After about a minute and a half of the first track "Big Iron" I realized I was ready for it to end but there was still two and a half minutes to go. Not that the song was bad, it was just really repetitive. Each verse lasted about twenty seconds and did exactly the same thing. I call that the "American Pie" problem. I might be the only person I know who thinks that song would be a million times better if it were half as long, because the music is good, it's just tiring after a while. Someone has to agree with me, because when it was released as a single it was cut in half and released as part 1 and part 2.
Anyway, Marty Robbins' album just couldn't exist in any other time. I really don't think anyone made music like this except to appear on John Wayne movie soundtracks. Was this really what trail music sounded like on the American frontier? Or is this what people in the 50's thought it must have sounded like, just like they thought all cowboys wore Stetson-style hats? The music sounds like standard popular music of the 50s with lyrics themed towards the old frontier. The opener is a hoppy skiffle song. The third track "They're Hanging Me Tonight" is in a similar style to "Blue Moon".
This is probably something every genre of music does over the course of decades. It follows what is generally popular at the time, so Marty Robbins' version of country sounds like slow pop ballads from the 1950's. Other examples: Garth Brooks' country music sounds like wuss-rock from the 1990's. Taylor Swift's country music (when she was still considered country) sounded like teeny-pop junk from the 2000s, so much so that she easily made the transition to straight teeny pop by the 2010s.
Back to the album... It's a real bad idea to place songs with the same progression back-to-back, even if they are in different time signatures. But such is with tracks 6 and 7 "Utah Carol" and "The Strawberry Roan". To be fair, I'm listening to the 1999 CD reissue because the original album is not readily available. The original album did not have this problem. Still whoever was in charge of the re-release should have paid more attention.
Marty Robbins has a fantastic 1950s soft-ballad voice, and the classic harmonizing on this album sounds beautiful. The sound is crisp, bright, and overall excellent quality. If you like classic country music, or maybe if you like old cowboy movies, you should give Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs a listen.
Personally, I found the album sweet but boring. 2 stars.
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