Sony Music announced the re-launching of their label Monument Records, with respected industry veterans Jason Owen and Shane McAnally serving as co-presidents of the label. Critically acclaimed newcomers Caitlyn Smith and Walker Hayes are Monument’s leading artists. An imprint of Sony Music Entertainment, Monument Records will employ a staff of creative and innovative thinkers in Nashville, Tenn. The label’s initial signings represent the essence of the groundbreaking co-presidents’ vision. Caitlyn Smith, from Cannon Falls, Minnesota, is best known for co-writing “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” Meghan Trainor’s duet with John Legend, but her soul-steeped take on country has also attracted Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks to her songs. On Starfire, Smith shows she is her own best interpreter: honest, real, sleek and gorgeous in all the toughest places. Walker Hayes, an Alabama native, has a lyric heavy, groove based and truth-infused, style that caught the ear of McAnally who immediately signed Hayes to his SMACK music house, helping him release his raw, one-man 8Tracks (Vol. 1 & 2) EP’s in 2016. The tracks have attracted kudos from syndicated radio host Bobby Bones among others. The extremely prolific Hayes is in the studio with McAnally, working fervently on a studio album. Opening a label with a history as eclectic and rich as Monument Records was important to McAnally and Owen, two industry leaders who have been on the forefront of changing the face of the creative landscape and contemporary music. Cultivating unique ideas and approaches in their respective fields, both have re-written the possibilities for their artists and reframed what music means.