Are there any other Marty Robbins fans here? Marty Robbins - Wikipedia I have loads of LPs & CDs of his songs. Some are original releases, others compilations, mainly Bear Family label. Generally my LPs get played most.
His GunfighterBallads albums are a must. Many of his western songs are truly American standards. Bear Family set, Under the Western Skies, collects all of his western recordings. Listening to these songs, reminds me of what an incredible singer/ songwriter he was.
I have had a copy of Come Back To Me on cassette since I was 6 years old. I used to insist everyone be quiet when “Some Memories Just Won’t Die” came on.
"Man Walks Among Us" is my favorite Marty Robbins song, I was introduced to it by a Jonathan Richman cover
As many of you probably know, "Don't Worry" is notable for what is generally considered to be the first fuzz tone on a record when Grady Martin's 6 string bass went through a faulty mixing desk channel by accident in late 1960. Marty didn't like the effect and wanted to have the bass track rerecorded but producer Don Law disagreed and released the song with the distorted bass as is. This little decision proved to be much more significant than anyone at the time could have dreamed. Fuzz bass starts at 1:27
I have The Essential Marty Robbins 1951 - 1982 box set. I love it. Truly essential. I highly recommend it to any fan of country & western music, or music in general. He was more than just a country musician. They don't make music like this anymore . Someday I might purchase the Bear Family Records box sets, but they are a little out of my price range.
I just mentioned Marty Robbins yesterday on a wonderful posthumous Elvis Presley album thread started by @mark winstanley. We were all complaining about how modern country music seems to have lost its way. Very little organic instrumentation and the art of great background singing seems to have all but disappeared. I mentioned that country singers from the Golden Age like Marty Robbins, Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap and Charlie Rich could sing circles around the current crop of modern country singers. Many of the old timers were also incredible musicians as well. In fact, Glen Campbell and Charlie Rich were virtuosos on their respective instruments. As a child who grew up in the 1960's, with a father that was a PD for an influential top 40 radio station, The Mighty 690, I remember distinctly hearing Marty Robbins great country-pop hit, A White Sport Coat, a whole lot while growing up. It also features some fantastic lead guitar from the great Al Caiola and the Ray Conniff Orchestra as well. It remains one of my all time favorite singles.
My Woman, My Woman, My Wife is one of my go-to karaoke songs, Lol. Marty and I have a similar range apparently, but I am not half the singer that he was to say the least. It is also in my top five Marty songs of all time, and one he actually wrote as well. I do not think he gets enough credit for the songwriting side of his well rounded talent, but that is another matter altogether. The very gifted Bill Walker is credited with the fine string arrangement on the single, but I also notice a guitar credit from Charlie Daniels as well.
There are certainly fans here, and lots of fans particularly with the 'Gunfighter Ballads' album from 1959. Here ya go! 14 pages of discussion about it. Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs – all 12 songs recorded in a single 8 hour session
There is a five-LP collection on Bear Family called In The Wild West which is pretty essential in my book.
For awhile I got really really tired of hearing El Paso, there was a movie theater that seemed to have it and Nat Cole's Mona Lisa on some kind of short loop playing before the curtains would open. Uusally this woulod be enough to do in a song for life with me, but I can actually enjoy El Paso (and the follow-up and Nat Cole too) once more. It really is a landmark song! Marty had a great voice and style. I always though he should be related to Dennis 'McCloud' Weaver...
Okay, I guess this is neither albums or songs, but this is a killer Nudie Cohen jacket and boots... but I can't seem to find a photo of him in this one... just the black one and the white one.
There's a great story about Marty and Johnny Cash. Both were great friends. Johnny had just released his very successful 'Don't Take Your Guns To Town' and riding high on the charts with it. Marty said to Johnny, 'I'm gonna write a better cowboy Western song than yours', jokingly. Johnny scoffed, as if to say, 'Yeah right! hahaha'. Shortly after Johnny heard 'El Paso', and said, 'Well I'll be....he went and done it!'.
Songwriting legends Burt Bacharach and Hal David got their very first hit record with Marty Robbins when he recorded The Story Of My Life.
Marty Robbins 16th and last number one country song was a remake of Among My Souvenirs, which of course Connie Francis also had a huge hit with in the 1950's. This was one of my mother's favorite songs and she loved Marty's version as well. Billy Sherrill did a fine job with the rather sparse and simple production, which was not necessarily his typical production style, Lol. I really love Marty's version as I was not very familiar with Connie's iconic version at the time.
Not my kind of genre, but the song Big Iron seems to be one of those songs that reaches all kinds of audiences. Thank you Fallout: New Vegas for introducing that song to me any many other people near my age. Of all the licensed music featured on that game, Big Iron is probably the one you'll see mentioned most among players even despite other really quality tracks in the game.
I am a bit of a fan of Marty Robbins, I grew up hearing him a lot as my dad is a fan, I like his Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album, although all I have personally is his Gold - 20 Original Hits LP. Is it true that Marty Robbins was involved with inventing the fuzz guitar effect? I read that a circuit malfuntioned in the recording studio producing this effect which they, Marty?, or the producer or recording engineer or someone?, happened to like so they made a circuit to produce the effect on purpose and called it 'Fuzz-Tone'? Edit: I should have read the thread more carefully, now I see Devin S already mentioned this above .
I have those, a bit worn now. BF CDs are almost as good. The CD set includes "All Around Cowboy" tracks & "Tonight Carmen". BF 5 LP volumes of Marty's "Mr Teardrop" era songs are great. The 3 Rock'n'Rollin Robbins, including his Ray Conniff recordings are good. I like Marty's Hawiian & Caribbean albums as well. My rarest album, original release, is "RFD".
My grandparents loved him. They loved the American west and Mexico and Mexican art. I am not sure if Marty inspired their love of the old West or if he simply sang about what they loved but I tip my hat Marty!
