Jimmy Gaudreau has long been regarded as a premier second generation mandolin player and performer in bluegrass music. Since getting the call in 1969 to move to the Washington, DC area from his native Rhode Island and join the legendary Country Gentlemen, he has performed with a veritable Who’s Who of bluegrass bands and earned a reputation as a mandolin maverick with a sound and a style all his own.
Jimmy got his start as a professional musician during his high school days, playing electric guitar in his band Jimmy G & the Jaguars. The band played for dances and had a regular Saturday night gig at his uncle’s restaurant along the Rhode Island beaches.
When the folk boom was in full swing in the ’60s, Jimmy found himself interested in bluegrass music and the banjo. One evening, while attending a jam session, someone heard him singing tenor and told him he should be playing mandolin. He was offered one, figured out some simple chords, learned how to chop rhythm, and the rest is history.
In addition to two stints with the Country Gentlemen, Jimmy has also performed with JD Crowe and the New South, with The Tony Rice Unit (for 9 years), and with his own bands which include CountryStore, Spectrum (with Bela Fleck), Chesapeake, and Auldridge, Bennett & Gaudreau.
He joined Robin & Linda Williams and Jim Watson as part of the Fine Group in 2001 and, in 2005 when not working with them, he started working with John Starling & Carolina Star, which included Mike Auldridge, Rickie Simpkins, and Tom Gray. That same year, Jimmy was inducted into the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America’s “Hall of Greats”. In 2005 & 2006, Carolina Star worked as Emmylou Harris’s backup band offering them the opportunity to perform for huge audiences at some of this country’s most prestigious venues.
Jimmy has also performed in duos with Bill Clifton, Jack Lawrence, Randy Waller, Richard Bennett, Orrin Star, and Moondi Klein, former lead singer of Chesapeake.
In 2008, Jimmy & Moondi performed as an opening act for Emmylou Harris and with Johnathan Edwards. All this while still working as many dates as possible with Robin & Linda, who by that time had recruited Dr. Chris Brashear, a top-notch musician/singer/songwriter from Amherst, MA, whose veterinary practice allowed him to fill in most of the dates Jimmy wasn’t able to play.
Finally, after nearly a decade and countless miles, Jimmy left the Fine Group to concentrate on the Jimmy & Moondi duo as their 2008 release of 2:10 Train on Rebel Records was doing well and generating enough local gigs to satisfy their desire to play and not have to tour. They continued performing and released two additional CDs in 2012 and 2014. In 2017, Jimmy was inducted into the Rhode Island Bluegrass Alliance Hall of Fame. But when the pandemic of 2019 hit, life changed for them as it did for everyone. It was during this time that Jimmy made the decision to retire rather than try to pick up where he’d left off.
And thus began a new chapter following a musical career filled with countless gigs and rigorous miles. But the urge to continue playing his beloved mandolin endures. Only the venue, the music, and his choice of instruments has changed. Now the venue is mainly the family room, where most of his signature instrumentals were composed. The music has become an expansion of swing, rock, jazz, and Celtic licks which all influenced Jimmy and helped define his unique style.
Jimmy has played an amazing array of instruments during his time on and off stage. Check the Mandolins page for detailed information on each one of them.