WODEN The most popular song that country and western singer Marty Robbins ever issued is a 1959 murder ballad called El Paso which tells tales of jealously, gunfights and horse thievery set to Spanish guitar playing that is equal measures gripping and haunting. Out in the West Texas town Of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl, nighttime would find me in Rosa s Cantina, music would play and Felina would whirl, blacker than night were the eyes of Felina, wicked and evil while casting a spell, Robbins sings in his baritone voice as the track opens.Â
Those first few lines were impactful enough that North Iowa-native Beryl Buffington felt compelled, more than six decades later, to craft them into something all his own. In the sunroom of his Woden home, which overlooks wide open fields he and his wife used to sit in, is a model of the fabled Rosa s Cantina complete with signage to herald upcoming acts at the entertainment outpost. Where even a year-and-a-hal