Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins stands out in country music history for the extraordinary range of styles he embraced across more than three decades. Rather than settling into the role of a straightforward country vocalist, he delivered successful performances across an impressive variety of genres. He seldom chased prevailing fashions, instead launching into unexpected avenues that astonished fellow performers and audiences. His body of work demonstrated a clear refusal to be confined by conventional boundaries around the genre. Although his first releases consisted of straightforward tearjerkers, he began incorporating rock elements by the mid-1950s, layering fiddles over songs originally associated with Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Late in that decade he scored his own pop successes with adolescent-oriented material such as "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)." At roughly the same moment he finished his album Song of the Islands. In 1959 he extended his reach further still with the hit single "El Paso," inaugurating a sequence of gunfighter ballads that continued for the remainder of his career. He also registered blues-inflected successes such as "Don't Worry," the 1961 recording that first brought fuzz-tone guitar to a mainstream audience. Scarcely twelve months afterward he notched a calypso chart entry with "Devil Woman." He additionally produced a lasting body of gospel recordings together with numerous sentimental ballads, proving he could deliver smooth vocal performances free of any rustic twang.

Born Martin David Robertson on September 26, 1925, in Glendale, Arizona, Robbins died on December 8, 1982. He grew up hearing music from an early age because his maternal grandfather, "Texas" Bob Heckle, had once worked in medicine shows and shared cowboy narratives and traveling-show anecdotes with his grandson. Those tales captivated the boy, and as a teenager Robbins labored on his older brother's ranch outside Phoenix, devoting more attention to ranch tasks than to schoolwork. He never completed high school, and by his late teens he had begun committing minor offenses while drifting from place to place. In 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to serve during World War II; while in uniform he acquired guitar skills and cultivated an affinity for Hawaiian music. After leaving the service in 1947 he returned to Glendale and started performing in neighborhood clubs and on local radio, sometimes billing himself as "Jack Robinson" to keep the activity hidden from his disapproving mother. Within three years he had built a solid following throughout Arizona, appearing regularly on a Mesa radio station and hosting his own Phoenix television program, Western Caravan. By then he had adopted the professional name Marty Robbins.

With help from Little Jimmy Dickens, who had admired Robbins after performing on Western Caravan, he obtained a Columbia recording contract in 1951. His debut single, "Love Me or Leave Me Alone," appeared early in 1952 and went nowhere, as did the follow-up "Crying 'Cause I Love You," yet "I'll Go On Alone" climbed to number one in January 1953. After that breakthrough he signed a publishing agreement with Acuff-Rose and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. "I Couldn't Keep From Crying" kept him in the Top Ten during spring 1953, but his two 1954 releases, "Pretty Words" and "Call Me Up (And I'll Come Calling on You)," failed to register. Rock-and-roll covers of "That's All Right" and "Maybellene" returned him to the country Top Ten in 1955, although it was the number-one ascent of "Singing the Blues" in fall 1956 that truly established his stardom. The track remained at number one for thirteen weeks and made Robbins a household name, even though Guy Mitchell's competing version soon overtook it on the pop charts. The same pattern occurred with "Knee Deep in the Blues," which reached number three country but never appeared on the pop side because Mitchell rushed out another cover. To avoid further duplication Robbins began recording with easy-listening arranger Ray Conniff; the strategy proved effective at sustaining commercial momentum during rock-and-roll's peak. Their first joint effort, "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)," dominated the country charts for five weeks in spring 1957 and reached number two pop, finally giving him a major crossover hit.

Following that success Robbins maintained a steady presence on both pop and country charts until the mid-1960s. The Burt Bacharach–Hal David song "The Story of My Life" returned him to number one country in early 1958 (number fifteen pop), while "Just Married," "Stairway of Love," and "She Was Only Seventeen (He Was One Year More)" kept him in teenage-pop territory throughout the rest of the year. Alongside those singles he also cut rockabilly tracks and Hawaiian albums that attracted separate followings. He launched his own booking agency and a short-lived label called Robbins, and he made his first film appearances in the Westerns Raiders of Old California (1957) and Badge of Marshal Brennan (1958), playing a Mexican character named Felipe. Those roles reflected his growing interest in Western legends and foreshadowed a musical turn he would soon pursue. During 1958 and 1959 he recorded numerous cowboy and Western numbers, the first of which, "The Hanging Tree," the theme from the Gary Cooper picture of the same title, became a hit in spring 1959. That release merely paved the way for his signature song and greatest Western success, "El Paso." Issued in the summer, the single remained on the country charts for six months, including seven weeks at number one, while also topping the pop charts. The accompanying album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs likewise performed strongly, peaking at number six pop and eventually achieving platinum status.

"El Paso" launched a prosperous decade. Another Western narrative, "Big Iron," reached the country Top Ten in 1960, yet Robbins's next major hit arrived in 1961 with "Don't Worry." Powered by the first fuzz-toned guitar ever heard on a country record, the track held number one for ten weeks and crossed over to number three pop. The following year "Devil Woman" duplicated much of that success, logging eight weeks at number one, and it was succeeded by yet another chart-topper, "Ruby Ann." In between those singles he enjoyed several smaller hits, notably the Top Ten entry "It's Your World," and for the balance of the decade his biggest records alternated with more modest successes. While his career remained strong, Robbins took up stock-car racing in 1962, beginning with dirt-track events before competing in NASCAR. Racing remained a sideline, however, and he continued releasing hits, including the 1963 number-one single "Begging to You." The next year he starred in the motion picture Ballad of a Gunfighter, drawn from material on his celebrated album.

Chart momentum persisted through 1964 until it faltered after he took Gordon Lightfoot's "Ribbon of Darkness" to number one in spring 1965. For the rest of that year and much of the next his singles stayed outside the Top Ten while he focused on filming a television series titled The Drifter, built around a character he had originated. He also appeared in several low-budget Nashville films—Country Music Caravan, The Nashville Story, and Tennessee Jamboree—as well as the racing drama Hell on Wheels. Although "The Shoe Goes on the Other Foot Tonight" climbed to number three in 1966, it was not until "Tonight Carmen" reached number one in 1967 that his fortunes improved markedly. Over the ensuing two years he regularly placed country-pop singles such as "I Walk Alone" and "It's a Sin" in the Top Ten. In August 1969 he suffered a heart attack on the road that necessitated bypass surgery in 1970. Despite the health scare he kept recording, touring, and acting. Early in 1970 "My Woman My Woman My Wife" became his final significant crossover hit, topping the country charts, reaching number forty-two pop, and ultimately winning a Grammy.

Robbins departed Columbia in 1972 and spent the next three years at Decca/MCA. Although "Walking Piece of Heaven," "Love Me," and "Twentieth Century Drifter" all reached the Top Ten, most of his singles attracted little attention. He nevertheless retained a following through live appearances and film roles, including A Man and a Train with Lee Marvin and Guns of a Stranger. In March 1974 he became the final performer at the Ryman Auditorium, the original Grand Ole Opry venue, and one week later he was the first artist to appear at the new Grand Ole Opry House. Further recognition arrived in 1975 when he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. That same year he rejoined Columbia, and during 1976 and 1977 he enjoyed his final sustained run of Top Ten hits, with "El Paso City" and "Among My Souvenirs" both reaching number one. After that burst he settled into a string of minor chart entries that lasted four years. In October 1982 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Two months later he endured his third major heart attack—the second had occurred in early 1981—and although he underwent surgery he died on December 8. Following his death the theme from Clint Eastwood's film Honky Tonk Man was released and climbed to number ten. Robbins left an extensive catalog that includes ninety-four charting country singles and a recorded legacy that illustrated the stylistic breadth possible within country music.