One of Nashville’s most influential
record producers, Fred
Foster, was born in 1931 to a
farming family in North Carolina. “My
father was very musical and played old
Scotch-Irish songs on harmonica,”
Foster recalls. “He wasn’t sure, but he
thought his great-grandparents came
from Ireland.”
A private search conducted by a cousin in 1970 suggests that the earliest recorded Fosters migrated from Brittany to Ireland, thence to the Carolinas in the late 17th century.
Foster was 15 years old when his father died and left him 300 acres of farm to plow. For two years Foster tended the farm, then moved to Washington, DC where his first music job was clerking in a record store, Irving Music. In his off time, Foster recorded an unknown named Jimmy Dean, and the tapes resulted in Dean’s signing with 4- Star Records and a hit song, “Bummin’ Around” (1952), which stayed in the top ten for 18 weeks.
In 1956, Mercury Records sent Foster to Nashville to determine why the company’s country records weren’t selling well. Foster concluded that Mercury’s Nashville product was too old-fashioned; it lacked the percussive energy of rockabilly. When Mercury rejected Foster’s conclusions, he joined ABC Paramount.
Frustrated with much travel and corporate bureaucracy, Foster launched his own label, Monument Records, and almost immediately enjoyed a national hit with Billy Grammer’s “Gotta Travel On.” Within a year, he’d moved Monument’s offices to the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, and attracted highly individualistic artists to his label. “I wanted to make records that didn’t sound like everything else,” he recalls. “Monument had an identifiable sound.”Among the artists whose careers were launched under his guidance were Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Ray Stevens, Jimmy Driftwood, Tony Joe White, Jerry Byrd, Boots Randolph, and Grandpa Jones. Typical of Foster’s unique achievements was producing two hit songs featuring movie actor Robert Mitchum: “Little Ol’ Wine Drinker Me” and “The Ballad of Thunder Road.”
Foster invented the studio isolation booth in 1959. “In those days there was just two-track recording,” he remembers. “We were recording Roy Orbison at RCA and his voice was being drowned out by the orchestra. I noticed the coat rack over in the corner, loaded with everybody’s coats. I asked engineer Bill Porter if we could drag the rack over in front of Roy; it just might keep the orchestra’s sound out of Roy’s mike. We dragged it over, and presto! We could hear Roy’s voice. About that time Chet Atkins walked in and asked where Roy was. I told him he was behind the coat rack, and explained why. Chet shook his head and said ‘That won’t work.’ Well, it did work, and beautifully. A week later, I happened by RCA and there was Chet recording Skeeter Davis, and she was standing behind the coat rack. Eventually, we designed padded walls on wheels with a window that was a lot easier to work with.”
Late one night in 1967 Foster received a call from Ray Price inviting him to his show in Dallas. Foster flew down and watched Price sing the Irish favorite “Danny Boy.” There was not a dry eye in the house. Foster translated audience emotion into projected record sales. Even though Ray Price was not a Monument artist (his label was Columbia), Foster urged him to record the song. Price rejected the idea, saying the song was too old. Foster recollects: “I must have called Ray ten times begging him to record that song. Finally, he gave in, and it became one of his biggest hits.” As did “For the Good Times,” a Kristofferson song recommended by Foster to Ray Price.
In 1990, Foster sold Monument and his successful publishing company, Combine Music, to Sony and EMI respectively. Today, he lives in the Nashville countryside and works with fellow legends like Willie Nelson, whose highly acclaimed Lost Highway album “You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker” (March 2006), is a Foster production. He’s currently nearing completion of an as yet untitled album featuring Willie, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price.
A private search conducted by a cousin in 1970 suggests that the earliest recorded Fosters migrated from Brittany to Ireland, thence to the Carolinas in the late 17th century.
Foster was 15 years old when his father died and left him 300 acres of farm to plow. For two years Foster tended the farm, then moved to Washington, DC where his first music job was clerking in a record store, Irving Music. In his off time, Foster recorded an unknown named Jimmy Dean, and the tapes resulted in Dean’s signing with 4- Star Records and a hit song, “Bummin’ Around” (1952), which stayed in the top ten for 18 weeks.
In 1956, Mercury Records sent Foster to Nashville to determine why the company’s country records weren’t selling well. Foster concluded that Mercury’s Nashville product was too old-fashioned; it lacked the percussive energy of rockabilly. When Mercury rejected Foster’s conclusions, he joined ABC Paramount.
Frustrated with much travel and corporate bureaucracy, Foster launched his own label, Monument Records, and almost immediately enjoyed a national hit with Billy Grammer’s “Gotta Travel On.” Within a year, he’d moved Monument’s offices to the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, and attracted highly individualistic artists to his label. “I wanted to make records that didn’t sound like everything else,” he recalls. “Monument had an identifiable sound.”Among the artists whose careers were launched under his guidance were Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Ray Stevens, Jimmy Driftwood, Tony Joe White, Jerry Byrd, Boots Randolph, and Grandpa Jones. Typical of Foster’s unique achievements was producing two hit songs featuring movie actor Robert Mitchum: “Little Ol’ Wine Drinker Me” and “The Ballad of Thunder Road.”
Foster invented the studio isolation booth in 1959. “In those days there was just two-track recording,” he remembers. “We were recording Roy Orbison at RCA and his voice was being drowned out by the orchestra. I noticed the coat rack over in the corner, loaded with everybody’s coats. I asked engineer Bill Porter if we could drag the rack over in front of Roy; it just might keep the orchestra’s sound out of Roy’s mike. We dragged it over, and presto! We could hear Roy’s voice. About that time Chet Atkins walked in and asked where Roy was. I told him he was behind the coat rack, and explained why. Chet shook his head and said ‘That won’t work.’ Well, it did work, and beautifully. A week later, I happened by RCA and there was Chet recording Skeeter Davis, and she was standing behind the coat rack. Eventually, we designed padded walls on wheels with a window that was a lot easier to work with.”
Late one night in 1967 Foster received a call from Ray Price inviting him to his show in Dallas. Foster flew down and watched Price sing the Irish favorite “Danny Boy.” There was not a dry eye in the house. Foster translated audience emotion into projected record sales. Even though Ray Price was not a Monument artist (his label was Columbia), Foster urged him to record the song. Price rejected the idea, saying the song was too old. Foster recollects: “I must have called Ray ten times begging him to record that song. Finally, he gave in, and it became one of his biggest hits.” As did “For the Good Times,” a Kristofferson song recommended by Foster to Ray Price.
In 1990, Foster sold Monument and his successful publishing company, Combine Music, to Sony and EMI respectively. Today, he lives in the Nashville countryside and works with fellow legends like Willie Nelson, whose highly acclaimed Lost Highway album “You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker” (March 2006), is a Foster production. He’s currently nearing completion of an as yet untitled album featuring Willie, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price.