Poss frequently acknowledged that he didn’t have a very conventional career path. “I used to joke that I had the perfect qualifications for being in the music business,” Poss once wrote. “I had no business training; in fact, no formal music background either but I teach Sociology of deviant Behavior.”

After graduating from Duke, he took a position with County Records in Floyd, Virginia. Poss and its owner, Dave Freeman, launched Sugar Hill Records in 1978, embracing what Poss called “contemporary music grounded in traditional music roots.” A self-described “wayward academic in an entrepreneurial role,” Poss assumed full control of the label in 1980, and moved it to Durham. He operated the label from there until its sale to Welk Music Group 20 years later. He became the group’s chairman in 2002. It’s now part of Concord Music, which also owns Rounder Records.

Among the many artists of note who recorded for Sugar Hill Records during Poss’ tenure were Pat Alger, Byron Berline, Ronnie Bowman, Sam Bush, Guy Clark, Mike Cross, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Sara Evans, Cathy Fink, Butch Hancock, Hot Rize, The Infamous Stringdusters, Chris Hillman, Wanda Jackson, Sarah Jarosz, Robert Earl Keen, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Lyle Lovett, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Dolly Parton, Dirk Powell, The Red Clay Ramblers, Peter Rowan, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, Marty Stuart, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and Jesse Winchester.

“The identity peg for Sugar Hill is having that traditional connection to contemporary music,” Poss Told Blue ridge Outdoors in 2008. “Some have taken to describing a ‘Sugar Hill Sound,” but I am not going to try to define that. To me, it’s what connect Doc Watson to Chris Thile, ricky skaggs to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt to dolly Parton. They all exhibit a rootedness in their contemporary expressions of music. I like it because the music comes from a place. It’s not prefabricated or manufactured.”

Douglas and Skaggs had been part of a bluegrass group called Boone Creek, whose One Way Track album was Sugar Hill’s first release in 1978. In a May 18 Facebook post, Douglas wrote of Poss: “His dream was to have a label that mirrored the same idea as Sam Phillips and his famous Sun label, which catered to a specific audience and created a new genre, Rockabilly Plus. Barry knew an audience was there for a specific form of music (bluegrass) and there were certain bands who could grow that audience and the music would evolve with the growth of that audience.”

Douglas, who also produced a number of recordings for Sugar Hill Records, noted that he and Poss were “very close friends. Confidants really. He was like my wingman and brother at any event we collided with. We would spend hours talking about the direction of the music and the parameters he wanted his label to maintain no matter the current climate.” Poss was also godfather to Douglas’ daughter Nola. “Barry loved my family, and Jill and I, along with our children, will forever press his memory closer to our hearts.”

In addition to spending many years at the helm of Sugar Hill Records, Poss was a founding board member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky and helped to launch the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

“Barry Poss was not just a champion of roots music and the artists that made it, but he was instrumental in the founding of our organization,” Ken White, IBMA’s executive director, said in a statement. “For that and so much more, we will always be grateful.”

Poss was a recipient of the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998. The Americana Music Association also honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 in recognition of Sugar Hill’s pivotal role in both preserving and reinvigorating traditional music, while he was inducted into the Oak Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2023.

Closer to home, Poss also served on the boards of the Carolina Theater, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, MerleFest, the North Carolina, Folklife Institute, and WUNC-FM.

While many artists and others have shared tributes to Poss since his passing, for his part Poss once said: “It’s the artists who make the music to which I’m the most indebted. They had something important to say. They needed to be heard. And I wanted to be part of their creative lives – because it mattered.”

Designed “to accommodate the need to engage, promote and entertain,” the online event kicks off on Thursday night, May 20 with a Roots of the Southeast Show & Tell Party, followed by a Wisdom of the Elders panel discussion moderated by Art Menius and the first of two open mics hosted by Grady Ormsby.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier keynotes the online event on Saturday night, May 22. Initially slated to keynote last year’s conference that was cancelled due to the pandemic, she is expected to share her experiences connecting with front-line doctors and nurses who worked in COVID units over the past year and to talk about the forthcoming publication of her new book, Saved By a Song. A question and answer session will follow.

Louisa Branscomb (a songwriter and pioneering female bluegrass musician), William Ferris (a folklorist, filmmaker and current chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities), Barry Poss (founder of Sugar Hill Records), and Eddie Lynn Snodderly (a songwriter and presenter) will engage in conversation during the Wisdom of the Elders session moderated by Art Menius.

SERFA Conversations will afford folks an opportunity to discuss what the folk community and music business professionals are thinking and planning for moving forward after the ongoing pandemic subsides. Topics include Venues are Reopening – Will You Go and Post-COVID, What Do You Want Back In Your Life? What Are the New Options?

The annual SERFA Awards — established by Kari Estrin (the organization’s founding president) to recognize people, organizations and businesses that have made extraordinary contributions to folk music and the folk community in the Southeast –will be presented to Ferris, David (a musician and public television show host), Poss, and Snodderly.

And, of course, there will be plenty of music. In addition to the two virtual open mics, for which people may sign up in advance, virtual guerilla showcases will provide artists who register for the conference opportunities to perform live on the streaming platform of their choice for a $15 per- session fee.

SERFA In Session also will feature participatory Roots of the Southeast Show & Tell Party and a virtual exhibit hall. Abby Parks, a folk DJ and SERFA’s board president, will lead the organization’s short annual general business meeting that precedes the keynote.

Registration for the conference, which provides full access to all of the online activities, is available on a tiered fee scale. Visit https://serfa.org to register and for more information on the conference (including a schedule).

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation, and promotion. Prior to the pandemic, SERFA had hosted an annual weekend of contemporary and traditional folk music, networking and learning opportunities for 13 consecutive years.

Editor’s Note: An elected board member of Folk Alliance International and immediate past president of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance board of directors, I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011 –- hosting guerilla showcases, mentoring, and serving as a panelist.