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LEE MARCUS GRANDPA’S POND No Label No Number Lee Marcus is a very talented banjo player from South Carolina who is a former member of Wayne Taylor and Appaloosa.  Marcus recently followed in Taylor’s footsteps (who was a member of the U.S. Navy’s Country Current band for over twenty years) by joining the United States…

THE OZAKI BROTHERS TILL WE MEET AGAIN Jasrac R-1210332 For their role in introducing and spreading bluegrass throughout Japan from the 1950s forward, the Ozaki Brothers were recently honored as a Pioneer of Bluegrass Music and by inclusion in the International Bluegrass Music Museum’s Video Oral History Project. That honor also included having one of…

STEEL WHEELS LAY DOWN LAY LOW No Label No Number I didn’t think I could review the entire disc, because my CD became permanently stuck on track three. I couldn’t stop listening to “Rain In The Valley,” an incredible harmonic convergence from this quintet. A solid bass drum lick and some extra percussion seasoned lightly…

FLATLAND DRIVE No Label No Number Flatland Drive is a five-piece, predominantly traditional-based band from Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, featuring banjoist Curt Fox, mandolinist Brad Turner, reso-guitarist Alan Rausch, guitarist Lee Collins and bassist Rodney Collins. Everyone sings and everyone writes. Who sings what, the notes don’t say, though there are at least two…

SATAN IS REAL: THE BALLAD OF THE LOUVIN BROTHERS—BY CHARLIE LOUVIN WITH BENJAMIN WHITMER—ItBooks/HarperCollins Publishers, $22.99. (HarperCollins Publishers, 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022, www.harpercollins.com.) If there was ever a pivotal duet in classic country and bluegrass history, it was the Louvin Brothers. You just can’t get any more beloved than the Louvins…

RARE BIRD ALERT TABLATURE BOOK—BY STEVEN MARTIN & THE STEEP CANYON RANGERS, TRANSCRIBED BY TONY TRISCHKA—Homespun Tapes 9781597733274. $19.95. (Homespun Tapes, P.O. Box 340, Woodstock, NY 12498, www.homespuntapes.com.) I’m convinced that “Steve Martin” is actually an offshore conglomerate where brilliant, kidnapped writers, actors, musicians, and talk-show guests are cloned into “Steve Martins” and sent into…