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ALL-TIME FAVORITE PARKING LOT PICKER’S GUITAR SOLOS—BY DIX BRUCE—Mel Bay 9780786685257. CD included, 95 pp., $24.99. (Mel Bay, #4 Industrial Dr., Pacific, MO 63069, www.melbay.com.) It might be easy to confuse this book/CD set with another of the author Dix Bruce’s books called The Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook, also on Mel Bay Publications. The operative…

TERRY BAUCOM NEVER THOUGHT OF LOOKING BACK Johnboy and Billy 2013    I have been putting off writing this review and driving around listening to Terry Baucom’s rock solid Never Thought Of Looking Back for weeks. Since the album is such a great listen, I didn’t have much incentive to stop listening and, thus, start writing….

MODES ON MANDOLIN: IMPROVING YOUR IMPROVISATION BY TODD COLLINS. Mel Bay 9780786685158. 140 pp., $24.99. (Mel Bay, #4 Industrial Dr., Pacific, MO 63069, www.melbay.com.) This book fills a gap in improvisation tutorials in that it serves as an introduction to something that many bluegrass pickers might be intimidated by—the theory and practice of scales and…

TRICKY BRITCHES GOOD COMPANY No Label No Number Just because you don’t know what to call something doesn’t mean you can’t like it. And so it goes with Good Company, the second offering from the band Tricky Britches. There might be a subtle hint there as to what segment this group wants to place itself…

JIM LAUDERDALE OLD TIME ANGELS Skycrunch Records No Number Below the surface of a couple or three songs on Jim Lauderdale’s latest project lurks a touch of modernity. It’s a slight nod to the fact that although these 11 songs sound old (and I mean old  as in written, recorded, and designed to sound that…

BARN DANCES & JAMBOREES ACROSS KENTUCKY—BY J.D. WILKES WITH A FOREWORD BY JOHN COHEN—History Press 9781626192683. Also available in eBook, 159 pp., $19.99. (History Press, 645 Meeting St., Ste. 200, Charleston, SC 29403, www.historypress.net.) What a fun and satisfying book! It makes me wish I was moving to Kentucky, getting ready to roam around the…