Marty Robbins lived a very successful and full life. He was a singer, songwriter, actor, and could play multiple instruments. He used his musical talents to create 52 studio albums throughout his career. He also had a NASCAR career, almost winning a Rookie of the Year award, but rejecting it after admitting to cheating. After he died at the age of 57 in 1982, NASCAR named an annual race after him, called The Marty Robbins 420.

I’ve heard one single Marty Robbins’ song before as I watched my ex-boyfriend play Fallout and listen to the game’s soundtrack on repeat. “Big Iron” was put next to some of my other favorite artists: Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra. That being said, I have some high hopes for this album. If some of my favorite musicians were placed alongside Robbins, there’s a good chance that I’ll like it. Still, I want him to do his musical comrades justice.

“Big Iron,” the first song on “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” is really catchy (I say after twelve hours of the it being stuck in my head). I can see the appeal to Robbins’ voice since it sounds perfect for the music he’s singing along to, but I could do without the repetitive ending to the end of each verse of the song in order to give it some variety.

The song tells a story of a man who shoots an outlaw that has murdered twenty other people so quickly that the outlaw didn’t even have a chance to react. It’s very empowering if you would’ve been the I-feel-like-roaming-around-carrying-a-gun-and-ultimately-saving-the-day type, but I personally still enjoy the song without having a thirst to kill.

The next song, “A Hundred and Sixty Acres” is extremely satisfying to listen to since all of the four vocalists (Robbins as well as Tompall & the Glaser Brothers) are constantly harmonizing. I would’ve liked to hear what the song could sound like if there were more variety in the harmonies, but I’m still satisfied with the song remaining the way it is. It’s only a little bit less than two minutes long, but I wish it’d been longer.

“The Strawberry Roan” is about a man who is asked to tame a horse as his job. As soon as he hits the saddle, the horse bucks and he flies through the air. At this point in listening to “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” I realize how repetitive the melodies and music can be.

The same tune tends to repeat itself many times throughout the same song, which I don’t think was an issue for me when listening to the album all the way through. Now that I am repeating the songs several times to catch all the lyrics and comprehend the stories being told, it is getting really exhausting to hear the same thing over and over again.

The final song that stood out to me would be “The Hanging Tree.” It stands out because this is the love song of the album. There are a few other songs that could be construed as love songs, but this is only one of two that say it out loud. (The other song focuses much more on a journey, the woman’s race, and the singer’s untimely death than it does on the actual love he feels). Robbins sings of a specific lady that he loves, how he tried to walk away from her by putting his dreams of love on a hanging tree. With help, he returns to take those dreams back and walks away from the tree with his love. The song is actually very sweet, and the lyrics are moving.

This love song stands out because it seems like the topic of love is always in country music. There are only two extremely noticeable songs about love between two people, and I enjoy that.

There is so much more energy spent storytelling in other songs that are new and unlike anything I’ve ever paid attention to. I’m glad I’m hearing about new stories instead of the same tales that have been beaten to death in this genre.

Something that I think needs to be commended in this album is the backing vocals. Throughout the entire album, the three background vocalists tie everything together. While I understand that Robbins’ voice on its own is perfectly sufficient, Tompall & the Glaser Brothers really succeeded at giving the songs depth that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Songs like “Billy the Kid” which feature Robbins’ alone are a lot more flat and perhaps even empty than songs that feature all four singers like “A Hundred and Sixty Acres” or “The Master’s Call”.

This is the album that has stuck out to me most from the 50’s, specifically because it doesn’t sound like the rest of them. I haven’t had anything against the other albums I’ve reviewed so far, but I admittedly was getting tired of listening to them. They all sounded so similar, and as much as I love those strings, something fresh is very welcome.

However, I’m surprised that this is the fresh sound I am welcome to. Whenever I’m asked about my taste in music, my answer is (like many other people I have asked) that I like every genre except for country music. I’ve had such an aversion to country music because I just feel like it just isn’t made for me. I know that there are common and repetitive themes in country music that I could easily get tired of since I’m always looking for something new. I won’t say that I am crazy for “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” but the newness of the sound arrived at a nice time.

A commonality in all of the albums from the 1950’s so far is the nostalgia for a time I was clearly not alive for. I didn’t live in small town Iowa during The Music Man’s run on Broadway. I wasn’t around for the rise of social justice for black singers that began with people like Nat King Cole, and I wasn’t there when Christian music was still a staple in pop culture as it was when “Hymns” by Tennessee Ernie Ford came out. We all know that I wasn’t a cowboy like the man Marty Robbins sings about, but when I listen to this music I feel like I was there for it all. I think that is something special.

Listen to “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” by Marty Robbins on YouTube here or Spotify below.

Variety Show is a biweekly column that is in the midst of analyzing the best-selling albums from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. One of the top 10-20 albums from each decade will be reviewed, discussed and/or analyzed each week in chronological order. The column aims to draw cultural, musical, and other contextual connections between artists and albums over time, as well as go on a broad but refined journey. Next week we’ll be talking about “Marry Christmas” by Johnny Mathis, the fifth best-selling album from the 1950’s.

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When I begin to think about Dale Jr. and what he has been able to accomplish, it is almost impossible to not compare him to his dad. Today we live in a sports world where we always look to compare athletes. For instance, there is the mind numbing argument of LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan argument, or the comparisons of Peyton Manning to NFL’s legendary quarterbacks.

Dale Jr. entered into the highest form of racing in 1999 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series, driving the number 8 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. After a handful of races in 1999, Dale Jr. became a full time NASCAR Winston Cup Driver in 2000. It didn’t take him long to find victory lane as Earnhardt Jr. scored his first win at Texas Motor Speedway in just his 12^th start, breaking his dad’s record for fewest starts by a driver to win an event.

Unfortunately, that memorable year in 2000 was quickly overshadowed by the tragic accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 that took the life of Dale Earnhardt.

Even before the death of Dale Sr. many people speculated about the possibility of Dale Jr. becoming the next driver to challenge the seven championships of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Since that fateful day in 2001, it’s safe to say the career of Dale Jr. is not what most had expected. However, while what Dale Jr. has done on the track can be measured, what he has done for NASCAR off the track cannot.

What stands out the most to me is the 11 straight Most Popular Driver awards in NASCAR. This feat speaks volumes about the following that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has acquired throughout his career. With the amount of new drivers that enter NASCAR yearly, the roar of the crowd for Dale Jr. is often heard over the noise of 43 of the loudest machines in sports.

Dale Jr. has also been able to find success with consistent finishes in the point standings at the end of the NASCAR season. Over the past 13 years, he has an average at 11.5 in the standings, with his best finish being in 2003 when he placed third.

His success has also notched him 20 career wins, 205 top tens, and 13 pole wins.

Although the comparisons between athletes will never end (and in this case father and son) it is safe to say that Dale Jr. has been able to find a fresh start in the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. His victory in the newest edition of the Daytona 500 has without a doubt lit a fire within his Hendrick Motorsports team.

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5. Blasting Refs:

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  Head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Nate McMillan, was fined $35,000 for blasting the referees following their loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their playoff series.  Coach McMillan refused to go into details about his thoughts on the huge discrepancy of free throws shot by both teams in the fourth quarter.  The Mavs had a commanding 19-2 edge.  McMillan blames the refs for this lopsided case and uses it to explain his team coming up short in the end.  Danny Crawford, the head official of that game, has come up in officiating Dallas’s playoff games before.  Previously, the Mavs were 2-16 in games that he officiated so bias was certainly not in order of the game.  McMillan must move on and help his team regain their composure or they will be early exits in the playoffs.  For the record, Dallas has not won a playoff series since their championship run in 2005-2006.

4. Thankless Job:

• NHL vice president Colin Campbell has recently declared his job thankless and unsatisfying.  Why you might ask?  Well, he takes criticism for making indecisions on punishments for “cheap hits” on players.  Suspensions differ for players despite the hits being very similar.  What hurts Campbell’s case is that he just does not like to explain himself to the media.  His job isn’t thankless; his job is to keep order among players and to make an example of some to those who play dirty.  Campbell is more media shy than Jay Cutler, but to call his job thankless?  Child please!

3. Speeding Ticket in NASCAR:

• Jimmie Johnson came out and apologized for comments on NASCAR’s credibility for issuing speeding penalties.  Now this is not your typical (or atypical) speeding ticket of going 10 miles over the limit.  Johnson was busted for going 5 miles over the speed limit in the pit zone.  While some people do not consider NASCAR a sport, it should be noted that a driver should be allowed to go as fast as he wants, provided the pit crew is off the track.  NASCAR has stated that there is no need to post the speeds of the driver’s cars for all to see and Johnson called out NASCAR in giving him a bogus penalty for taking points away from him.  Tough break but considering he might win his 6^th championship in a row, this is nothing.

2. Labor Strike Warning:

• In wake of the NFL’s labor strike, NBA commissioner David Stern is calling the situation a mess and prays that the situation does not happen to his NBA.  The NBA has plans to send a revised proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement to prevent a lockout from happening in the NBA.  The last lockout that took place in basketball was in 1998-1999 and there was only a temporary work stoppage, but with the economy the way it is, no chances should be taken.  Should Stern be concerned about another league’s handling of its policy?  Absolutely not.  He should focus his attention on his own league first.

1. Dodging Nothing:

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  Probably the most laughable thing I have ever seen in baseball is a franchise being bought out by the MLB.  Los Angeles Dodgers executive Steve Soboroff has called MLB’s actions unprofessional because they are taking advantage of the owners getting a divorce.  To add insult to injury, Bud Selig, the commissioner of MLB, has explained that he foresaw this and made plans to handle the situation.  This does not sit well with a storied franchise that had poise to make a run at the division.  While these distractions do not hurt the team’s field play, it does shed a bad light on the franchise.  Trash talk has arisen from Soboroff and Selig, but Selig has the upper hand here since he has the cash assets to bail the team out.  So to all owners out there, do not go through a divorce while still possessing majority ownership of a team!

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