People and organizations all over the US have been circulating petitions and returning them to the manager of stamp services for the USPS. The campaign has picked up steam this year in the hope of seeing the stamp issued in 2012, which will mark the centennial of Bill Monroe’s birth on September 13.

The good news comes in the form of a letter from Terrence McCaffrey, manager of the USPS stamp development office, in response to a set of signed petitions turned in by the Seven Mountains Bluegrass Association in Pennsylvania.

The letter indicates that the Bill Monroe stamp is under consideration for issuance, and that subjects for the 2012 release schedule are now being selected. Now is the time to double down, folks!

You can find all the details to print petitions to be completed, and the addresses where they should be sent, here on The Bluegrass Blog. Take them to a jam or a bluegrass concert, get your family and friends to sign, irritate your neighbors…

If enough bluegrass lovers participate, we’ll all be able to celebrate the founder of bluegrass music with an official US postage stamp in 2012.

Just do it!

His career in bluegrass began more than a generation ago when he stepped in to fill John Duffey’s place with The Country Gentlemen in March of 1969. Over those 40 years Jimmy has toured and recorded with The Tony Rice Unit, JD Crowe & The New South, IInd Generation and a number of others, and splits his time these days supporting Robin & Linda Williams as a member of their Fine Band, and as a duo partner with Moondi Klein.

Gaudreau is hard at work finishing a new album of his instrumental tunes for mandolin, one that he hopes will be released before the end of 2009 on a new label, Stonebridge Records, which he has formed with Stuart Martin. The two met when Martin was engineering 2:10 Train, Gaudreau’s 2008 CD with Moondi Klein on Rebel Records. Jimmy and Stuart have become serial collaborators, and will be working together on the new instrumental project as well.

“The basic concept of my project is to feature ‘pieces & bits’ ( a possible title) of instrumental tunes I’ve composed over my career, some of which I have recorded on earlier albums and some I simply haven’t gotten around to recording until now. The ‘pieces’ will include rhythm guitar, bass and various other lead instruments while the ‘bits’ will feature abbreviated versions and include only mandolin or mandola backed by rhythm guitar, octave mandolin or bouzouki. The idea is to weave these in between the production numbers possibly using a fade-in/fade-out technique, although that’s merely one idea we’re tossing around.

In the end, I’m sure what will happen is that Stuart will hit on the ideal way to tie it all together, and we’ll go for it. He’s just that good!”

Orrin Star has contributed guitar to several cuts, and Jimmy offers high praise for his playing.

“I really like the way he interprets my music. I think if I were to be a guitar player, I’d want to play like him!”

Jimmy also mentioned that he is now completely fascinated by a couple of long scale 8 strings that have recently come into his possession…

“I must confess that the bouzouki, when tuned to the traditional Irish tuning (GDAD) is messing with my brain, but I’ve taken to the shorter scale octave mandolin like a duck to water. Both are made by Trinity College and are part of their professional series which, in my opinion compete with the custom instruments of this type that I’ve seen and played (but never owned) over the years.

I immediately started leaving it out on a stand next to my old Gibson A-model (my practice mando) in our family room and I find that I’m picking it up constantly if I’m watching some mindless TV show or just getting in some quiet practice time after my wife, Gloria, goes to bed…which is more often than not, before me.

I find the scale to be comfortable, the guitar-like register to be open-chord friendly for strumming, and the general tone to be quite “soothing” …and dare I say a “stress reliever?” Hey, take it from one who has dealt with his share of stress, anxiety, etc. over the years of performing and having to book myself or the act I’m involved with (Ugggghhhhhh!), if you can find a non-prescription stress reliever or any natural means to calm the mind and body, you are WAY ahead in the game.

From what I’ve experienced thus far, I’m of the belief that it’s helping me in a number of ways, including re-kindling the fire that I’ve found to be somewhat diminishing over the last several years (probably the reason it’s taken me so long to get on the stick with the mandolin project). Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just conclude by saying that even if I never used it on stage, I’m getting countless hours of pleasure just having it in my home and thank the folks at Saga for giving me the opportunity to ‘test drive’ these (pro series) prototypes, and thus open a new door in a career in which I’ve walked through so many doors, I didn’t think there were any left to open. Wrong!”

You can keep up with Jimmy’s live appearances on his official web site, which will also have news about the CD when it is ready for release.  He will be with Robin & Linda this weekend (6/6) at the Volunteer Farm Benefit Concert in Mount Jackson, VA. The show will raise funds for an area food bank, and also feature performances by Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie.

Well this morning Katy Daley will be talking to ex-Country Gentlemen alumnus Jimmy Gaudreau, who this month is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the date that he first sang as a member of that storied bluegrass band.

Since then Gaudreau spent several years, in two stints, playing mandolin and singing with the Gentlemen, and later with JD Crowe and the New South. He also worked with The Tony Rice Unit (for 9 years), with his own bands Country Store, Spectrum (with Bela Fleck), Chesapeake, and Auldridge, Bennett & Gaudreau, and partnering with Bill Clifton and currently Moondi Klein.

Their telephone conversation can be heard on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country online.

WAMU transmits on 88.5FM and 105.5FM from Reston, Virginia.

His guests last week were Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein, who sat for an interview with Tramontana in the basement of the Town Hall in New York, waiting to open for Emmylou Harris.

They talked with Gianluca about their music and their terrific CD, 2:10 Train, released on Rebel in 2008, and picked a few for the radio microphones.

You can hear the podcast from the show on the Sitting with Gianluca web site.

At 11:00 a.m. this morning, Jimmy Gaudreau will join host Carol Beaugard on Lonesome Pine RFD, broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the New York City area. Jimmy is on tour now with Moondi Klein supporting their duo Rebel CD, 2:10 Train. They are opening for Emmylou Harris over the course of her summer tour.

You can find their tour dates on the duo’s web site.

If you aren’t in the NYC area, Lonesome Pine RFD is streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

At noon, The Lovell Sisters will perform live on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. The show originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM – and via live streaming online.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT).

For those who subscribe to Sirius satellite radio, here’s another one worth your attention.

The Infamous Stringdusters will be on Sirius Bluegrass tonight at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). The broadcast will feature a live set recorded last week at Nashville’s Station Inn where the guys run through all of the songs from their new CD, The Infamous Stringdusters, plus a couple of bluegrass favorites.

Should you miss tonight’s show, it will replay on Sirius Bluegrass on Saturday (6/21) at 10:00 p.m. and on Sunday (6/22) at 4:00 p.m. (all times eastern).

Sirius Bluegrass can be found at channel 65 on your Sirius Satellite Radio receiver. They also offer a subscription-based online service, Sirius Internet Radio, and free 3-day trials are offered to non-subscribers.

At the time the fledgling link-up didn’t have a website. It does now! Go to the new website to see the liner notes, bios, and more about the CD – plus sound clips.

As an aside, Martha Adcock told me how the name RadioTherapy Records was chosen. I thought I would share the thought process involved …

“In thinking of a name for our own record label, I thought it was best to check the www.allrecordlabels.com site to see if any of our choices had been taken, to avoid the possible confusion of our label having the same name as another. Lo and behold, all the ones we had chosen were already in use; I have a whole page of them that I systematically checked off on the list. So I resorted to the dictionary for inspiration. I like alliteration, so the R’s were consulted first; and when I came upon the word ‘radiotherapy,’ meaning ‘therapy effected through the use of radiation (the definition of the term ‘radiation’ includes sound waves) I thought it would do very well to call our label RadioTherapy Records ‚Äî because of course music is good for you!”

Great story, isn’t it?

They will open for her starting in mid-June, with dates currently booked running through the end of July.

More shows could be added, and all will be listed on the duo’s web site.

The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band features Randy Waller, son of Charlie Waller, who, like his father, sings lead and plays guitar; Eddie Adcock (banjo, lead and baritone vocals), Tom Gray (upright bass, bass and baritone vocals) and Jimmy Gaudreau (mandolin, lead and tenor vocals). They have been making several personal appearances, most notably to mark the 50th anniversary, last year, of the formation of the original Country Gentlemen.

Adcock, Gaudreau, Waller & Gray – The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band (RTR-CD-001) has 13 tracks, four of which, including the opening song Widow Of The Glade, are by the late lamented Randall Hylton. Remember the Country Gentlemen’s other ghost stories? Well, this is a modern counterpart to Bringing Mary Home. Older songs to get the Country Gentlemen treatment include I Hope You Have Learned, Grave In The Valley, Little Box Of Pine, Sundown And Sorrow and Some Old Day.

Other notable numbers are White Line Fever from Merle Haggard, Sweet Georgia Brown and a jazzy new instrumental composed by Gaudreau, El Doggo.

Co-producer Martha Adcock comments …..

“After Monroe, if anyone can be said to have turned bluegrass in a new direction, it was without a doubt the ‘Classic’ Country Gentlemen: John Duffey, Charlie Waller, Eddie Adcock and Tom Gray. No one else did as much to re-popularize and reinvigorate the genre, taking it to city-folk audiences, and onto hip college campuses, to large theaters and coffeehouses, and eventually to Carnegie Hall. Their musical creativity, individually and synergistically, coupled with their hip irreverence and loose attitude onstage, was a quantum leap from the past, and it brought about a sea change in bluegrass, a dramatic expansion of the genre.”

Tom Gray adds …

“Eddie, Randy, Jimmy and I started playing a few dates together as the C.G.R.B. with the purpose of recreating the ‘Classic Country Gentlemen sound by those closely associated with creating it.”

This new CD is a welcome addition to the catalogue of recordings in the classic Country Gentlemen’s style.

There isn’t a website for RadioTherapy Records at the moment, but they are working hard to set that up. MP3 audio samples may be made available also.

For more information about the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band and Radio Therapy Records, write them at PO Box 219 Lebanon, Tennessee 37088-0219

They can also be reached by phone (615-443-7135 or 615-476-8786) or email.

Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein are names that should be familiar to bluegrass fans. Klein spent time with Seldom Scene, and later with Mike Auldridge (and Jimmy Gaudreau) in Chesapeake. Gaudreau has been a member of several of the most celebrated acts ever to play bluegrass – The Country Gentlemen, JD Crowe & The New South and The Tony Rice Unit, to name a few.

Their debut CD together is called 2:10 Train, and the performances are true duets throughout. There are no guest artists, just Moondi on guitar and lead vocals with Jimmy on mandolin and harmony. The material is taken from traditional old time and country music, and some of the best contemporary bluegrass and folk songwriters. If you’ve followed these genres for the past 20 years or so, most of the titles will be familiar, but each receives a treatment that is fresh and perfectly in keeping with the minimalist approach on this CD.

You’ll find Tom Paxton’s Last Thing On My Mind, Pete Goble’s Colleen Malone, Harley Allen’s High Sierra and Eric Bogle’s And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda among the newer songs along with old time favorites like Sweet Sunny South, Shady Grove and Black Jack Davey.

There are a few audio samples on Jimmy and Moondi’s site, and for all the tracks in iTunes.

Greatest hits of bluegrass collections seem to come out every few months, many of them little more than back catalog tracks by lesser-known artists. When a project is titled Best Loved Bluegrass – 20 All-Time Favorites, it’s fair to expect a good bit from the CD.

And this new Rebel compilation delivers. Not only are there offerings from Tony Rice, Lonesome River Band, The Country Gentlemen, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, JD Crowe and others, the songs are great examples of each artists’ work during the time they recorded for Rebel.

The Lost Found are here with Love Of The Mountains, Emerson & Waldron with the original version of Fox On The Run (classic!), Reno & Smiley with Little Rosewood Casket and Claire Lynch with Wabash Cannonball. The Gent’s offer Bringing Mary Home and Mac Wiseman Footprints In The Snow, with Larry Sparks’ version of Roving Gambler and Keith Whitley & Ricky Skaggs doing Dream Of A Miner’s Child (while they were still in school).

You can see the full track listing – and hear audio samples – in iTunes.

The work of coal miners has long been commemorated in song, disasters have led to contemporaneous ballad type songs and personal acquaintance with victims of the industry has led to intense, heart-rending insights into the side-effects of working below ground. Many songs have been found during song-catcher expeditions – some of those recording are found here, others have been written by those with a social conscience as a form of protest at times of strife. As well as embracing the social ramifications, political, historic and economic aspects of life in coal mining communities.

The industry ‘captured’ labour at a very young age and the picture of a disheveled youngster on the cover is a evidence of that. It’s a refection of the level of poverty for the often big families that boys had to go to work in the mines to help boost their father’s income. There has seemingly been very little scope for avoiding the pits. Not many people have been able to follow Ron Short’s advice in Set Yourself Free.

The collection is sub-titled Mining Songs From The Appalachian Coalfields and, in fact, the music chosen is pared down to music from southern Appalachia and to that by local talent. There is a mixture of styles – big band, jazz, old-time (in its various sub-sets, including string band), traditional country, bluegrass, folk, blues, boogie-woogie and choral.

Also, the performances are by people from a variety of classes; miners, labour organisers, activists, religious leaders and professional musicians. The quality of these vary, just as the sound quality of the recordings themselves vary, but some tracks do feature well known pickers; Mike Seeger, Jimmy Gaudreau, Jim Watson, Wayne Benson, Robert Bowlin, Glen Duncan, Mike Bubb, Jamie Johnson and Jimmy Mattingly included.

The recordings themselves span a century, beginning with the opening song on the first disc – Down In A Coal Mine an excerpt from The Edison Concert Band and made in 1908. Other recordings from the early part of the last century include Mining Camp Blues by Trixie Smith (1925); He’s Only A Miner Killed In The Ground -Ted Chestnut (1928); Coal Miner’s Blues – The Carter Family (1938) and Sprinkle Coal Dust On My Grave – Orville Jenks (1940), sung to the same melody as Sunny Side Of The Mountain.

A few songs are performed a cappella style. Among those are by Hard Times In Coleman’s Mine by Aunt Molly Jackson (recorded in 1937); Coal Black Mining Blues by Nimrod Workman (1972); That 25 Cents You Paid by Sarah Ogan Gunning; Fountain Filled With Blood by Elder James Caudill and Choir (2007); West Virginia Mine Disaster - Molly Slemp.

Several are sung with just one instrument, usually a guitar. Examples of these are the afore-mentioned song by Orville Jenks; The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore by Jean Ritchie; Black Waters by Jim Ringer and chorus; Roof Boltin’ Daddy – Gene Carpenter; Coal Town Saturday Night by Randall Hylton.

An exception is Dorothy Myles’s soulful, rather religious rendition of What Are We Gonna Do?, with sedate piano accompaniment.

Many songs get the bluegrass treatment. Among those are Dream Of A Miner’s Child by Carter Stanley, with his daughter, Jeannie, and brother Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys; Union Man from Blue Highway; Blue Diamond Mines – Robin and Linda Williams; Miner’s Prayer written by Kentuckian Dwight Yoakam and sung by him, with assistance from Ralph Stanley; Nick Stump – Deep Mine Blues; Tom T Hall – I’m A Coal Mining Man; Kenneth Davis, a former member of the Clinch Mountain Boys, with a performance of the Earl Sykes/Ralph Stanley song Dirty Black Coal; Don Stanley & Middle Creek – A Strip Miner’s Life and Ralph Stanley II – Daddy’s Dinner Bucket.

In Those Mines features claw hammer banjo, by the song writer Becky Buller, as her band leader Valerie Smith sings this contemporary song. Russell Moore provides harmony vocals.

Among the contemporary acoustic style songs [or bluegrass sans banjo] are Thirty Inch Coal by Hobo Jack Adkins; Explosion At Derby Mine – Charles Maggard; Coal Dust Kisses – Suzanne Mumpower-Johnson; Coal Tattoo – Dale Jett; You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive by the composer Darrell Scott. This sounds as though it was recorded in front of an audience.

The last track of this set is by Natalie Marchant, who offers a folky version of the anthemic Whose Side Are You On?

In the country mould is the Merle Travis classic Dark As A Dungeon, performed with just his own guitar for accompaniment; another Travis song, Sixteen Tons by Ned Beatty and There Will Be No Black Lung (Up In Heaven) performed by Rev Joe Freeman. It is in part a recitation, very reminiscent of Roy Acuff.

The song titled Black Lung used in this collection is not the well known Hazel Dickens’ song by that name, but one inspired by the meagre monthly compensation cheque that his maternal grandmother received, written and performed by A J Roach. Ms. Dickens’ vast repertoire of coal mining songs is represented by The Yablonski Murder, a tale about the politics in the industry.

As concept albums go, this collection takes its place among the finest. Presented in a book format measuring approximately 10 inches by 6 inches, it contains two CDs with a total of 48 tracks. The book itself has an Introduction, written by producer Jack Wright, a Sanctus contributed by Archie Green, the doyen of coal mining music scholarship with his book Only A Miner, and to whom the anthology is dedicated, and Foreword by Jon Lohman of the Virginia Folklife Program. Additionally, it comprises a brief essay giving some background to the song and/or the singer, innumerable black and white photographs, most courtesy of Helen Lewis and lyrics.

Also, the book remembers that mining wasn’t an exclusively male preserve with a few brief references to the experiences of female mine workers. Of course, women were significant in holding their, often large, families together, supporting their men folk domestically as well as often championing their causes in their invariably shared tumultuous lives.

Music Of Coal is a very valuable documentation from the perspective of the workers in a treacherous industry that is nevertheless so necessary as it provides a fundamental need in all our lives. It does well to remind us of the many sacrifices that have blighted lives and the landscape in earlier times of Appalachian coal mining.

Rebel Records

Bluegrass fans remember Gaudreau from his years with The Country Gentlemen, The Tony Rice Unit and his current gig with John Starling & Carolina Star. Klein will be familiar as a former member of both Seldom Scene and Chesapeake.

According to Mark Freeman of Rebel:

“It’s a very simple, straightforward traditional album, a polar opposite to their Chesapeake days. There are no additional musicians or instruments, just Moondi and Jimmy on guitar and mandolin respectively performing a number of bluegrass and folk standards with some very nice instrumentals as well.”

The two have played a number of shows in the DC-area, and will be booking shows for 2008 as their busy schedules with other commitments allow.

Look for their new CD on Rebel in February 2008.

The Skylighters’ story will be familiar as well. Heard this one before?

A bunch of musicians in the Washington DC area get together to play for fun, and end up recording and performing their mix of traditional, modern and original music after things click at informal sessions. Include dobro master Mike Auldridge in the telling, and the sense of d?©j?† vu deepens.

It isn’t fair to throw comparisons with Seldom Scene at The Skylighters, but the parallels are interesting, if only in a historical sense.

The music and the mix of styles is perhas more reminiscent of what Gaudreau and Auldridge did with Chesapeake some years back, and might be more properly described as Americana than traditional, bluegrass or roots music.

A track listing and audio samples are available on the Red Beet Records site. Look for the Jukebox link to hear song snippets.

The new CD contains previously unreleased recordings with Tony Rice, Charlie Waller, The Fox Family, Bel??? Fleck with additional performances from Jack Lawrence, Sammy Shelor, Robin & Linda Williams, Randy Waller, Mike Auldridge, Dan Tyminski, John Starling, Mark Schatz and Bill Clifton.

Jimmy was first introduced to bluegrass audiences in 1969 as the new mandolinist with The Country Gentlemen, and went on to also be a part of IInd Generation (with Eddie Adcock), JD Crowe & The New South, Spectrum (with Bel??? Fleck) and The Tony Rice Unit among several others. Both as a mandolinist and a distinctive tenor vocalist, Jimmy made his mark on each of these acts, and enjoys the respect and admiration of pickers and fans alike as a result.

We had an opportunity to discuss the new CD with Jimmy recently and discovered that it is a very personal project for him.

“It started several years ago with a few tunes I had in my collection which I thought would be a good mix/foundation for a compilation CD, as this is. I then decided to go into the studio(s) and record tunes/artists…both, to complete the picture I really wanted to see and suddenly I was looking at a list of more than 30 tunes (there’s actually another album’s worth of material which I had to cut in order to trim it down to a single CD…that was tough!)”

“I was fortunate to be the 2005 inductee into SPBGMA’s Preservation Hall Of Greats, and in preparation for my acceptance speech at their annual convention in Nashville last February, I decided my ‘theme’ would focus on how lucky AND blessed I’ve been to have been able to play in bands with some of the greatest pickers and singers in bluegrass. This year I, yet another ‘baby boomer’ will turn the big 6-0 (Yikes!) and as I approach retirement (oh yes. my good friend Bill Emerson has shown me that it can be done) I look back and see that it was LUCK that enabled me (who is, in my estimation, a limited-ability player and tenor singer) to land the job with the Country Gentlemen in 1969. That position and more luck down the line, opened the doors to numerous recording opportunities and associations with several ‘name’ bands over the last 37 years and the BLESSINGS came with all the friends I’ve made during this time. It is my true intention to project this sentiment with this release…not just to say ‘Kilroy was here.’ “

Can you tell me a bit about the live recordings? Are these recordings that you have collected over the years, or were they made with an eye towards an eventual release?

“There are 3 live cuts on the project, two from the Towne Crier in Pawling, NY (Tony Rice Unit) and one from The Prism Coffeehouse in Charlottesville, VA (with Jack Lawrence). One of the TRU cuts features him on his version of the Adcock/Thatcher tune, Another Lonesome Morning, and the other features me singing the Jimmy Martin favorite There Ain’t Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone , which we decided to do when Bel??? dropped in to see the Unit and was invited on stage to do a couple tunes. Crazy Blues is a tune I had previously recorded with Spectrum and selected it for this project on the merits of Jack Lawrence’s super guitar break. All the live cuts are from my collection of digital collection and were NOT made with the intention of ever being released.”

Can you describe the mix of live vs studio tracks?

“Again there are only 3 live cuts. It turns out that the remaining 14 cuts are split evenly between tracks from existing projects (7) and tracks I put together in various studios in later years (7) which feature tunes I always wanted to record, or in one case (You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, which I originally did in 1971 with Eddie Adcock and The IInd Generation), re-record.”

Are some of these tracks where you were a featured guest on another act’s recording?

“The existing tracks I referred to are, in fact from selected projects I worked on over the years and include songs that ’stood out’ at the time I was involved with their recording. I specifically set my sights on them when I decided to put my collection together. The songs and the artists with whom I was privileged to record are uniquely special to me. Also, because they for the most part, came out on small labels (some of which no longer exist) or in a couple cases were never released, I think I can safely say that they haven’t had much ‘exposure,’ so most people who pick up my CD will be hearing this material (all of it, in fact) for the first time.”

You can see a track listing on the CMH web site, but no online audio samples as yet. They indicate that in addition to the 17 tracks of music, In Good Company also contains detailed liner notes from Jimmy with remembrances and impressions of his 37 years sharing his music with us.