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.”

Besides pursuing a career as a solo-touring and recording artist, Jarosz, who was an occasional guest host on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, is now part of the house band for the show under its new host, Chris Thile. She has also performed as part of a trio called I’m With Her, along with Sara Watkins (a co-founder of Nickel Creek) and Aoife O’Donovan (of Crooked Still fame).

The Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song went to “Kid Sister” – Vince Gill, songwriter (The Time Jumpers). A veteran country crooner, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Gill is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the recipient of more than 20 Grammy awards.

Best Americana Album honors were bestowed on William Bell, a veteran soul and R & B singer-songwriter, for This Is Where I Live. Coming Home by O’Connor Band with Mark O’ Connor was named Best Bluegrass Album. Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush’s Porcupine Meat was chosen as the Best Traditional Blues Album, while the award for Best Contemporary Blues Album went to Fantastic Negrito for The Last Days of Oakland. Rounding out the honorees in the American Roots Music Field was Kalani Pe’a, a Hawaiian singer-songwriter whose 2016 debut release, E Walea, was named Best Regional Roots Music Album.

Although Lori McKenna did not win any of the three awards for which she was nominated in the American Roots Music Field, she took home one for Country Song of the Year for writing “Humble and Kind.” Tim McGraw’s recording of the song topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart early last year, while her own rendition of it appears on McKenna’s Grammy-nominated July 2016 release, The Bird & The Rifle. McKenna also co-wrote the 2016 Grammy Award-winning Best Country Song, “Girl Crazy,” which was a huge hit for Little Big Town.

Steve Martin & Edie Brickell were nominated for Best American Roots Song for the title track of their Rounder release, Love Has Come for You, which also is in the running for Best Americana Album. Martin previously received a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010 for The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.

Below is a listing of the nominees, by category, in the American Roots Music Field.

Best American Roots Song

“Build Me Up From Bones” – Sarah Jarosz (Sugar Hill Records)
“Invisible” – Steve Earle (New West Records)
“Keep Your Dirty Lights On” – Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott (from Memories and Moments on Full Skies Records)
“Love Has Come For You” – Edie Brickell & Steve Martin (from Love Has Come for You on Rounder)
“Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed” – Allen Toussaint (from Songbook on Rounder)

Best Americana Album

Old Yellow Moon – Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell (Nonesuch Records)
Love Has Come For You – Steve Martin & Edie Brickell (Rounder)
Buddy and Jim – Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale (New West Records)
One True Vine – Mavis Staples (Anti Records)
Songbook – Allen Toussaint (Rounder)

Best Bluegrass Album

It’s Just A Road – The Boxcars (Mountain Home Music Company)
Brothers of the Highway – Dailey & Vincent (Rounder)
This World Oft Can Be – Della Mae (Rounder)
Three Chords and the Truth – James King (Rounder)
The Streets of Baltimore – Del McCoury Band (McCoury Music)

Best Blues Album

Remembering Little Walter – Billy Boy Arnold, Charlie Musselwhite, Mark Hummel, Sugar Ray Norcia & James Harman (Blind Pig Records)
Cotton Mouth Man – James Cotton (Alligator)
Get Up! – Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite (Stax)
Seesaw – Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa (J & R Adventures)
Down in Louisiana – Bobby Rush (Deep Rush Records)
Bobby Rush

Best Folk Album

My Favorite Picture of You – Guy Clark (Dualtone)
Sweetheart of the Sun – The Greencards (Darling Street Records)
Build Me Up From Bones – Sarah Jarosz (Sugar Hill Records)
The Ash & Clay – The Milk Carton Kids (Anti Records)
They All Played For Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration – Various Artists –Arhoolie Records

Best Regional Roots Music Album

The Life & Times Of…The Hot 8 Brass Band – Hot 8 Brass Band (Tru Thoughts)
Hula Ku’I – Kahulanu (Palm Records)
Le Fou – Zachary Richard (Avalanche Productions)
Dockside Sessions – Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience (Musicmatters Records)
Apache Blessing & Crown Dance Songs – Joe Tahonnie Jr. (Cool Runnings Music)

In addition, living folk music icon Pete Seeger is among the nominees for Best Spoken Word Album (for The Storm King), while The Civil Wars were nominated in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for “From This Valley.” The East Nashville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White took home two Grammy Awards in 2012 for Best Folk Album of the Year (for its debut album, Barton Hollow) and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for that album’s title track.

Nominees for Best Children’s Album include Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower for Blue Clouds, Beth Nielsen Chapman for The Mighty Sky, Justin Roberts for Recess, Alastair Moock & Friends for Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World’s Bravest Kids, and Jennifer Gasoi for Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well.

The Grammy Awards are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, also known as The Recording Academy. A complete list of nominees in all 82 categories appears online at www.grammy.com.

Listed below are the nominees in the American Roots Music Field that may be of particular interest to readers of AcousticMusicScene.com: The number of award categories in the field was reduced earlier this year as part of a restructuring by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. that has seen a 30% drop from 2011 in the total number of categories to be recognized across all genres and fields.

Citing a shortage in the number of entries and challenges in distinguishing between Contemporary Folk and Americana and Contemporary and Traditional Blues, The Recording Academy consolidated the blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories into one per genre. In addition, the Hawaiian, Native American and Cajun/Zydeco categories have been combined in a new Regional Roots Music category that also incorporates Polka music (which has a regional home in the Great Lakes area).

Best Folk Album

Barton Hollow
The Civil Wars [Sensibility Music LLC]

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Steve Earle [New West Records]

Helplessness Blues
Fleet Foxes [Sub Pop]

Ukulele Songs
Eddie Vedder [Monkeywrench Inc. /Universal Republic]

The Harrow & The Harvest
Gillian Welch [Acony Records]

Best Americana Album

Emotional Jukebox
Linda Chorney [Dance More Less War Records]

Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
Ry Cooder [Perro Verde Records LLC/Nonesuch]

Hard Bargain
Emmylou Harris [Nonesuch]

Ramble At The Ryman
Levon Helm [Vanguard/Dirt Farmer Music]

Blessed
Lucinda Williams [Lost Highway Records]

Best Bluegrass Album

Paper Airplane
Alison Krauss & Union Station [Rounder]

Reason and Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs by Robert Hunter & Jim Lauderdale
Jim Lauderdale [Sugar Hill Records]

Rare Bird Alert
Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers [Rounder]

Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe
The Del McCoury Band [McCoury Music]

A Mother’s Prayer
Ralph Stanley [Rebel Records]

Sleep With One Eye Open
Chris Thile & Michael Daves [Nonesuch]

Best Blues Album

Low Country Blues
Gregg Allman [Rounder]

Roadside Attractions
Marcia Ball [Alligator]

Man in Motion
Warren Haynes [Stax Records]

The Reflection
Keb Mo [Yolabelle International/Ryko Records]

Revelator
Tedeschi Trucks Band [Masterworks]

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Can’t Sit Down
C.J. Chenier [World Village]

Wao Akua – The Forest of the Gods
George Kahumoku, Jr. [Daniel Ho Creations]

Rebirth of New Orleans
Rebirth Brass Band [Basin Street Records]

Grand Isle
Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys [Mamou Playboy Records]

Not Just Another Polka
Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra [Starr Records]

In addition to The Civil Wars’ debut album, Barton Hollow, receiving a nod for Folk Album of the Year, its title track is among the nominees for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Mumford & Sons, who, like The Civil Wars, have topped the Roots Music Report folk radio charts, received nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song for “The Cave” [Glassnote Records] from its album entitled Sigh No More (songwriters: Ted Dwayne, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and County Winston). “Down By the Water,” written by Colin Meloy for The Decemberists, also was nominated for Best Rock Performance. “Life in Eleven,” a track from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones’ album Rocket Science [eOne Music], composed by Bela Fleck and Howard Levy, is among the nominees for Best Instrumental Composition. Hear Me Howling: Blues, Ballads & Beyond as Recorded by the San Francisco Bay by Chris Strachwitz in the 1960s [Arhoolie Records] received nods for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album.

A complete list of nominees in all categories appears online at www.grammy.com.

You Are Not Alone
Mavis Staples
(Anti-)

Best Bluegrass Album

Mountain Stage II
Patty Loveless
(Saguaro Road)

Best Country Instrumental Performance

“Hummingbird”
(from Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions)
Marty Stuart
(Sugar Hill Records)

Best Traditional Folk Album

Genuine Negro Jig
Carolina Chocolate Drops
(Nonesuch)

Best Contemporary Folk Album

God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise
Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs
(RCA Records)

Best Traditional World Music Album

Ali and Toumani
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate
(World Circuit/Nonesuch)

Best Contemporary World Music Album

Throw Down Your Heart, African Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks
Bela Fleck
(Acoustic Planet Records)

Best Traditional Blues Album

Joined At The Hip
Pinetop Perkins & Willy “Big Eyes” Smith
(Telarc)

Best Musical Album for Children

Tomorrow’s Children
Pete Seeger with the Rivertown Kids and Friends
(Appleseed)

Best Hawaiian Music Album

Huana Ke Aloha
Tia Carrere
(Daniel Ho Creations)

Best Native American Music Album

2010 Gathering of Nations Pow Wow: A Spirit’s Dance
Various Artists
(Gathering of Nations Records)

Best Tejano Album

Recuerdeos
Little Joe & La Famila
(TDI Records)

Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album

Zydeco Junkie
Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band
(Swampadelic Records)

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album

Crazy Heart
Various Artists
Stephen Bruton & T Bone Burnett, producers
(New West Records)

Best Song Written for Motion Picture, TV or Other Visual Media

“The Weary Kind” (from Crazy Heart)
Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, songwriters
(New West Records)

Ray LaMontagne also was among the nominees for Song of the Year for “Beg, Steal or Borrow,” off the RCA album God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise. Among the Best New Artist nominees were Mumford & Sons, who, along with The Avett Brothers, joined Bob Dylan in singing “Maggie’s Farm” during the Grammy Awards telecast. Also during the telecast, Norah Jones, John Mayer and Keith Urban paid tribute to Dolly Parton with their rendition of “Jolene.”

A complete list of winners and nominees in all 109 categories currently appears at www.grammy.com.

Here are the nominees in categories that may be of particular interest to readers of AcousticMusicScene.com.

Best Americana Album (vocal or instrumental)

The List
Rosanne Cash
[Manhattan Records]

Tin Can Trust
Los Lobos
[Shout! Factory]

Country Music
Willie Nelson
[Rounder]

Band of Joy
Robert Plant
[Rounder]

You Are Not Alone
Mavis Staples
[Anti-]

Best Bluegrass Album (vocal or instrumental)

Circles Around Me
Sam Bush
[Sugar Hill Records]

Mountain Stage II
Patty Loveless
[Saguaro Road]

Family Circle
The Del McCoury Band
[McCoury Music]

Legacy
Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
[Compass Records]

Reckless
The SteelDrivers
[Rounder]

Best Country Instrumental Performance

Tatoo of Smudge
(from Cherryholmes IV Common Threads)
Cherryholmes
[Skaggs Family Records]

Magic #9
(from Things That Fly)
The Infamous Stringdusters
[Sugar Hill Records]

New Chance Blues
(from Punch Brothers)
Punch Brothers
[Nonesuch]

Willow Creek
(from A Crooked Road)
Darrell Scott
[Full Light]

Hummingbird
(from Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions)
Marty Stuart
[Sugar Hill Records]

Best Traditional Folk Album

Genuine Negro Jig
Carolina Chocolate Drops
[Nonesuch]

Onward And Upward
Luther Dickinson & The Sons Of Mudboy
[Memphis International]

Memories Of John
The John Hartford Stringband
[Compass Records/Red Clay Records]

Maria Muldaur & Her Garden Of Joy
Maria Muldaur
[Stony Plain Records]

Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved
Ricky Skaggs
[Skaggs Family Records]

Best Contemporary Folk Album

Love Is Strange – En Vivo Con Tino
Jackson Browne & David Lindley
[Inside Recordings]

The Age Of Miracles
Mary Chapin Carpenter
[Zoe Records]

Somedays The Song Writes You
Guy Clark
[Dualtone]

God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise
Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs
[RCA Records]

Dream Attic
Richard Thompson
[Shout! Factory]

Song of the Year nominees include Ray LaMontagne for “Beg, Steal or Borrow,” off the RCA album God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise. Among the Best New Artist nominees are Mumford & Sons, whose debut album topped the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart for weeks earlier this year.

Nominees for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals include reigning three-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Entertainers of the Year Dailey & Vincent for “Elizabeth” from the Rounder release Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers and The SteelDrivers for “Where Rainbows Never Die” off Reckless, also on Rounder. Diercks Bentley, a country artist with bluegrass leanings, received two nods for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “Bad Angel” with Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” with Del McCoury and the Punch Brothers; both tracks appears on his Capital Records release Up On the Ridge. Also nominated in that category is Mary Stuart (and Connie Smith) for “I Run to You” from the Sugar Hill Records release Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.

Pete Seeger and They Might Be Giants are among the nominees for Best Musical Album for Children. Seeger was nominated for Tomorrow’s Children, an Appleseed recording that also features the Rivertown Kids and Friends, while TMBG received a nod for the Disney Sound recording Here Comes Science. Nominees for Best Spoken Word Album for Children include Healthy Food for Thought, which features readings by veteran Philadelphia folk DJ Gene Shay and singer-songwriter Sara Hickman, among others. Folk and acoustic artists and labels also are among the nominees for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Best Historical Album, Best Album Notes and Best Recording Package.

Other award categories that may be of interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers include Best Traditional Blues Album, Best Hawaiian Album, Best Native American Album, Best Zydeco or Cajun Album and Best Traditional World Music Album. A complete list of nominees in all 109 categories appears on www.grammy.com.