Marty Robbins Sings "Big Iron"

The Old West came alive in the late 1950s on television which such expertly produced shows such as "Wagon Train," "Gunsmoke," "Cheyenne," and "Maverick." Also from that same period came dozens of recordings spotlighting this era in American history. The best known are the two albums by Frankie Laine - and the two by Marty Robbins. "Big Iron" follows in the shadow of the tv westerns and, as brief as this version is, Robbins still manages to tell the story in such a way that it becomes an almost different identity.

So successful were these "cowboy" albums that Marty Robbins was persuaded to star in an independently produced series of programs for a projected western series that never came off. Robbins' was excellent on what survives of this series and it makes one wish he could have had a higher budget that he deserved.

Not only was he a successful recording and performing artist, Marty Robbins was also an avid race car driver, being considered good enough to race in NASCAR races, inlduing the 1973 Daytona 500.