## Marty Robbins: Unraveling the Enigma of Country Music’s “James Bond”
Marty Robbins – often dubbed country music’s James Bond – appeared to be a man who could do it all. He captivated audiences with cowboy tunes like “Big Iron” and “El Paso,” all while moonlighting as a successful race car driver and TV host. But was he truly the amiable cowboy he presented, or was he living a double life? The truth about the real Marty Robbins is complex, as revealed by his children who are now speaking out, unveiling long-hidden truths about this charismatic figure.
### Man or Monster? The Contradictions of a Country Icon
Marty Robbins was adored by legendary acts like The Grateful Dead, The Who, and even Elvis Presley himself. He was known for his kindness to fans, yet he faced accusations of violently attacking people and firing band members he felt were upstaging him. His shockingly successful NASCAR career was celebrated, but whispers of cheating also followed him to the top. So, who was the real Marty Robbins?
To understand Marty, we must delve into his tumultuous early life. He was one of ten children, and his father was, to put it mildly, a violent drunk. In one chilling incident, Marty’s father threw a hammer at him during a fight with his younger brother; Marty, in turn, threw it back with all his might. Luckily, his father left the family not long after. Marty grew up a “hard, mean kid,” even once hospitalizing an older child after a beating. He narrowly avoided reform school by hiding out at a friend’s farm.
It seemed Marty was destined for a life of drinking, fighting, and general disrepute, much like his father. However, two things saved him:
1. **His Grandfather:** A medicine man, traveling book salesman, and most importantly, a storyteller, his grandfather regaled Marty with elaborate tales of his time in the Old West, claiming to have been a Texas Ranger. Years later, Marty realized these were mostly tall tales, but it didn’t matter. The “Cowboy Visions” had been planted in his head, inspiring future songs like “Big Iron.”
2. **Gene Autry:** By the time Gene Autry performed at his high school, Marty’s mind was made up: he was going to be a country and western singer, even if it killed him.
But did he ever truly shed the “hateful urchin” he once was? Was his public persona—honest businessman, gentle cowboy, kind family man—a complete hoax?
In the early years of his career, Marty worked relentlessly for a chance at fame. He spent months lugging a 100-pound block of ice up several flights of stairs, despite weighing significantly less himself. Yet, once fame arrived, something in him reportedly changed. Some accused him of becoming aggressive, controlling, and violent.
### The Grand Ole Opry Firing and Industry Clashes
People were shocked when Marty Robbins was fired from the Grand Ole Opry in the late 1950s. He was tearing up the charts, and everyone around him was financially benefiting. More importantly, he seemed like a level-headed, laid-back guy. However, according to some accounts, nothing could be further from the truth. Over the years, Marty developed a reputation for berating and firing his bandmates on a whim. One musician was fired and rehired nine times in three years. Some claimed this stemmed from Marty’s insecurity about his talent, with his guitarist recalling Marty explicitly stating that if anyone “upstaged” him, they were fired, because “Marty was the star.”
So, when Marty was fired from the Opry in 1958, the stated reason was that “Marty Robbins was a primadonna, and the Grand Ole Opry was no place for primadonnas.” Some have countered that Marty was simply “too much of a straight shooter” for industry executives. Later, Marty again clashed with Columbia Records executives when he wanted to release pro-American, politically charged records. When they refused, he and his bandmate released them under the pseudonym “Johnny Freedom.”
### Racing Frauds and Heroic Acts: Marty’s NASCAR Career
Marty has been compared to fellow “five-tool players” like Steve McQueen or James Bond, but how real was his success outside of music? It’s not uncommon for musicians to dabble in other fields. For instance, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter from Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers famously became a missile defense expert consulting for the Department of Defense, and Al Green turned to the ministry. Most of the time, these “dalliances” are just hobbies. So, it was truly shocking when Marty proved to be remarkably good at **NASCAR racing**. He competed at legendary tracks like Talladega and Daytona alongside the greats of his era, finishing in the Top 10 six different times in his career.
However, in 1972, one event cast a shadow of doubt on his previous successes. At the Winston 500, Marty’s qualifying time was mediocre. Yet, he stunned fans and drivers alike with a stellar performance in the race, turning laps 15 mph faster than his qualifying time. NASCAR tried to award him the Rookie of the Year award, but he turned it down. Why? Marty had deliberately removed the speed restrictor from his car “just to see what it would be like to run up front for once.”
Despite this incident, it doesn’t mean all his successes were necessarily fraudulent. In fact, he was highly respected by other drivers throughout his career. In one memorable instance, fellow driver Richard Childress spun out on the track, leaving his car perpendicular to oncoming racers—a “sitting duck” for a potentially fatal T-bone collision. Marty’s car was heading straight for Childress’s, but Marty made a split-second decision to risk his own life and crash into a wall rather than T-bone Richard. This act of self-sacrifice demonstrated that while Marty might have played “fast and loose with the rules,” he was not afraid to make sacrifices for his fellow drivers.
### Family Truths: The Real Marty at Home
Everyone has a different idea of who Marty Robbins truly was, and now, his children are speaking out about what it was like living in his house. Was he the angry, spiteful man his bandmates described, or the softer, cool-headed man portrayed on TV?
Marty kept his personal life relatively private; not much is known about his wife, Marizona, or his two children, a son named Ronnie and a daughter named Janet. He appears to have been a devoted and kind father and husband, even writing the tender tune “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife” for Marizona.
But one question has always lingered: Did Marty push his kids into or out of the music business? On one hand, he seemed to want Ronnie to follow in his footsteps, having the teen appear on TV and sing alongside him, even billing him as “Marty Jr.” On the other hand, he discouraged Janet from pursuing stardom, telling her, “Do anything you want to do in your life, but don’t go into the music business.”
For a while, it seemed his children would follow his directions. Ronnie gave stardom his best shot, releasing music for a bit. (Here he is singing his dad’s song, “El Paso.”) Janet, meanwhile, stayed far away from the microphone. However, as the years passed, things changed. Ronnie eventually “hung up the towel” and decided to run his father’s business, Marty Robbins Enterprises. Janet, on the other hand, visited the UK in the 1990s and became enthralled with alternative and psychedelic rock—a far cry from cowboy music, but still music. Today, neither are worldwide superstars, but they are charting their own paths, following Marty’s example, if not always his words.
### The Lasting Cowboy
We may never truly know who the “real” Marty Robbins was; in fact, there might not be a simple answer. Before dying of a heart attack in 1982, Marty lived a long, strange, incredible life. He spent years in the Navy, where he fell in love with Hawaiian music. He often seemed more interested in business than music, and he even wrote and published a cowboy novel, *The Small Man*, just for fun, which told the same story as his song “Ballad of a Small Man.” This may have been inspired by real life, as Marty was only 5’6″, but in spirit, he was anything but a small man. For better or worse, he lived by his own rules, truly the closest thing to a modern-day cowboy.
What’s your favorite song by Marty Robbins? Did you know his kids pursued music? Or did you root for Marty on the NASCAR track? Share all your thoughts about Marty Robbins in the comments below, and let us know another interesting country music figure we should deep-dive into next!