Sugar Hill was (is) one of my favorite independent record labels. If memory serves me it started in the 1970s when Barry Poss left County Records and moved South to Durham. There he created a label that featured both new releases and reissues for a variety of acoustic oriented artists, many of them Bluegrass but also singer / songwriters, folk, and various other roots music. Eventually like almost all of the successful independents it was bought up by one of the conglomerates. I believe Welk bought them just before the turn of the century, then Concord bought them and merged them with Rounder. And I believe Concord is owned by Universal? Anyway, I have a bunch of the albums and I'm always on the lookout for more. I'll post one of my favorites that I have entered in my DISCOGS. While most used acoustic music LPs are fairly inexpensive, this one goes for (relatively speaking) a lot. It is a great album! I hope others will add stories, favorite albums and artists etc to the thread. Tony Rice – Church Street Blues More images Label: Sugar Hill Records (2) – SH-3732 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released: 1983 Genre: Folk, World, & Country Style: Bluegrass, Folk
If I see a used copy of a CD on Sugar Hill, I'm happy to take the risk & pick it up even if I've never heard of the performer.
I have a good old hippy friend who absolutely loves these people. He has a massive record collection of stuff on labels like Flying Fish, Rounder and I'm sure Sugar Hill with musicians like these on. He's seen some of them live too, in England and America. I always love hearing the music around his, but it's not easy to obtain or know where to go with it.
All very worthy labels if you like American acoustic music. Mind blowing selection of performers between them. I've been lucky enough to see a bunch of Sugar Hill acts live too. One that's eluded me though is Chris Hillman, annoyingly. Love to catch him at some point. I was hoping he'd come across to the UK to promote his most recent album or maybe his memoir. No such luck though. Given he'll be seventy-eight later this year, I fear I may be running out of time.
So did I. Swansea, 1985! I had no idea who he was and can remember thinking, "I hope this scruffy herbert doesn't detain us long." By the end though, just like the rest of the audience, I was on my feet bellowing for more. He was outstanding!
He was only there for Gene Clark, sadly outside of a couple of songs he doesn't like Lindisfarne. He's very biased towards US & Canadian acts and against UK ones after the 60s. His favourites include Doc Watson, John Hartford, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Goodman, Guy Clark, Gove Scrivenor, John Prine, Iris Dement and all the great bluegrass pickers. His record collection is colossal!
Shame that your friend doesn't like Lindisfarne! I'm off to see them again next month. Rod Clements wrote a song about Gene Clark on that tour - Cowboy In The Rain - which appeared on his solo album, Stamping Ground. Interesting list. I don't know Gove Scrivenor and despite knowing City Of New Orleans for decades, I've only just started exploring Steve Goodman's music. The rest are great, though. Funnily enough, I was listening to John Hartman, or at least, his albums with Rodney & Doug Dillard, earlier this evening.
Gove Scrivenor is very obscure, but he recorded two albums on Flying Fish in the late 70s that he played me and I really like the best stuff on them. He plays autoharp beautifully. I had to include someone obscure to do my friend justice! Surprisingly there's a little concert by him on YouTube, if you don't have time for the whole thing, check out the last song with Doc Watson at 19 minutes. Gorgeous.
I have those on the 2-fer CD, Solid Gove. Great stuff! I love his baritone vocals and he's great at playing various styles including blues, country, folk, and bluegrass. Lots of great players on those albums including Doc Watson, Buddy Emmons, etc.
There are a bunch of intriguing names on the Sugar Hill roster that I don't know - The Austin Lounge Lizards, Donna The Buffalo etc. Be interesting to go through all the artists I haven't heard and try and find something to listen to.
Somehow my friend managed to get doubles of both the albums on vinyl, which can't be easy in the UK and he gave me them both. I really like his voice too. I can't say I like everything on them, but there are plenty of fine tracks.
That Austin City Limits show is where I first heard him 40 years ago. I never forgot his name so when I stumbled upon the CD in a local store almost 20 years later I bought it.
My friend heard the record playing in a bar in Atlanta on holiday, two years later he went back, having forgotten Gove's unusual name, and they were still playing his records there. He bought both LPs then in Atlanta and still plays them.
Chris Hillman did some wonderful Sugar Hill albums. This one is my favorite. In his autobiography he was very complementary of Barry Poss and the Sugar Hill label. He said there was no pressure to try and produce a particular sound (commercial sound) but instead was told to record what he wanted. They agreed on financial terms and Sugar Hill would put it out. Chris Hillman – Morning Sky More images Label: Sugar Hill Records (2) – SH-3729 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released: 1982 Genre: Folk, World, & Country Style: Bluegrass, Country Rock
Donna the Buffalo is one of the best band names! I've not seen them live but have friends that have. For many years they hosted a festival not too far from where I live but I've never been able to make it. I do have one of their CDs and use to listen to it fairly often. I guess you could call them an Americana band?
That's a wonderful record. Herb Pedersen's Sugar Hill album, Lonesome Feeling, has a similar vibe too, I reckon. It was nice to hear Chris being so positive about his Sugar Hill experience. He wasn't always overly complimentary about his record labels.
