| Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1959 | |||
| Recorded | April 7, 1959 | |||
| Studio | Bradley Studios, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 35:25 (1959 LP) 44:44 (1999 CD) | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Don Law | |||
| Marty Robbins chronology | ||||
| ||||
Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is the fifth studio album byMarty Robbins, released on theColumbia Records label in September 1959 and peaking at number six on theU.S. pop albums chart. It was recorded in a single eight-hour session on April 7, 1959,[1] and was certifiedgold by theRIAA in 1965[2] andplatinum in 1986.[3] It is perhaps best known for Robbins's most successful single, "El Paso," a major hit on both the country and pop music charts, as well as for its opening track, "Big Iron", a song that gained a resurgence in popularity online as anInternet meme after its inclusion in the 2010 video gameFallout: New Vegas.[4][5]
A follow-up album of cowboy songs,More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, was released in 1960. In 2017,Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs was selected for preservation in theNational Recording Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Rolling Stone | Positive[7] |
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."[8] It is included in every revision of the list of1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[9]
Years after the album's release, members of theWestern 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."[10]
In 1999 the album was reissued forcompact disc on theLegacy Records label with the tracks resequenced and with three bonus tracks: the full length version of "El Paso," theB-side "Saddle Tramp" and the film song "The Hanging Tree." It was part of Sony's American Milestones reissue series for classiccountry and western albums including, among others,At Folsom Prison byJohnny Cash andRed Headed Stranger byWillie Nelson.
In 2010, "Big Iron" was featured inObsidian Entertainment's role-playing video gameFallout: 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".[4]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Big Iron" | Marty Robbins | 3:56 |
| 2. | "Cool Water" | Bob Nolan | 3:09 |
| 3. | "Billy the Kid" | Traditional | 2:19 |
| 4. | "A Hundred and Sixty Acres" | David Kapp | 1:40 |
| 5. | "They're Hanging Me Tonight" | James Low, Art Wolpert | 3:05 |
| 6. | "The Strawberry Roan" | Curley Fletcher | 3:25 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "El Paso" | Marty Robbins | 4:19 |
| 2. | "In the Valley" | Marty Robbins | 1:48 |
| 3. | "The Master's Call" | Marty Robbins | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Running Gun" | Tompall Glaser,Jim Glaser | 2:10 |
| 5. | "The Little Green Valley" | Carson Robison | 2:26 |
| 6. | "Utah Carol" | Traditional | 3:13 |
The reissue adds the tracks "The Hanging Tree" (a non-album single), "Saddle Tramp" (B-side of "Big Iron"), and the uneditedmonaural single version of "El Paso."
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Big Iron" | Marty Robbins | 3:56 |
| 2. | "A Hundred and Sixty Acres" | David Kapp | 1:40 |
| 3. | "They're Hanging Me Tonight" | James Low, Art Wolpert | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Cool Water" | Bob Nolan | 3:09 |
| 5. | "Billy the Kid" | traditional | 2:19 |
| 6. | "Utah Carol" | traditional | 3:13 |
| 7. | "The Strawberry Roan" | Curley Fletcher | 3:25 |
| 8. | "The Master's Call" | Marty Robbins | 3:05 |
| 9. | "Running Gun" | Tompall Glaser, Jim Glaser | 2:10 |
| 10. | "El Paso" | Marty Robbins | 4:19 |
| 11. | "In the Valley" | Marty Robbins | 1:48 |
| 12. | "The Little Green Valley" | Carson Robison | 2:26 |
| 13. | "The Hanging Tree" | Jerry Livingston,Mack David | 2:50 |
| 14. | "Saddle Tramp" | Marty Robbins | 2:03 |
| 15. | "El Paso" (full length version) | Marty Robbins | 4:38 |
| Chart (1960) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC)[13] | 20 |
| USTop Stereo LPs (Billboard) | 6 |
