Sugar Baby

Pop radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s was a delightfully diverse thing. Tune in your transistor to your local Top 40 station and you’d hear everything from easy listening to acid rock. But lost amidst the mythology of that tempestuous time are dozens of sweet, catchy, lightning-in-a-bottle hit records – we call them “Sugar Pop.” Many of these artists scaled the upper reaches of the charts and were never heard from again. But, one-hit wonders or not, these are some finest records of their era – and we’ve rescued them from obscurity and polished them to a fine-sounding gleam for the latest installment of Hard To Find 45s On CD.

Beginning in the early '90s, Sammy Shelor and Ronnie Bowman's version of the Lonesome River Band would become one of the most influential bluegrass groups of the decade. Best of the Sugar Hill Years captures the group's stint at the label between 1994 and 2000 with 16 selections. All of these selections feature vocalist/bassist Bowman and banjoist Shelor, who are joined by a number of regulars including Dan Tyminski, Don Rigsby, and Kenny Smith, and a number of guests, including Jerry Douglasand Stuart Duncan.