New releases: March 13, 2007

Sugar Hill pours some, y'know, sugar on us this week with three -- count 'em, three! -- offerings in its Americana Masters Series. And while you might could quibble with the value of a single-label retrospective, especially when that label and the artist may since have parted ways, there's no quibble with the use of "masters" in reference to these artists. James McMurtry? Guy Clark? Jerry Douglas? I'd say they each earned the title, sure.

This week's new releases of note:
James McMurtry -- Americana Masters Series ... The Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
Guy Clark -- Americana Masters Series ... The Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
Jerry Douglas -- Americana Masters Series ... The Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
Jon Rauhouse -- Steel Guitar Heart Attack (Bloodshot)
Lucy Kaplansky -- Over the Hills (Red House)
Uncle Earl -- Waterloo, Tennessee (Rounder)
The Alternate Routes -- Good & Reckless & True (Vanguard)
Graham Parker -- Don't Tell Columbus (Bloodshot)
various artists -- Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Concord)
A 50-song, 2-CD box set celebrating legendary Stax Records ... and the resurrection of that label. Daaaamn!
various artists -- Classic Old-Time Fiddle from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways)

Y'all have fun at SXSW, you lucky bastards who get to go. Drop us a line, hear?