Here’s another update on the ongoing campaign to petition the US Postal Service to honor Bill Monroe with his very own postage stamp – and we have some very encouraging news!

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!

We heard recently from Gianluca Tramontana, who hosts a weekly radio program in England. Sitting with Gianluca airs each Wednesday evening at 10:00 p.m. (GMT) on Resonance 104.4 with a mix of live music and discussion with roots music artists.

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.

Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein, whose Rebel CD 2:10 Train was released earlier in March, are scheduled to tour with Emmylou Harris this summer.

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.

Rebel Records has two new releases released last week, a greatest hits compilation and a new duo recording.

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.