Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs 180g Import LP (Transparent Blue Vinyl)

Limited edition transparent blue pressing.

"Martin Robinson often claimed that his childhood was unhappy. One positive he did take from his upbringing, however, was a love the West. He was raised in the dusty Arizona town of Glendale, stealing off to catch the latest Gene Autry film when he was not working as a horse breaker with his brother. After several mainstream hits during the 1950s (including "Singing The Blues," simultaneously taken to No. 1 by Guy Mitchell), the renamed Robbins turned to his Western heritage for this mold-breaking, trend-setting record.

"Recorded in a single day with a well-drilled yet understated band, Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs was a homage to the Old West. Some cuts were traditional story-songs, most notably 'Billy The Kid' and 'The Strawberry Roan.' What set the record apart was the quartet of Robbins-penned songs, delivered in his unmistakably tender croon. 'Big Iron' is a wonderfully evocative piece of widescreen Western myth-spinning, informed by tales told to the young Robbins by his Texas ranger grandfather. 'El Paso' worked the theme into a first-person narrative, Robbins telling of how he shot cold a stranger for the love of a mysterious Mexican girl. The recording won the first Grammy awarded to a country song; the LP from which it came set the template for the countless country concept albums that followed.

"Robbins went on to further success: in the charts, sure, but also as an actor, TV host, writer (he penned a novel, The Small Man), and stock-car racing driving." -Will Fulford Jones, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die