• Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads Zip Album
• Marty Robbins Gunfighter Album

In 1959, Robbins stretched even further with the hit single 'El Paso,' thus heralding a pattern of 'gunfighter ballads' that lasted the balance of his career. Robbins also enjoyed bluesy hits like. The single most influential album of Western songs in post-World War II American music, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs touched a whole range of unexpected bases in its own time and has endured extraordinarily well across the ensuing four decades. The longevity of the album's appeal is a result of Marty Robbins' love of the repertory at hand and the mix of his youthful dynamism.

Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is the fifth studio album by Marty Robbins, released on the Columbia Records label in September 1959 and peaking at #6 on the U.S. pop albums chart. It was recorded in a single eight-hour session on April 7, 1959,^[1] and was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1965^[2] and Platinum in 1986.^[3] It is perhaps best known for Robbins' most successful single, 'El Paso', a major hit on both the country and pop music charts, as well as for its opening track 'Big Iron,' a song that gained a resurgence in popularity on the Internet as a meme.^[4] It reached #1 in both charts at the start of 1960 and won the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording the following year. A follow-up album of cowboy songs, More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, was released in 1960. In 2017, the album was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically, or artistically significant.'^[1]

Reception[edit]

AllMusic gave the album four-and-a-half stars, calling it 'the single most influential album of Western songs in post-World War II American music'.^[7] It is included in every revision of the list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[8]

Years after the album's release, members of the Western Writers of America chose six of its songs as being among the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. Three of them were written by Robbins: 'El Paso', 'Big Iron', and 'The Master's Call'. Three were written and previously recorded by others: 'Cool Water', 'Billy the Kid', and 'The Strawberry Roan'.^[9]

In 1999 the album was reissued for compact disc on the Legacy Records label with the tracks resequenced and with three bonus tracks, including the full length version of 'El Paso'. It was part of Sony's American Milestones reissue series for classic country and western albums including, among others, At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash and Red Headed Stranger by Willie Nelson.

In 2010, with the release of Obsidian Entertainment'sFallout New Vegas, the album was rediscovered by people who played the game and listen to the in-game radio. Although the radio only included Big Iron, other songs on the album were soon found by the players online. Many internet memes were created as a result, with the most common being edits of the cover art.

Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads Zip Album

Track listing[edit]

Side one[edit]

Marty Robbins Gunfighter Album

Side two[edit]

1999 reissue track listing[edit]

Personnel[edit]

• Marty Robbins — vocals, guitar
• Grady Martin — lead guitar
• Jack Pruett — rhythm guitar
• Bob Moore — bass
• Louis Dunn — drums
• Tompall & the Glaser Brothers, Bobby Sykes — backing vocals

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'National Recording Registry Picks Are 'Over the Rainbow''. Library of Congress. March 29, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
2. ^RIAA Gold and Platinum Database. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
3. ^RIAA Gold and Platinum Database. Retrieved 07 February 2019.
4. ^Feldman, Brian (13 February 2019). 'How the 60-Year-Old Country Song 'Big Iron' Became an Enduring Meme'. Intelligencer; New York. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
5. ^Eder, Bruce. Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs at AllMusic. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
6. ^Dubro, Alec (20 September 1969). 'Records'. Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
7. ^Eder, Bruce. 'Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs review'. AllMusic. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
8. ^'1001 Series'. 1001 Series. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
9. ^Western Writers of America (2010). 'The Top 100 Western Songs'. American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2015.