Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album art
The album Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs by Marty Robbins from 1959 is perhaps best known for including, among others, the song “El Paso.” The song is a country standard that was also a major pop hit at the time. The song “Big Iron” was included the video game Fallout: New Vegas.
The gaming community has paid considerable tribute to the album cover, also featured in the game by mashing up different images and repurposing glyphs to a bewildering comedic effect. What’s interesting is, often times new text references none of the original typefaces.
The original album art pairs a photograph by Don Cravens with Cheltenham and Clarendon.
Party Anthems & Pickup Trucks, a persiflage that keeps Clarendon in place, but paired with Bleeding Cowboys and a condensed Tuscan.
2 Comments on “Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album art”
The ‘COLUMBIA’ in those days was set in Fortune Bold – a de facto knockoff of Clarendon.
Thank you, W.B.
I wouldn’t characterize Fortune as a knockoff. Fortune is the American name of Volta, an original design made by Konrad F. Bauer and Walter Baum for the Bauer foundry. It is in the Clarendon genre, but has distinct qualities, including the wider width and the more pronounced contrast. Notably, it came with a matching italic.