Track Listing

1. Big Iron
2. Hundred and Sixty Acres
3. They're Hanging Me Tonight
4. Cool Water
5. Billy the Kid
6. Utah Carol
7. Strawberry Roan
8. Master's Call
9. Running Gun
10. Paso
11. In the Valley
12. Little Green Valley
13. Hanging Tree [*]
14. Saddle Tramp [*]
15. Paso [Full-Length Version][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4828 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1999-10-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
A lonely Westerner in Nashville, Marty Robbins salved his soul by cutting an album (in one afternoon) of mostly self-composed cowboy ballads. One of them was a four-and-a-half-minute epic, "El Paso," that broke every rule of Top 40 programming to become a No. 1 pop and country hit in 1960. Robbins was arguably the most surefooted and accomplished singer in all country music, and that was never more obvious than on these Western ballads performed to often breathtaking perfection with a very small group and a vocal trio. Other titles include "Big Iron" (also a Top 30 hit), "Running Gun," and Western classics like "Cool Water," "Billy the Kid," and "The Strawberry Roan." Three extra tracks flesh out the 1999 release, including "Saddle Tramp" (the B-side of "Big Iron") and "The Hanging Tree" (title song from the 1959 Gary Cooper Western). --Colin Escott

Customer Reviews

The Real West
First I'd like to say I absolutely despise most of the swabby, commercial garbage played on most so-called Country and Western stations today. Have a singer whine and sing through his nose, throw in a little fiddle and some stupid lyrics and presto: instant country music which is rarely more than pop music with a twang.Those who want to hear what real country/western is all about have only a few contemporary artists like Junior Brown or Dwight Yoakam to listen to or they have to go back to the old masters.Marty Robbins is a western native who put the "western" in C&W music and his album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" is the vehicle with which he accomplishes that.Any one who loves the west can't help being moved by the collection of timeless classics on this album. Frankly, though its a great song, I am tired of El Paso.There are many equally good songs here. The listener will conjure images of the frontier days with the fantastic Big Iron, His Master's Call and the Hanging Tree. Anyone who has experienced the wide expanses of the intermountain west will appreciate A Hundred and Sixty Acres, Little Green Valley and Cool Water. That those are my favorites doesn't diminish the others.There is little quite like the smooth, rich, manly vocal style of Robbins or the tight play of his band. In the general style, only Gordon Lightfoot is his vocal equal.If you buy only one C&W album in your life, this should be the one for it is the standard against which all others should be measured.

This Will Take You Back
My dad loved Marty Robbins. I have so many memories of summer nights listening to the stereo playing "Big Iron" or "El Paso" and dad singing along, or actually, talking along, announcing each verse before it came up, sitting in the front yard under a blanket of stars.

Both dad and Marty Robbins are gone now. I never thought of collecting Robbins' albums much until recently, when I became irked at myself for not remembering the lyrics to El Paso. I bought this CD and everything just flooded back. All of these songs are great. "Cool Water", "Billy the Kid"...It was so easy, as a kid, to take Robbins for granted. But now I realize his was a very strong voice. The backup vocals and musicianship, as well as the lonesome-sounding, echoing production, make for a perfect country-western sound.

5 Stars for Marty, but thumbs down for Sony!
Like others who have reviewed this CD, I was first introduced to "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" by my grandfather and to listen to the songs touches just about every memory I have of him. I have to say that the remastering for CD is nothing short of fantastic. The sounds are all fresh and new, and this is stated by someone who knows every note by heart.

There is a real problem with this CD, in that Sony added some "rare" B-sides. "Saddle Tramp" and "Hanging Tree" are available on other collections. I am sure that Sony could have delved in its vaults and come up with some real gems to add to this collection, such as bits and pieces of the recording session itself (which, in retrospect, seems to be a historic note), alternate takes and the like. Instead, it seems that Sony chose to rehash more of the same material it has used before.

It is a great job on the CD, but a poor choice of "new" material...