I doubt many of you have heard of Marty Robbins, I only did just recently. I found out about him in the song "Big Iron", which is in Fallout: New Vegas. I don't listen to a whole lot of non-metal in general, but this guy is fucking awesome. Writes some of the most epic and just cool songs ever. The images that go through my mind when listening to him are just pure western goodness.

I'd recommend the songs Big Iron, El Paso, or Ballad of the Alamo as good places to start. Interested to hear what you guys think if you take a minute or two to check him out.

I grew up listening to his music. My parents were fans of his. I thought Big Iron and El Paso were probably his best songs. But there a few others I like too like Running Gun, his cover of Cool Water (originally done, I think, by the Sons of the Pioneers), Devil Woman, The Streets of Laredo & The Cowboy In The Continental Suit. I had a cassette of his music when I was a kid. I think it was 1982...whenever it was I got it just a few months before he died.

I grew up in New Mexico (and live in Arizona now) and I always thought the music went with the deserts and open space. I thought it was cool that Marty Robbins (and a few others) provided a decent soundtrack to stories about the Old West. I know he's got more songs than the ones I listed, but those are some of my favorites. It's cool to know I'm not the only metalhead who appreciates this guy. Marty Robbins rules.

Awesome man! For me, Ballad of the Alamo is my favourite tune of his, and it actually single handedly got me interested into looking into the history of all that Texas Revolution stuff. It's very interesting to me, hopefully one day I'll get down there and see some of the monuments and such. I'm a lot younger than you are so I didn't really grow up listening to it, but it's never too late to find some good music.

I am becoming an old fart! No, it's never too late. Most of his best stuff came out before I was even born...my parents were just kids when he started. I own one of his studio albums called Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs...and it came out in 1959. El Paso came from that one. There's a lot of good music that predates metal and Marty's one of the best.

Gotta agree that Ballad of the Alamo is a pretty good one. I like storytelling in music and that's definitely an epic fight in Texas history. He also wrote a song called Billy The Kid, which is cool. The facts aren't a hundred percent clear in the Billy story, but I like it anyway. Billy the Kid has been an interest of mine for a long, long time.

There was also another balladeer around back about the same time Marty Robbins was making music named Johnny Horton. Music style is a little different, but he wrote stories too. He had a couple I liked like The Battle of New Orleans and Sink the Bismarck.