Recorded April 7, 1959 Release date September 1959 Label Columbia Records | Artist Marty Robbins Producer Don Law Genres Country music, Pop music | |
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Released September 1959 (LP)
1999 (CD) Length 35:25 (1959 LP)
44:44 (1999 CD) Marty's Greatest Hits
(1959) Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
(1959) Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
(1959) More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
(1960) Country music albums Tragic Songs of Life, The Performer, Today, Modern Sounds in Country a, Unearthed | ||
Big iron marty robbins
Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is an album released by Marty Robbins on the Columbia Records label in September 1959, peaking at #6 on the U.S. pop albums chart. It was recorded on April 7, 1959, and was certified a gold record by the RIAA in 1965. It is perhaps best known for Robbins' most successful single, "El Paso", a major hit on both the country and pop music charts. It reached #1 in both charts at the start of 1960 and won the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording the following year.
Contents
Reception
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". It is included in every revision of the list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
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".
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.
Personnel
Songs
1Big Iron4:00
2Cool Water3:12
3Billy the Kid2:21