Marty Robbins: El Paso - A Centenary Tribute, His 60 Finest 1951-1962

It was Johnny Cash who declared: “There’s no greater country singer than Marty Robbins”. Yet Marty Robbins (1925-1982) was so much more than one of the most popular country artists of all time. His warm, appealing voice proved equally adept at rock ’n’ roll, pop, Hawaiian music, standards, cool jazz and, especially, his own genre of “gunfighter ballads” – few singers have successfully displayed such wide-ranging styles, all of them represented in Retrospective’s centenary tribute. From his debut 1951 recording, Tomorrow You’ll Be Gone, through to his biggest UK hit, Devil Woman, in 1962, here is Marty’s very best. The first No.1, I’ll Go On Alone, is followed by a string of others: Singing The Blues, A White Sport Coat, The Story Of My Life. Then come the magnificent gunfighter ballads such as El Paso, Big Iron, The Hanging Tree, Running Gun, The Ballad Of The Alamo…  Johnny Cash was right.