Jimmy Gaudreau is a mandolin player and singer from Rhode Island. In 1969 he took John Duffey’s place in the Country Gentlemen, and since then he has played in many of the leading progressive bluegrass bands: II Generation, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Spectrum with Béla Fleck, the Tony Rice Unit for 11 years, and Chesapeake. He came to the mandolin from guitar, and he still frets it with guitar-style fingering that gives him a sound no one else has.
Why Gaudreau matters
Gaudreau is the mandolin player’s mandolin player. He has seldom led a famous band, but the bands he joined sound better for it. His melodic, swinging breaks fit Tony Rice’s jazz-tinged guitar and Béla Fleck’s banjo as well as they fit Charlie Waller’s traditional vocals. He also gave the next generation a stage: his 1994 album Mandolin Artistry: Young Mando Monsters featured Ronnie McCoury, Adam Steffey, Wayne Benson, and Alan Bibey early in their careers.
Life and career
Gaudreau grew up in Rhode Island. In high school in the 1960s he played electric guitar in a dance band, Jimmy G and the Jaguars. He calls himself a product of the folk boom. He started on acoustic guitar, wanted to play banjo after he heard Earl Scruggs, and then settled on mandolin at jam sessions.
In early 1969 he heard that John Duffey was leaving the Country Gentlemen. He auditioned, got the job on the spot, and moved to the Washington, D.C., area. He played on New Look, New Sound (1969) and One Wide River to Cross (1971). In 1971 he joined Eddie Adcock’s II Generation, a newgrass band known for long jams. In 1973 he formed Country Store with Keith Whitley and Carl Jackson.
He later played in J.D. Crowe and the New South with Keith Whitley, and from 1979 to 1981 in Spectrum with Béla Fleck and Mark Schatz. He rejoined the Country Gentlemen from 1981 to 1985. Then came 11 years in the Tony Rice Unit, starting in 1985. In the 1990s he co-founded Chesapeake with Mike Auldridge, T. Michael Coleman, and Moondi Klein, and the band made three albums for Sugar Hill.
Since then he has recorded with Auldridge and Richard Bennett, with John Starling’s Carolina Star, with Robin and Linda Williams, and with the Skylighters. His duo with singer Moondi Klein has made three albums for Rebel, and in 2008 they toured with Emmylou Harris. The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America named him to its Hall of Greats in 2005.
Playing style
Gaudreau learned the mandolin with a guitarist’s left hand. Most mandolin players use one finger per fret. Gaudreau uses guitar-style fingerings, which change how his runs flow and which notes ring together. The result is smooth and melodic, with phrases that slide across positions instead of hopping between them.
He swings. His breaks lean on chord tones and passing notes, more like a jazz guitarist than a Monroe disciple. In the Tony Rice Unit he traded lines with Rice and kept that band’s cool, open sound. In vocal groups like Chesapeake he plays tasteful fills that never crowd the singer.
Influences and legacy
Gaudreau came to bluegrass through the folk revival and through Earl Scruggs. His early mentor was Fred Pike, a banjo and guitar player from Connecticut. He has played beside Charlie Waller, Eddie Adcock, Keith Whitley, J.D. Crowe, Béla Fleck, Tony Rice, Wyatt Rice, Mike Auldridge, and Moondi Klein.
He followed John Duffey in the Country Gentlemen, and Doyle Lawson followed him. In Bill Clifton’s band he took the place of Red Rector. His Young Mando Monsters album helped launch Ronnie McCoury, Adam Steffey, Wayne Benson, and Alan Bibey.
Signature tunes and songs
Fisher’s Hornpipe Colleen Malone 2:10 Train.
Essential recordings
The Gaudreau Mandolin Album (Puritan, 1978) Me and My Guitar, with Tony Rice (Rounder, 1986) Native American, with Tony Rice (Rounder, 1991) Rising Tide, with Chesapeake (Sugar Hill, 1994) 2:10 Train, with Moondi Klein (Rebel, 2008)
Awards and honors
SPBGMA Hall of Greats (2005)
Watch and listen
Gaudreau and Moondi Klein play Fisher’s Hornpipe. Listen to how smooth his runs are and how they swing.
What to learn from Gaudreau
Take a fiddle tune you know and play one phrase in two different positions on the neck. Notice how the sound changes when notes ring on different strings. That is the door Gaudreau walked through. Then try his swing feel: play the tune with the eighth notes a little long-short, and add one passing note on the way to each chord change.
Sources
Jimmy Gaudreau, Wikipedia An Unlikely Rebel: Jimmy Gaudreau, DC Bluegrass Union Bill Clifton, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Gaudreau followed John Duffey and Red Rector in two famous chairs. He played beside Tony Rice for 11 years. John Reischman shares his melodic, swinging approach.