Songfacts®:

• The music of Daniel Lanois often reflects his spiritual journey, an open-hearted relationship with the divine. In this song, he goes down that path, singing, "I'm a stranger in the eyes of the Maker." The lyrics are filled with biblical imagery: "the fields of Abraham," "east of Eden."
  
  This kind of song about searching under the eye of God is found in the work of U2, whom Lanois has often worked with. He's co-produced several of their albums, including The Joshua Tree and All That You Can't Leave Behind.
• "The Maker" was released in Europe as a single from Lanois' debut solo album, Acadie. He recorded it in New Orleans, with has a rich musical history and ties to Lanois' French-Canadian ancestors. The Acadians were forced out of their native Canada in the 1700s and settled in Lafayette, near New Orleans (thus the album title). They came to be known as "Cajuns."
  
  A few years after the album was released, Lanois established a studio in New Orleans called Kingsway.
• That's Aaron Neville on backing vocals; around this time Lanois was producing the Neville Brothers album Yellow Moon. Art Neville (piano) and Cyril Neville (djembe drum) also appear on the track.
• This song was used at the end of the 1996 movie Sling Blade and appears on the soundtrack, which Daniel Lanois compiled.
• The song found a following in Lanois' native Canada, where it charted at #72, but despite great reviews, his solo work never had anywhere near the audience of his productions for other artists. This owes in part to promotion, as Lanois would quickly start a new project instead of going on tour.
• Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris recorded "The Maker" for Nelson's 1998 album Teatro, which Lanois produced. Others to cover the song include The Tea Party, and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds.