Some think the origins may trace back to "Roll Along, Kentucky Moon", a similar waltz recorded 20 years prior by Jimmie Rodgers.
In 2003, CMT ranked "Blue Moon" number 11 in its list of 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music.
Monroe's earliest-known performance of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was on the Grand Ole Opry broadcast of August 25, 1945.
[4] The search for another song to release along with "That's All Right"[5] at Sun Records in July 1954 led to "Blue Moon of Kentucky" via Bill Black.
[8] The same night that Dewey Phillips first played the flip side of this first release of Presley's music on WHBQ, "That's All Right", Sleepy Eye John at WHHM loosed "Blue Moon of Kentucky".
[9] With Presley's version of Monroe's song consistently rated higher, both sides began to chart across the Southern United States.
In 1997, LeAnn Rimes covered the song on her compilation album Unchained Melody: The Early Years along with many other titles.
Carl Perkins was inspired by the song to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he enjoyed a more fruitful career.