My late mother was a huge Marty Robbins fan. I've often mentioned that I was raised in a house that preferred country over pop/rock, and there are a few country songs that I actually like. This is one of them.
"The Hanging Tree" was the title song from the 1959 movie of the same name. Now, I never saw the movie, don't know much about it, but Robbins' tune peaked at #38 on the Hot 100, and reached the top 20 on the country charts. I bought the vinyl 45 at a second hand shop shortly after moving downtown 20 years after the movie and the single were released. Decent melody, and the track was tailored to cross over to the pop charts.
The film is pretty good. It's just about Gary Cooper's last western, directed by a master of the genre, Delmar Daves, with Karl Malden as the villain and George C. Scott as a religious fanatic.
ReplyDeleteSo how come I've never heard of Delmar Daves?
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