Shout Factory, in association with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, has released another terrific title in their Archive Series: Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins. Gathering together 15 clips from various television shows and specials featuring Robbins, Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins is a real eye-opener for the casual country music fan (like myself) who doesn't know much about Robbins outside of his oft-repeated Top 40 hits like El Paso or Singing the Blues. Featuring an intriguing selection of Robbins' diverse musical styles, Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins also has a long interview with Robbins where he candidly discusses his career and outside interests that I found absolutely fascinating.

It's my understanding that El Paso, the brilliantly cinematic "gunfighter ballad" from 1959, is one of the most played songs in radio history. How they measure such a thing is beyond me, but I can believe it, because sure enough, about once a month or so, I hear it pop up on not only country, but also pop and even rock oldies stations. Robbins has always been a known singer and performer to me, but aside from El Paso, Singing the Blues (another standard on oldies stations), and perhaps The Ballad of the Alamo (from countless Fourth of July TV airings of that John Wayne epic), his other music was outside my experience, and I certainly didn't know anything about his diverse, fascinating career.

According to the excellent three-page liner notes, written by Mick Buck, included in Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins, Robbins was born on the edge of the Arizona desert in 1925, and into a troubled family. Scrapes with the law as a kid led to a tour in the Navy during WWII, and upon returning to civilian life, Robbins found out that his nascent singing and songwriting talents (acquired during long hours in the Navy) provided an escape from dreaded menial work. Hosting his own radio and then TV show in Phoenix, an encounter with singer Little Jimmy Dickens led to a recording contract with Columbia Records. His first big hit, I'll Go On Alone, in 1953, led to a move to Nashville, where Robbins scored as a regular on the Grand Ole Opry stage and radio show.

Several hits followed, but it was Singing the Blues in 1956 that proved to be Robbins' breakthrough, hitting not only the top of the country charts but also, importantly, crossing over into the lucrative pop charts. According to Robbins in the interview included on this disc, for awhile, Robbins was even with Elvis and Chuck Berry in selling singles - a considerable feat for a country cross-over star. Pop-flavored tunes like The Story of My Life and A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation also hit big, and from then on, Robbins refused to be pigeon-holed as "only" a country-and-western singer.

Experiments in different musical styles followed (including cowboy songs, Hawaiian, calypso, gospel, rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley and of course, pop), with the gunfighter ballad El Paso proving to be his monster hit and eventual signature song. More number ones followed throughout the 60s and 70s as Robbins explored outside interests, including starring in movies, television and a successful long-term stint as a bona fide NASCAR driver. A series of heart attacks didn't stop the entertainer, who continued to chart on the country and pop lists, achieving career accolades such as Artist of the Decade by the ACM and several Grammys. In 1982, two months before his death due to complications from a third heart attack, he was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Watching Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins, what I found interesting was what changed with Robbins and what stayed the same. Obviously, his "look" evolved over time. Having seen Robbins on shows and specials in the 1970s, I was used to his later look (moustache, jewelry, long hair, flashy rhinestones), so it was a bit of a surprise to see the rather wholesome-looking, almost Ivy-League Robbins of the mid-50s (neat, narrow-lapel suit, a carefully coiffed hank of hair, clean-shaven). And of course, watching the chronologically ordered clips on the disc, you can see not only his "look" but his musical style evolve and branch out over his three decade career.

What seemed to stay the same, though, was Robbins' obvious enjoyment of performing. A lot of singers say they love to perform, but watching Robbins in these clips, you can tell he loves it - it's no standard b.s. reply to an interviewer's question. Even singing a sad song, Robbins usually pulls out a big smile for the audience (or to be more accurate here, the camera), and often times he can be spotted slipping in little goofs to his harmonizers and band mates, clearly enjoying his time on stage. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious (and fairly rare in today's world of sullen, put-upon "artists"), and it's easy to see how thousands and thousands of fans (called "Marty's Army" at one point), stuck with the musician, even during periods of musical experimentation over many years, when other big-charters had their moments and then flamed out.

All of the selections on the Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins disc are interesting, but standout clips include the first four black and white sets from Country Style USA, a syndicated country program that, according to Buck's notes, was produced as a recruiting tool for the U.S. Army. Robbins, looking the picture of youthful health (he looks heavier here than in his later, sometimes gaunt appearances), can't stop grinning and laughing along with his pals as he does a particularly good job on Singing the Blues. A kinescope of Robbins performing 1959's The Story of My Life on the live broadcast Town Hall Party (a Californian country music barn dance program) has probably the roughest video here in this collection, but the tune is so insanely catchy (written by those pop geniuses Hal David and Burt Bacharach), that I backed it up several times just to hear it again. Originally produced by Mitch Miller (Sing Along with Mitch!) and arranged by Ray Conniff, the whistling hook on The Story of My Life will be instantly recognizable to Miller fans (and you won't be able to get it out of your head, either).

The clip for El Paso, certainly Robbins' signature tune, is an intriguing one. Filmed in black and white on a country store set, this clip comes from a 1965 syndicated TV series that Robbins produced himself called The Drifter. Evidently, the series only played in a few markets before disappearing (evidently, it's been released on video). I can't tell from this clip what the format of the series was like, but here, Robbins sings with long-time harmonizers Don Winters and Bobby Sykes in an obviously mocked-up country store set, much like you'd see on a variety show (perhaps The Drifter was that: a variety show?). The curious thing about this clip: I've heard the song so many times on the radio that I, much like most listeners I would imagine, have a mental image of the various cinematic tableaus that present themselves in the lyrics. Actually watching Robbins perform the song, I found myself not concentrating so much on the song anymore; perhaps that's a song better heard only the radio, where your imagination can wander.

Robbins' big calypso-flavored hit, Devil Woman, performed here in brilliant color (check out that lime green shirt!) from The Marty Robbins Show in 1969, is another hooky delight. There's a great moment here, where Robbins, hitting a particularly high note when he sings, "Devil woman, don't follow me!" breaks the fourth wall and says to Winters and Sykes, "That was good!" which broke me up. Again, it's another instance of Robbins obviously delighting in what he's doing, and it translates directly to the audience. Although indications were already there in earlier clips that Robbins might be starting to "get with the times" as far as costume and grooming were concerned, the full explosion of "70s Robbins" is seen in the Ribbon of Darkness clip from 1976. Resplendent in a screaming blue plaid jacket, yellow shirt (with hugely oversized collar), bell bottoms, long hair, sideburns, moustache and necklace, it's certainly a long way from the Ivy Leaguer Singing the Blues. But once the shock of seeing Robbins in full-blown disco/hippiedom wears off, you can marvel at the delivery of his rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's song; his note transitions are so smooth, so self-assured (like mellow bourbon flowing over rocks), it's difficult to remember the studied technique that goes into that kind of singing.

Here are the 15 songs performed by Marty Robbins for Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins, in the order of their appearance:

Knee Deep in the Blues
Country Style USA, 1957

The Same Two Lips
Country Style USA, 1957

Nothing But Sweet Lies
Country Style USA, 1958

Singing the Blues
Country Style USA, 1958

The Story of My Life
Town Hall Party, 1959

El Paso
The Drifter, 1965

Devil Woman
The Marty Robbins Show, 1969

Begging to You
The Marty Robbins Show, 1969

My Woman, My Woman, My Wife
CMA Awards, 1970.

Ribbon of Darkness
Pop! Goes the Country, 1976

Among My Souvenirs
Pop! Goes the Country, 1976

A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)
Marty Robbins Spotlight, 1977

Don't Worry
Marty Robbins Spotlight, 1977

El Paso City
Marty Robbins Spotlight, 1978

All Around Cowboy
Pop! Goes the Country, 1979

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-frame, 1.33:1 video transfer for Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins obviously varies according to the source materials used for the various clips. Except for the Town Hall Party clip for The Story of My Life, most of the clips are quite good. Video glitches are not uncommon, but considering the rarity of some of these clips, and the relatively primitive nature of video captures at that time, overall, the video fidelity of Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins is quite good.

The Audio:
There can be problems with the audio tracks for Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins, and for the same reasons as the video: problems that originate in the source materials. For the most part, though, the two-track mono mix gives adequate coverage.

The Extras:
In addition to the excellent notes on all the songs, written by Mick Buck on a three-page tri-fold pamphlet, a couple of additional extras fill out the Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins disc. Interview with Marty Robbins, running a healthy forty minutes, is a portion of a March 8th, 1982 interview the singer gave where he expounds on his life and career. I found it quite interesting (and that's saying something when I've seen hundreds of these same kinds of interviews). Robbins is honest to a fault here (saying how he got into singing because he was lazy and didn't want to really work), particularly when he's discussing how audiences let a performer in, and then soon tire of them once they become too familiar (you don't hear that too often from stars who would never admit that they're at times, unpopular). Robbins also discusses his fans (with an utterly fascinating story about a family that followed him around on their annual vacation for years and years), along with his love of racing and his thoughts on spirituality and reincarnation. He was obviously a thoughtful guy, and his answers here indicate that Robbins was a lot more than just a "cowboy singer." In addition, there's a clip of Robbins, just two months before his death, accepting his Country Music Hall of Fame induction from Eddy Arnold (it runs about two and a half minutes). Robbins, acting like he's flying on something, looks thin and gaunt (with inexplicable blond hair), but he's in good spirits - perhaps a fitting last way to remember him.

Final Thoughts:
Shout Factory and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville have yet another winner in their Archive Series with Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins. "Mr. Teardrop" was much more than just a "country" singer, with a diverse musical style that encompassed many genres. I didn't know much about him other than the few crossover pop singles like El Paso and Singing the Blues that show up on the radio all the time, but via the Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins disc, I now have a whole new appreciation for this talented, thoughtful performer. I recommend Legendary Performances: Marty Robbins.