Country Music Legend Marty Robbins Now Remembered In An E-Book
The Arizona-born singer-songwriter is the subject of a childhood memoir related by his sister Mamie
Online, June 18, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A memoir about country music legend Marty Robbins' childhood is now available as a download from Kindle, Smashwords and XinXii.
This new version of "Some Memories - Growing Up With Marty Robbins" adds family photos collected by Marty's twin sister, the late Mamie Minotto, to the text of the original edition available from Booklocker.com.
Photos of Marty and Mamie, their parents and also of Marty during his service in the Navy accompany Mamie's reminiscences about the childhood they shared in and around Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1920s and '30s.
The book takes its title from "Some Memories Just Won't Die," one of Marty's final recordings before his death from heart failure on December 8th, 1982. It is priced at $8.99 on Booklocker.com; Kindle, Amazon's electronic book format; and through Smashwords. XinXii has it listed at 6.99 Euros.
Descended from Texas and Arizona cowboys and Utah Mormons on their mother's side and Polish stock from Michigan on their father's, Marty and Mamie spent their early years in poverty and domestic strife. What they lacked in material wealth though, they found in the riches of their desert playground.
In anecdotes about the family's frequent moves and squalid living conditions, Mamie recalls the feisty brother who always seemed able to laugh off setbacks. There are also glimpses of Marty's developing interest in music, from playing harmonica with his father and uncle to his first gigs as a shy sideman in a local band.
Marty moved to Nashville in the early 1950s, but he never lost his attachment to the Southwest. Stories he heard and the wild open terrain he loved inspired him to write his international hit "El Paso" and other gunfighter ballads.
In 1960, "El Paso" won him the first of two Grammy awards in the Country and Western category. The second followed 10 years later for his composition, "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife." Among his other 18 Country chart toppers between 1956 and 1976 were "A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)," "Devil Woman" and "El Paso City."
In addition to his music, Marty acted in television Westerns and even wrote a short Western novel, entitled "The Small Man." His great passion outside music and family was stock car racing, and he was nationally rated as a NASCAR driver.
Sadly, Mamie passed away before this account was completed, but the adventures she shared with her brother live on in these vivid and heartfelt descriptions. Much of the material was adapted by journalist Andrew Means from interviews with Mamie. Additional material came from friends and family who knew Marty in his formative years living in Glendale, serving in the Navy during World War Two, and subsequently making a name for himself on the Phoenix entertainment scene.
The 136-page print version of the book (without photos) can be ordered from Booklocker.com, priced at $12.95. For more information, contact Andrew Means at SomeMemoriesGrow@msn.com