The Statler Brothers
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50 free The Statler Brothers trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Statler Brothers were a group of friends from a small Virginia city who turned close harmony, small-town nostalgia and a streak of comedy into one of the longest careers in country music. They began in church halls, spent years touring behind one of the biggest names in the business, then stepped out on their own and kept having hits for two decades. This quiz follows the whole story. Expect questions on where the name came from, who sang which part, who wrote the songs and what the lyrics describe, plus the albums, the awards, the famous fans and the television series that brought the group a second wave of popularity. It is written for country fans of every level. The opening questions are ones most listeners can reason out, and the later rounds reward anyone who followed the group through the line-up change, the album tracks and the family acts that came afterwards.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Statler Brothers took their name from a brand of which product, spotted in a hotel room?
Facial tissues
Facial tissues gave the quartet its name: a box of Statler Tissues sat in their hotel room when they needed a new one in 1963. None of the four was named Statler, and only two were brothers.
Q 02The Statler Brothers spent eight years as opening act and backing singers for which country legend?
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash hired the quartet in 1964 and insisted that his record label sign them too. They stayed until 1972, when they left his tour to chase hits of their own.
Q 03Bruce Willis sings along to the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall" while driving in which film?
Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction uses the group's 1975 re-recording rather than the 1965 original. Willis's character refers to the same song a year later in Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Q 04Which founding Statler Brother wrote "Flowers on the Wall", the quartet's only top-ten pop hit?
Lew DeWitt
Lew DeWitt, the group's original tenor, wrote it. The single climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1966, and the Statlers never reached the pop top 40 again.
Q 05In 1980 the Statler Brothers bought which hometown building to turn into their offices and museum?
A former elementary school
A former elementary school, their own Beverley Manor, became the group's headquarters for more than two decades. The renovated complex also held an auditorium and a garage for the tour buses.
Q 06Which Virginia city, the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, was home base for the Statler Brothers throughout their career?
Staunton
Staunton stayed the group's base even though they recorded and did business in Nashville. All four original members grew up in the city.
Q 07Which franchise covered the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall" in 2015 with rats billed as the Ratler Brothers?
The Muppets
The Muppets handed the song to a group of rats and modernised the chorus, dropping the smoking reference for pastimes such as sudoku and scrolling Instagram.
Q 08The Statler Brothers revised a line in "Don't Wait on Me" after which ballpark finally installed lights in 1988?
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field was the only unlit park in the majors when the song came out in 1981, so night baseball there was a safe way to say never. On a 1989 live album the joke became a dome over the ballpark.
Q 09"Bed of Rose's" by the Statler Brothers plays on the fictional radio station K-Rose in which video game?
GTA: San Andreas
GTA: San Andreas features two Statler songs on K-Rose: this one and New York City, the two singles from the same album.
Q 10The Statler Brothers' hit "More Than a Name on a Wall" follows a mother visiting which Washington landmark?
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial is where she looks for her son's name among those engraved on its black granite walls. The 1989 single reached number six and was the group's last top-ten hit.
Q 11Which Virginia singer replaced the Statler Brothers' ailing tenor in 1982 and wrote three of their number ones?
Jimmy Fortune
Jimmy Fortune arrived as a temporary stand-in and stayed for 21 years. Elizabeth, the first song he ever wrote, became one of the group's chart-toppers.
Q 12Harold Reid supplied the comedy on The Statler Brothers Show and sang which vocal part in the quartet?
Bass
Bass was his part from the first church dates in 1955 to the farewell tour in 2002. His brother Don sang lead and Phil Balsley sang baritone.
Q 13The Statler Brothers Show was the top-rated program on which cable channel through most of the 1990s?
The Nashville Network
Q 21Which 1978 single gave the Statler Brothers their first number one on the Billboard country chart?
Do You Know You Are My Sunshine
Do You Know You Are My Sunshine was the group's 27th country hit before one finally reached the top. It stayed there two weeks, the only chart-topper they recorded with their original line-up.
Q 22Which Elizabeth Taylor film, screened before a concert, inspired the title of the Statler Brothers' "Elizabeth"?
Giant
Giant, the 1956 epic, was on screen before a show, and that night a girl in the audience introduced herself by the same name. The group later sang the hit to Taylor on her 52nd birthday.
Q 23After "My Only Love" in 1985, which Statler Brothers single became their fourth and final country number one?
The Nashville Network launched the weekly variety hour in 1991, and it became the highest-rated show in the channel's history.
Q 14Which American novelist called the Statler Brothers "America's Poets" and reprinted two of their songs in Palm Sunday?
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut treated the quartet's lyrics as serious contemporary poetry in his 1981 collection. He argued that one hit captured the state of a man who had just walked out on his family.
Q 15Which chronic illness forced the Statler Brothers' original tenor to retire from the group in 1982?
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease had troubled him since adolescence, and surgery took him off the road in late 1981. He attempted a return the following June, but it lasted less than a week.
Q 16Which Statler Brothers hit won a 1972 Grammy and later became the instrumental theme of their TV variety show?
The Class of '57
The Class of '57 follows a graduating class fifteen years on, each singer taking a turn to report what became of the classmates. The Bill Walker Orchestra played it to open the TV show.
Q 17Which Ricky Nelson hit of 1961 did the Statler Brothers revive on a chart-topping country album in 1985?
Hello Mary Lou
Hello Mary Lou was written by Gene Pitney and recorded by Nelson in 1961. The Statlers' version also went out as a single and reached the country top three.
Q 18The Statler Brothers' 1980 single "Charlotte's Web" appeared on the soundtrack of which Burt Reynolds comedy?
Smokey and the Bandit II
Smokey and the Bandit II sends Reynolds and Jerry Reed across the country with an elephant bound for a political convention. The single reached number five on the country chart.
Q 19A phrase in the Statler Brothers' "Do You Remember These" caused a stir in which country, where it suggests underwear?
Britain
Britain heard an American term for short trousers as a reference to women's underpants, which caused the group some awkwardness there.
Q 20After the Statler Brothers retired in 2002, lead singer Don Reid built a second career as what?
An author
An author of several books, he co-wrote the book Random Memories with his brother Harold and later compiled an anthology of the group's songs.
Too Much on My Heart
Too Much on My Heart reached the top later in 1985 and held it for a week. Like the two number ones before it, it was written by the group's newest member.
Q 24Kim Reid, who wrote the Statler Brothers' 1978 hit "Who Am I to Say", was which relation of Harold Reid?
His daughter
His daughter Kim wrote the song, which reached number three, and later gave the Statlers another single, The Best I Know How. She also sang in a short-lived duo with her sister Karmen.
Q 25Before a 1963 hit by another band forced a change, the Statler Brothers performed under which name?
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen was also the name of the band behind Louie Louie and of a gospel group in the Carolinas, so the Virginia quartet gave it up.
Q 26After a slow spell at Columbia, the Statler Brothers scored their 1970s and 1980s country hits on which label?
Mercury Records
Mercury Records gave the quartet a fresh start, and their first single for the label, Bed of Rose's, went top ten. They decided to stop chasing pop crossover and stay country.
Q 27"Flowers on the Wall" won the Statler Brothers a Grammy in which field, unusual for a country quartet?
Rock and roll
Rock and roll was the field: the award was for Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance by a group. The same year's Grammys also named the quartet best new country and western artist.
Q 28Which Country Music Association award did the Statler Brothers win nine times between 1972 and 1984?
Vocal Group of the Year
Vocal Group of the Year went to the quartet six years running from 1972, then again in 1979, 1980 and 1984.
Q 29For 25 years the Statler Brothers hosted a free Fourth of July festival in their Virginia hometown under which name?
Happy Birthday USA
Happy Birthday USA began in 1970 and grew into a parade and concert that often drew more than 100,000 fans, with the proceeds going to local charities.
Q 30The Statler Brothers' comedy album as Lester "Roadhog" Moran is set at a high school named for which cowboy actor?
Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown was a University of Alabama football hero before he made Westerns. The 1974 album sends up a fourth-rate hillbilly band from the dying days of live radio.