Album Summary: (3-CD + DVD + 308 page book) Bear Family Records came into being in the late summer of 1975. We want to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary with a very special release. A CD/DVD/book edition has been produced just for this event. You may purchase this item at a special price. Our friends in the music industry, musicians and songwriters, have written and recorded a collection of 'Bear' songs especially for our anniversary. These original recordings - 72 in all - are available exclusively on this LP-sized Bear Family boxed set. Especially interesting are the songs that deal not just with any old bear, but with our own Bear Family label - Ry Cooder: I Wanna Be On Bear Family When I Die, Jim Diamond: Bear Family - Deke Dickerson: Bear Family Talking Blues - Roland Heinrich: Sixteen Discs, and Kim Lenz: What. In the accompanying 308-page LP-sized publication, you will read comments and remarks of internationally recognized music critics, experts and authors on Bear Family. We have re-printed all song lyrics, and of course there is a picture of every performing artist. Look back on Bear Family's 40-year history with the lavishly illustrated book. We want to thank all our facilitators and supporters who have made ??us what we are today, and last but not least we say goodbye to companions we have lost.

In May 2016 Bear Family Records will release its third of three boxed sets documenting the three commercial location recording sessions conducted in east Tennessee during the years 1927-1930. Each of the three sessions was held in a different city by a different record company, and each was unique in terms of the specific musicians and types of music recorded; the three sessions had in common the fact that they were all conducted in east Tennessee and that they ultimately documented a broad range of the musical sounds, styles, and repertoire of Appalachia. More