After nearly a decade of dealing with problems such as labels that had little interest in promoting The Oak Ridge Boys, studio breakdowns, and sluggish sales, the group's fortunes changed when they signed with Spring Hill Records in 2000. In the first four years of teaming with Dove Award-winning producer Michael Sykes, the quartet released a full-length gospel album ("From The Heart"), their fourth Christmas album ("Inconvenient Christmas"), a patriotic album ("Colors"), a bluegrass album ("The Journey"), and a quasi-compilation, titled "Common Thread", containing newly recorded versions of older gospel songs, as well as material from 2004's "The Journey". Another Christmas album, "Christmas Cookies", followed in 2005. In 2006 the group completed the album, "Front Row Seats", a return to mainstream country music with modern, aggressive arrangements and song selection. The project spawned a minor top 40 hit with "It's Hard To Be Cool In A Mini-Van".