Monument Records Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hendersonville, Tennessee

Monument Records was formed in 1958 and had their recording studio and offices in the Nashville suburb of Henderson, Tennessee. Fred Foster and Bob Moore founded the company. Bob Moore was a bass player who was performing with Little Jimmy Dickens and Red Foley by the time he was in his teens.

By the late fifties he was recording with Elvis and other notables when he co-formed Monument Records. Two years later he formed the Bob Moore Orchestra and recorded the Billboard Top Ten hit, "Mexico". Fred Foster had previously worked for Mercury Records and ABC-Paramount in Washington, DC.

He conceived the idea of Monument Records from his days in DC and invested his life's savings into staring the company. He also produced many of the hits recorded at Monument Records. Fred was also a songwriter and co-wrote "Me and Bobby McGee" with Kris Kristofferson.

Answer: Billy Grammer

Singer and guitar player Billy Grammer had his first and biggest hit on Monument with the Paul Clayton composition, "Gotta Travel On". The single reached the Number Four spot. The same year Grammer became a member of The Grand Ole Opry and named his band The Travel On Boys as a tribute to his hit.

In May, 1972, Grammer and his band performed "Under the Double Eagle" to introduce Presidential candidate George Wallace at a rally. After Wallace finished his speech he was shot and wounded by Arthur Bremer. On March 16, 1974, Grammer delivered the invocation for The Grand Ole Opry. J. K. Coltrain was signed to Monument and later formed Colt Records. Robert Knight was signed to the label at one time but had his biggest hit, "Everlasting Love", in 1967 while on the Rising Sons label. Kris Kristofferson recorded his first album "Kristofferson" at Monument in 1970 and would go on to release several others on the label.

Answer: Only the Lonely

"Only the Lonely" reached the Number Two spot on the US charts and Number One in the UK. Roy had previously recorded on the Je-Wel, Sun Records and RCA labels before he signed with Monument Records. His biggest hit prior to signing with Monument had been "Oooby-Dooby", reaching number 56 in 1956.

He released "Uptown" in 1959 on Monument, but it only reached number 72. In 1961 "Running Scared" became his first Number One for the label. "Crying" reached Number Two the same year and "In Dreams" topped out at Number Seven in 1963.

His final Number One hit for Monument was "Oh Pretty Woman" in 1964. The following year he signed with MGM Records and starred in the MGM movie "The Fastest Guitar Alive". He toured with The Beatles and later recorded with George Harrison as part of The Traveling Wilburys.

Answer: Dolly Parton

"Hello, I'm Dolly" was released by Monument in 1967. "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy" were single releases from the album and became moderate early hits for Dolly. Fred Foster signed her in 1965 and produced "Hello, I'm Dolly". "Your Ol' Handy Man" and "I'm In No Condition" were other Dolly Parton original compositions featured on the LP.

She came to the attention of Porter Wagoner and when Norma Jean Beasler left his television show in 1967 Dolly was invited to replace her. She then signed with Wagoner's label, RCA, and began recording duets with him.

She stayed with RCA until 1985. The album, "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad", was released the same year as "Hello, I'm Dolly" by Tammy Wynette on Epic Records. Also released in 1967 was Lynn Anderson's first LP, "Ride, Ride, Ride" on the Chart label. "Loretta Lynn Sings" was released by Decca in 1963.

Answer: Boots Randolph

Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was originally signed to Monument as a session musician. His work can be heard on Roy Orbison's "Mean Woman Blues". He was also a session player for Elvis as well as many other artists and did work on the soundtracks of several Elvis Presley films.

He had a performing and recording career that lasted for over 40 years, but his biggest release as a solo artist was his Monument recording, "Yakety Sax". The great Cannonball Adderley recorded on several labels such as Blue Note and Capitol but wasn't signed to Monument. Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan is closely associated with the "cool jazz" sound. King Curtis recorded on the Atlantic and Capitol labels and played the solo on The Coasters' 1958 hit, "Yakety Yak".

Answer: Jeannie Seely

From 1966 to 1968 Jeannie Seely recorded four albums for Monument, "The Seely Style" (1966), "Thanks, Hank!" (1967), "I'll Love You More" (1967) and "Little Things" (1968). "The Seely Style" reached Number Eight on the C&W Charts in 1966 and in 1967 Seely won a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Don't Touch Me".

The success of the song propelled her to the alumni of The Grand Ole Opry. "It's Only Love" was the follow-up single from the first album and reached number 15. In 1969 she signed with Decca. "Pure Connie Smith" (1977) was one of Connie's Monument albums.

She had a Number One hit with "Once a Day" while with RCA. Cindy Walker was well known as a songwriter and composed Roy Orbison's hit "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)".

In 1964 Monument released her solo album, "Words and Music by Cindy Walker". "Anna Marie" was a Walker composition that was a 1957 hit for Jim Reeves.

Answer: Ray Stevens

When Roy Orbison left Monument Records in 1965 Ray Stevens enjoyed chart success on both Country and Pop stations, helping to keep Monument rolling along. Ray had had been recording since 1957 and had his breakthrough hit with "Ahab the Arab", reaching number five in 1962. Several other novelty numbers charted for Ray before he signed with Monument in 1969. "Gitarzan" was a Top Ten novelty hit for Stevens in 1969.

He hosted "The Ray Stevens Show" in the summer of 1970. After leaving Monument, Stevens recorded for Warner Brothers and Barnaby labels during the following decade. Between 1973 and 1979 Larry Gatlin recorded six albums for Monument.

The Gatlin Brothers made their premier recording together on Larry's 1976 Monument album, "Larry Gatlin with Family & Friends". Tony Joe White was known for writing songs such as "Polk Salad Annie" and was briefly with the Monument stable of artists. Roy Orbison's friend Tommy Roe was signed for a while with Monument but had his major hits such as "Sheila" while with ABC-Paramount.

Answer: The Velvets

Roy Orbison was impressed with The Velvets after hearing them and arranged for the vocal group to sign with Monument in 1960. A teacher named Virgil Johnson formed the group a year earlier with four of his high school students. They released a version of "That Lucky Old Sun" as their debut single, but it failed to make an impression on the charts. "Tonight (Could Be the Night)" fared better and became the biggest hit of the approximately 30 songs they recorded for the label. "Laugh" was their follow up and only reached number 90. Ace Records produced a CD of their songs in 1996 and Johnson still occasionally performs at nostalgia events. "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" was a big hit for The Spaniels on Vee-Jay records in 1954.

The Capris recorded "There's A Moon Out Tonight" in 1960.

They signed with many labels, but Monument was not one of them. "Sixteen Candles" was a 1958 hit by The Crests on the Post Records label.

Answer: Charlie McCoy

Multi-talented performer Charlie McCoy was a singer who played the harmonica, bass and guitar. He gained fame as a harmonica player and was featured on Roy Orbison's "Candy Man" in 1961 when he was only 20. His first album for Monument was "The World", released in 1967.

In 1973 "Good Time Charlie" reached Number One and later the same year "The Fastest Harp in the South" reached the Number Two slot on the U S Country Album charts. In 1979 his "Appalachian Fever" album was his final for Monument. Along the way he played harp for such artists as Bob Dylan, Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Ringo Starr.

He also found time to be the music director for "Hee Haw" (1969) for 19 years. Carlie Rich had the majority of his hits on Sun, Epic and RCA. Charlie Daniels has recorded for a number of labels during his career, but Monument never signed him. Charlie Robison has been on Viero, Lucky Dog and Columbia.

Answer: True

After Willie Nelson was with Liberty Records for a while the label decided to close their Country Music division and Willie signed with Monument records in 1964. He recorded "I Never Cared for You", "King Of A Lonely Castle", and "You'll Always Have Someone" among other songs while on the label. None of the songs were released commercially at the time and Willie signed with RCA the following year. One thing he did for Roy Orbison before he left Monument was audition one of his compositions titled "Pretty Paper".

It went on to be a Christmas classic for Roy. In 1982 Monument Records released a compilation album entitled "The Winning Hand". It contained Willie Nelson's Monument recordings along with recordings done by Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson recorded during their tenure with the label.

The LP also contains interesting duets by several of the artists such as Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson singing "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" and Kris and Brenda Lee singing Kris' composition, "Help Me Make It Through The Night".