, thoughtful records. He's won a fair number of Boston Music Awards. Despite his grown-up material, he's got a nice side job of making records and doing shows in the afternoons for kids.

This album, Paul claims, will require a bit of a different presentation. And probably a different sort of venue, as well.

"It's going to be a bit of a challenge selling the new album," said the affable Paul. "It doesn't quite fit in that nice niche of children's records. It's more, well, if it was a book, you'd classify it as a Young Adult novel. So, I'm going to have to find appropriate places to play and sing about these American heroes. I'm guessing schools and libraries and anywhere they have all-ages shows. I need to get to the youngsters before they run off to soccer practice," Paul said half-joking.

For those of you who like Paul's more 'grown-up' songs, including "Heaven's Wherever You Are," you might wonder when he's going to put out some more music like that.

"I've already started thinking about my next record," he said. "My last one, 'The Day After Everything Changed,' came out in 2010, so it's been a while. The nice thing about writing these recent hero songs is, they're pretty different from my grown-up fare. You get chained to one type of writing for a while and it's great. Because then you're chomping on the bit to do something completely different."

He sighs, like a man who's happy, but has certainly been working hard lately.

"Still, I have to go out and sell 'The Hero In You.' That's the thing closest to me now. And when I've done all the shows and visited the radio stations that want to play it? Well, it'll be time for another kind of song."

Info: Ellis Paul will be at Outpost in the Burbs, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 67 Church St., Montclair, on Sunday, Jan. 20. Opening act will be Ari Hest. The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. For more information, go to www.outpostintheburbs.org.