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Mary Lynne
and the Country Two Plus Three

About The Artist

Mary Lynne and the Country Two Plus Three were a country band out of the New England / Massachusetts area. They had a unique country sound that kept them busy playing before packed houses and on television and radio appearances.

The Country Two Plus Three got their big break when a fellow by the name of Ted Parker, who was the owner of the famous "Frankie Lane's Supper Club" in Hanson, MA heard them perform and liked what he heard so much, he talked them into doing an album of famous country hits.

Mary Lynne with Elton Britt They played just about every important country music club in New England and were the featured backup group for many legendary country stars, including Elton Britt, Lefty Frizzell, Kenny Roberts, Yodling Slim Clark and on it goes.

The group also achieved some acclaim for the willingness to do many appearances for the Retarded Children's Organizations, Veteran's Hospitals and Prison groups.

Mary Lynne tells us that one of the strangest ancedotes she remembers was the night she went over to pick up her lead player. She drove on over to his house and took her guitar out of the back seat of her car to make room for his equipment. They drove on over to the club for their engagement, but to their surprise when they got there and unloaded - no guitar for Mary Lynne!

Mary Lynne with Lefty Frizzell She thought someone had stolen it. So, she diligently put an ad in the local newspaper, even offering a reward with no questions asked. About a day later, she got a call. Someone had found her beautiful Gibson guitar. He said the moment he opened the case, he knew it was a professional instrument as he could smell the cigarette smoke (from all the clubs they had appeared at).

What happened was Dale, her lead player, had put the guitar on the roof of the car and forgot to put it back inside the car. Well, the first time Mary Lynne hit the brakes, the guitar slid off. Now you might think they would have heard that, but they had the cassette player on playing some good ole country music and never even heard it.

And the story doesn't end there. Mary Lynne had her name across the pick guard. The only damage to the guitar when it fell was that one of the letters fell off. When anyone asked if her guitar had gotten damaged after that episode, she, biting her tongue we're sure, had to say, "It knocked the "L" out of it."

Mary Lynne with Kenny Roberts Another memory she shares with us was on the occasion of her birthday. She was performing that night and the audience gave her two round trip tickets to Nashville and reservations to see the mother church of country music radio shows, the Grand Ole Opry show. And not just any show at that. It was to be that last one at the Ryman Auditorium before it moved to its brand new theatre at Opryland. She and her husband also got reservations at the Ramada Inn and $145.00 spending money, too! She thought it was a great present! Her fans must have liked what they heard, don't you think?


On another occasion, her audience / fans presented her and the band with awards. She thought they must have rehearsed for weeks. The men were the announcers. The women, were all dressed up in their finest gowns and wore long gloves to do the presenting. She and the band got a lovely clock with a guitar on it and a plaque thanking her for entertaining them, etc. Each member of her band got a plaque with the instrument they played imposed on the front of the plaque. You know they must have touched a 'chord' with their audiences to have this kind of love shown Mary Lynne and the Country Two Plus Three.

Club Poster   Club Poster2

Their record was released on TEPCO Record Productions No. 2374.

Mary Lynne was also a part of a gospel group called the Galileans around 1975 or so.

Timeline and Trivia Notes

Group members included:

  • Mary Lynne, vocals, rhythm guitar
  • Wayne Diehm, lead guitar
  • Auby Foley, fiddle
  • Allen Wilbur, bass
  • Gene Harriman, vocals, rhythm guitar