Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs

Arrived in timeframe promised and in perfect condition. Purchasing is very easy using Amazon's 1-click process.

Every Marty fan, every country music lover, every folk music fan, and every Americana collector should have this CD. Perfect singing, great song selection, superb accompaniment, and both the long and short versions of "El Paso" are found here. "El Paso" is a story song written by Marty that matches or exceeds the best of Woody Guthrie's ballads. I put it in the class of songs like "Tom Joad" and "East Texas Red." Marty's mix here of originals and traditional songs was a key release of the Folk Revival, and the one that made it OK for country singers to make common cause with the hippies who loved folk songs. Eddy Arnold's album "Thereby Hangs a Tale" also fits this groove, and came along at about the same time, but Marty's album is even better as a whole. "Big Iron" is the leadoff tune, and it too, has shown staying power over 50 years, but "El Paso" is the iconic Marty Robbins creation.

Bought a new copy of the classic, Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads. This Columbia recording is of qood quality. Mr. Robbins' music has its usual unique, pleasing quality. All songs are smooth and great on the ears.

This may well be the greatest album of Marty Robbins' career. He seemed to have a passion for the Western music, although he was one of the greatest "crooners" in Country music as well.
I only have one complaint here and that is the inclusion of the "chopped up" version of El Paso, and (I guess technically two complaints) that the full length version of the song is not in stereo. I mean, come on, if the edited version is edited from the full length recording (and it was with one verse edited out) and the edited version was recorded in stereo, then wouldn't it just go unsaid that the full length version should be in stereo as well??
All in all this is a great album.

Old standards that have been great for almost fifty years. Well worth having in one's collection.