20 Essential Albums Every Country Music Fan Should Own

5. Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBzZJd-nfw Key Tracks: El Paso, Big Iron, Cool Water 'Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I feel in love with a Mexican girl...' 'Old' country never truly gets old. Marty Robbins' first album, the 1959 Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, is only getting better with age. Every outlaw country and western singer since has turned to it for inspiration. This is traditional country, with songs of cowboys and the old West. El Paso, which was a huge success in both the country and mainstream pop charts, is like a John Wayne movie condensed into four-and-a-half minutes and accompanied by charming guitar work. These are well-worn stories, but listening to this album you cannot help but invest in them, time and time again. Amazingly, the whole album was recorded in a single day. Astonishing.