VA - Sugar Hill Records: A Retrospective [4CD Remastered Box Set] (2006)

Four CDs and Bonus DVD! For 25 years and counting, Sugar Hill has maintained a tradition of integrity and quality while exploring new frontiers in music. Today, the eclectic Sugar Hill roster includes adventurous artists such as Nickel Creek, The Duhks, Sonny Landreth, Scott Miller, and Sam Bush, as well as award-winning traditionalists like Dolly Parton and Tim O'Brien. Label founder Barry Poss handpicked tracks for Sugar Hill Records: A Retrospective, a collection that illuminates 25-plus years of contributions to American roots music and the evolution of the groundbreaking, Grammy-winning label. The massive Sugar Hill Records: A Retrospective box set includes four discs with 81 songs and a bonus DVD with exclusive artist interviews (Tim O'Brien, Doyle Lawson, Jerry Douglas, and more), music videos, and archival photo gallery. The box set's extensive liner notes by Poss include anecdotes and insights into the artists and times that shaped Sugar Hill's legacy. Liners also include a historical perspective from Country Music Hall of Fame's Jay Orr, as well as artist reflections on the label and Poss.

With four discs containing 81 musical selections and a bonus DVD of artist interviews, videos, and photos, one of Americana's leading indie labels celebrates its first 25 years. Actually, Sugar Hill passed the quarter-century mark in 2003, but such a handsomely packaged and lovingly annotated set arrives better late than never. Label founder Barry Poss made the selections and contributes anecdotes about each, with the sequencing following a chronological progression from 1978 to 2003. From its base in bluegrass, both traditional and progressive, the North Carolina label has subsequently branched into maverick Texas songwriters (Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Terry Allen, Guy Clark, James McMurtry) and bands as diverse as the Gourds, Bad Livers, and Donna the Buffalo. Though label stars such as Jerry Douglas, Nickel Creek (as a trio and in their solo efforts), and Dolly Parton are inevitably represented, the set also features the underexposed artistry of country singer John Starling and harmony trio Uncle Walt's Band. Though never signed to the label, Emmylou Harris provides harmonies all over the set, while Johnny Cash guests on two cuts. As Vince Gill notes in the accompanying booklet, "Whenever you bought music on Sugar Hill, even if it was by an artist you were unfamiliar with, you'd be pretty sure it was something pretty great." --Don McLeese