Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein - If I Had A Boat

The collaboration between Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein dates back to the mid-nineties, when they joined forces with the late ace Dobro player Mike Auldridge and T. Michael Coleman to form the supergroup Chesapeake. The three albums they recorded were great examples of contemporary acoustic music that appealed to most Bluegrass fans as well as a larger Americana audience. That group was relatively short-lived as Moondi left to spend more time with a young and growing family. But in 2007 some informal picking sessions led to some gigs including a well received tour of England and Scotland. That led to their superb debut release 2:10 Train and then a wonderful follow-up entitled Home From The Mills.After those two powerful and successful albums for Rebel Records, the talented duo is back with another striking collection of great songs and tunes, making stellar use of their vocal and instrumental talents. One of the most distinctive stylists in the business, Moondi Klein shows the vocal prowess that made him a natural choice for lead singer with the Seldom Scene - replacing the retiring John Starling. In addition to his vocal talents, Klein is an excellent guitarist.Jimmy Gaudreau has an almost unique pedigree in Bluegrass and Americana music, starting at an early age when he replaced John Duffey in the highly influential Country Gentlemen group. He has also been a member of Robin and Linda Williams' fine group. More recently Jimmy spent nine years as part of the renowned Tony Rice Unit - a prestigious position to say the least. Offering his lead and harmony singing here, he adds a superb instrumental touch to each of the 12 songs, alternating between mandolin, mandola and octave mandolin. For this album Jimmy and Moondi had drawn material from some great writers - James Taylor, Merle Haggard, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett and Gordon Lightfoot, among others. It is impressive, to say the least, that these two artists on their own can produce such a full bodied, highly textured recording - another superb offering to join their other two fine albums.well sung, well played, immaculately recorded and produced CMP