Marty Robbins was a jack of all trades.
We’re talking about one of the kings when it comes to country and western music, as he mastered the art of the guitar, piano, and dobro. Not to mention, he served in the Navy during World War II, and the guy was an accomplished actor and NASCAR driver.
We can attribute Robbins as a pioneer for the country and western genre, as his career spanned from the 1940s, all the way to the early 1980s and racking up 17 number ones along the way, before he passed away at the young age of 57 in 1982, after a battle with cardiovascular disease.
The Arizona native lived his life pedal to the metal, and he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
With that being said, I was digging through the vaults and found this oldie from all the way back in 1965, live from The Drifter.
In the black and white video, Robbins played his number one hit “El Paso,” a good ol’ western ballad off his 1959 Gunfighter and Trail Songs album.
The song is about a cowboy in El Paso, Texas, who fell in love with a Mexican dancer named Feleena, and when the cowboy notices a fellow cowboy having a drink with Feleena, he challenges him to a gunfight. Sure enough, the jealous cowboy leaves the new guy for dead as he flees the scene.
Talk about one helluva storyline.
The hit song eventually won a Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961, further solidifying Robbins name in country music fame forever.
Check it out:
