''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' is the fifth studio album by

Marty Robbins Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925 – December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, and NASCAR racing driver. Robbins was one of the most popular and suc ...

, released on the

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

label in September 1959 and peaking at number 6 on the U.S. pop albums chart. It was recorded in a single eight-hour session on April 7, 1959, and was certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 1965 and

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

in 1986. It is perhaps best known for Robbins's most successful single, "

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

", a major hit on both the country and pop music charts, as well as for its opening track, "

Big Iron "Big Iron" is a country ballad written and performed by Marty Robbins, originally released as an album track on ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' in September 1959, then as a single in February 1960 with the song "Saddle Tramp" as the B-si ...

", a song that gained a resurgence in popularity online as an

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' reached number one on both the country and pop music charts at the start of 1960 and won the

Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording The Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording was awarded from 1959 to 1968. From 1959 to 1961 the award was presented as the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Performance. 1965 and 1966 the award category was called Best Country & W ...

the following year. A follow-up album of cowboy songs, ''

More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs ''More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' is a studio album by country music singer Marty Robbins. It was released in 1960 by Columbia Records as a sequel to Robbins' 1959 hit album ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs''. In ''Billboard (magazi ...

'', was released in 1960. In 2017, ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' was selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant".

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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 ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''. Years after the album's release, members of the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...

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", "

", and "The Master's Call". Three were written and previously recorded by others: " Cool Water", "Billy the Kid", and "

The Strawberry Roan ''The Strawberry Roan'' is a 1948 American Western (genre), Western film directed by John English (director), John English and starring Gene Autry. Plot Joe is paralyzed by a wild horse, a strawberry roan. His father, Walt, tries to kill the ...

". In 1999 the album was reissued for

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

on the

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

label with the tracks resequenced and with three bonus tracks: the full length version of "El Paso", the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Saddle Tramp" and the film song " The Hanging Tree". It was part of Sony's American Milestones reissue series for classic

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

albums including, among others, ''

At Folsom Prison ''Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison'' is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. After his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a p ...

'' by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

and ''

Red Headed Stranger ''Red Headed Stranger'' is the 18th studio album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1975. Following the success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, N ...

'' by

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

. In 2010, "Big Iron" was featured in

Obsidian Entertainment Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Par ...

's role-playing video game '' Fallout: New Vegas'' as a track on the in-game radio. The inclusion of the song in the game led to a resurgence in its popularity in the 2010s, with players rediscovering the album and creating Internet memes such as parodies and edits of the album cover and edits/mashups of "Big Iron".

Track listing

Side one

Side two

1999 reissue track listing

The reissue adds the tracks "The Hanging Tree" (a non-album single), "Saddle Tramp" (B-side of "Big Iron"), and a "full-length version" of "El Paso".

Personnel

– vocals, guitar *

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Coal ...

– lead guitar * Jack Pruett – rhythm guitar *

Bob Moore Bob Loyce Moore (November 30, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist who was a member of the Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on over 17,000 documented record ...

– bass * Louis Dunn – drums *

Tompall & the Glaser Brothers Tompall & the Glaser Brothers were an American country music group composed of three brothers: Chuck (February 27, 1936 – June 10, 2019), Jim (December 16, 1937 – April 6, 2019), and Tompall (September 3, 1933 – August 13, 2013) Glaser. The ...

, Bobby Sykes – backing vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1959 albums Marty Robbins albums Columbia Records albums Legacy Recordings albums United States National Recording Registry recordings United States National Recording Registry albums